Commentary on the Song of Songs

Robert of Tomelaine
Commentary on the Song of Songs

[Editor's note: The commentary on the Song of Songs translated here appears in Migne's Patrologia Latina under the name of Pope Gregory the Great, but it is a composite medieval text. The brief opening section (prologue through roughly Song 1:8/1:9) is Gregory's authentic but unfinished exposition, delivered orally to a small circle of monks and preserved from notes taken by his notary Claudius; Gregory himself expressed dissatisfaction with the transcript and never revised it to completion. The much longer continuation, which carries the allegorical interpretation through the entire biblical book to 8:14, is the work of the eleventh-century Norman Benedictine Robert of Tombelaine, a monk and hermit who lived in seclusion on the tidal islet of Tombelaine near Mont-Saint-Michel. Medieval copyists, recognizing Robert's profoundly Gregorian style, heavy dependence on the saint's imagery, and monastic spirituality, routinely transmitted the two pieces as a single work under Gregory's far more famous name—an attribution that persisted in manuscripts and early prints. This richly allegorical and tropological reading (the Bride as Church or individual soul, the Bridegroom as Christ) proved influential on later medieval exegesis, including the Glossa Ordinaria, and remains a valuable witness to eleventh-century Benedictine contemplative theology.]

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29. All who serve lust, who serve pride, who serve greed, who serve envy, who serve deceit, are still under the chariot of Pharaoh, that is, under the rule of the devil; but everyone who is fervent in humility, in chastity, in teaching, in charity, has already become a horse of our Creator, has already been placed in the chariot of God, already has God as his rider. Whence to a certain one over whom the Lord presided, it is said: "It is hard for you to kick against the goad" (Acts 9:5). As if he were saying: You are my horse; you can no longer kick against me; I already preside over you. Of these horses it is said elsewhere: "You sent your horses into the sea, stirring up many waters" (Habakkuk 3:15). God therefore has chariots, because he presides over holy souls and travels everywhere through holy souls. Whence it is written: "The chariots of God are ten thousand, the manifold thousands of those rejoicing in the Lord" (Psalm 67:18). Pharaoh has chariots, which nevertheless were submerged in the Red Sea, because many wicked people have been changed through baptism. Let the Bridegroom therefore say: "I have compared you, my beloved, to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh"; that is, while you were still among the chariots of Pharaoh, while you still served demonic works, I compared you to my cavalry, because I considered what I had done in you through predestination, and I compared you to my horses. For God sees many still serving lust, still serving greed, and yet he considers in his secret judgment what he has already worked in them, because God has horses — but he sees that many are still horses of Pharaoh. And because he considers by hidden judgment and hidden predestination that they are to be changed for the good, he already regards them as similar to his own horses, because he sees that he will lead to his own chariot those who previously served in the chariot of Pharaoh. Here the hidden judgments must be considered, because many seem through preaching, through wisdom, through chastity, through generosity, through patience to be horses of God, and yet by the hidden judgment of God they are likened to the horses of Pharaoh; and many seem through greed, through pride, through envy, through lust to be horses of Pharaoh, and yet by the hidden judgment of God they are likened to the horses of God. Because he sees those turning from good things to evil, and these being brought back from evil things to good. Therefore, just as by discernment many who seem to be horses of God are horses of Pharaoh through the reprobate life that follows them, so through piety many who seem to be horses of Pharaoh, his elect through the holy life which they will preserve at their end, are likened to the horses of God. Whence the Bridegroom speaks tenderly and says: "I have compared you, my beloved, to my cavalry among the chariots of Pharaoh." That is, you were still serving in subjection among the chariots of Pharaoh, you were running under vices, but I considered what I had done concerning you through predestination. "I have compared you to my cavalry," that is, I regarded you as similar to my elect. (Verse 9.) "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's; your neck as jewels."

30. The turtledove, after it has once lost its mate, never joins itself to another, but always dwelling in solitude perseveres in mourning; because not finding the one it loved, it searches. So every holy soul, while it is absent from its Bridegroom, does not withdraw from love of him, but always pants and groans in desire for him; and while it does not find him whom it greatly loves, because it draws itself back from every foreign love, as if in the modesty of its cheeks it shows the chastity of its heart by its very bearing and outward conduct. There follows: 'Your neck is like jewels.' By the neck of the bride, the preachers of holy Church are designated. In jewels, gems are set in gold. By gold, indeed, wisdom is expressed; by stones, works. The neck of the bride therefore is like jewels; because every upright preacher of the Church both clothes himself inwardly with wisdom and outwardly exercises the works which he sees in wisdom. To whom it is further said: (Verse 10.) 'We will make you chains of gold inlaid with silver.'

31. Little chains are bound as necklaces around the neck; because both wisdom and devotion are joined to preachers from the Holy Scriptures; for by the little chains, Holy Scripture is understood. These are rightly said to be golden and inlaid with silver; because Holy Scripture shines with wisdom, and is heard throughout the world through resounding preaching. For just as wisdom is signified by gold, so holy preaching is signified by silver. To these words of the Bridegroom, the bride responds, and through the bodily forms of things she reveals the love with which she spiritually burns within, saying: (Verse 11.) While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.

32. The king then entered his couch, when our Lord Jesus Christ bodily penetrated the interior of heaven. While he rested there, the nard of the bride gave forth its fragrance; because the virtue of the holy Church spread the sweet fame of its goodness far and wide. For the Lord ascended to heaven and sent his Holy Spirit upon the disciples (Acts II); filled with whom, they preached the words of salvation to the world, and through holy works spread the fame of good fragrance all around. Indeed, each faithful soul receives this Spirit in baptism, so that through him it may compose for itself ointments from the preparation of virtues, and refresh its neighbors by the display of example, as if by the fragrance of ointment. There follows: (Verse 12.) My beloved is a bundle of myrrh to me; he shall abide between my breasts.

33. The bodies of the dead are customarily preserved with myrrh, lest they putrefy. Indeed, we apply myrrh to bodies lest they putrefy, when we restrain our members from the corruption of lust through their mortification after Christ's example; lest, if we leave them without seasoning, our bodies, dissolved by corruption, become food for eternal worms. But what does it mean that the bride calls her beloved not myrrh, but a bundle of myrrh, unless that when the holy mind considers Christ's life from every angle, it gathers together from the imitation of him virtues that fight against all vices; from which it fashions for itself a bundle, by which it may wipe away the everlasting corruption of its flesh? This bundle is rightly said to dwell between the breasts, because in the love of God and neighbor the holy dwelling place of Christ is built. For when the holy soul so loves God that it does not despise the neighbor, and so carries out love of neighbor that it does not diminish the divine, without doubt it places breasts upon its chest with which, embracing Christ, it nourishes him. For Christ is, as it were, nourished and strengthened by the breasts, when he is delighted by this twofold love so that he clings more firmly. Of whom it is still further said: (Verse 13.) My beloved is to me a cluster of henna in the vineyards of Engedi.

34. Cyprus is an island in which more abundant vineyards grow than elsewhere. Therefore by Cyprus the universal Church is designated, which nourishes many vineyards, since divided into many churches, it produces the wine that gladdens the heart of man. Engaddi is interpreted as "fountain of the kid." Now the kid was anciently sacrificed for sins. What therefore is figured by the fountain of the kid if not the baptism of Christ? In which, while the body is immersed, the soul is washed clean; and through the faith of him who endured death for sinners, the human soul believes itself to be cleansed from all sins. To whom the beloved soon responds: (Verse 14.) Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, behold you are beautiful; your eyes are like doves.

35. The Bridegroom calls His bride beautiful twice, because to her whom He grants love of God and of neighbor, He implants a twofold beauty, in which He delights and which He praises. Her eyes are rightly said to be those of doves, because while she groans amid temporal things and is carried away by desire toward eternal things, she guards her senses in simplicity and detests carnal desires. For the dove moans in love instead of singing. And rightly is the holy soul compared to a dove, because while all the reprobate chatter and rejoice in love of the world, the elect mind is worn away in heavenly desire, because it fears lest it lose what it loves while it is delayed. By the eyes of doves can also be understood the preachers of the Churches, who preserve the simplicity they preach, and despising visible things, pant after eternal things with great groans. There follows the voice of the bride saying: (Verses 15, 16.) Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, and comely: our bed is flourishing, the beams of our houses are of cedar, our paneling of cypress.

36. The beloved is called beautiful and comely, because in both his divinity and humanity he is beheld without any stain of reproach by every mind that loves him. While the bride follows him with full desire, she forgets all the disturbances of the world; and while she rests in his peace, she is adorned more and more. Whence follows: "Our bed is flourishing." What do we understand by the bed of the bride, if not the repose of quiet? For the mind that loves its bridegroom Christ uniquely, inasmuch as it is able, is free from all the anxieties of the world, and accumulates within itself the virtues by which it may please its Bridegroom. While it despises all things that are temporal, it makes for itself a bed with the Bridegroom in the peace of victory, where the more quietly it rests, the more abundantly it finds flowers with which to show itself beautiful to the Bridegroom. There follows: "The beams of our houses are of cedar, our paneled ceilings are of cypress." By the houses, we understand the many churches; by the cedar beams, we designate the preachers; by the cypress paneling, we represent the peoples themselves. For beams support the roof, while paneled ceilings fill and adorn the house. Just so in the holy Church, good preachers carry divine Scripture in their heart and on their lips, which they spread out and preach to the faithful; so that while the Church is instructed by heavenly preaching, it may receive a defense by which it is protected from the storms of temptations. Moreover, cedar and cypress are said to be woods that do not decay. By these all the elect are fittingly represented; because while they pursue temporal things with no desire, they become eternal, inasmuch as they are fixed in mind upon eternal things. The Bridegroom responds and says:

CHAPTER II. (Chap. II.--Verse 1.) I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.

1. Well does Christ call himself a flower, who, while he destroys the thorns of sins, adorns the mind of the bride with the beauty of his righteousness, and while he applies heavenly desire to the nostrils of the heart, refreshes the interior of the soul as if with fragrance. He continues further and says: (Verse 2.) As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters.

2. Well, just as the lily among thorns, so the bride is said to be among the daughters; because while there are many in the Church who confess Christ with words alone, yet in their works pursue nothing but human concerns, that soul alone is counted worthy of the lily's dignity which rises from the root of mortality to heavenly beauty, and guards for itself the brightness of purity in heart and body, and refreshes all its neighbors with the fragrance of a good reputation. But because the Bridegroom held his bride worthy of such great praise, she now in turn rightly praises him by whom she perceives herself to be praised, and says: (Verse 3.) As the apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons.

3. Wild trees do not produce fruits suitable for human consumption; but what the apple tree produces, people eat fittingly and healthfully. Rightly, therefore, Christ is figured by the apple tree, while other people are figured by the wild trees; because in Christ alone, whenever we seek the food of salvation, we find it; in His words and examples we refresh our souls with sweet and wholesome fruit. He Himself is indeed the tree of life, which He bestows upon us. He Himself is the one who, while breathing Himself into us, feeds the soul. But if we find any refreshment in others, we receive from them not what is theirs, but what is Christ's; because whatever in them is apart from God, we find without doubt to be deadly to us. (Verse 3.) I sat under the shadow of Him whom I had desired, and His fruit was sweet to my palate.

4. The shadow of Christ is the protection of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit overshadows the mind that it fills, because it tempers all the heat of temptations; and while the breeze of its inspiration gently touches the mind, it expels whatever harmful heat it was enduring; and the mind which perhaps the excessive heat of vices had already made withered, the protecting shadow of the Holy Spirit refreshes, so that while it sits resting in his inspiration, it gathers strength by which to run more vigorously toward eternal life. There follows: 'And his fruit was sweet to my throat.' For Christ himself, planted in the heart, stands as a fruit-bearing tree; which if our mind worthily loves and earnestly cultivates, it assuredly produces beautiful and useful fruits within. When the mind, seizing these, eagerly eats them, it sets aside all the pleasures of the world in comparison with his sweetness. For it is very sweet to think upon heavenly things, to fix the inward eye upon eternity, so that sometimes even amid weeping the enkindled mind is pierced with compunction, and, lifted up amid tears, is fed upon the food of angels — that is, wisdom itself — and the more sweetly, the more eagerly it is nourished. Hence it is that there follows: (Verse 4.) 'The King brought me into the wine cellar; he set charity in order within me.'

5. For what do we more fittingly understand by the wine cellar than the hidden contemplation of eternity itself? In this eternity the holy angels are inebriated with the wine of wisdom, while seeing God himself face to face, they are satisfied with every spiritual delight. The holy mind, if it is led in by the bridegroom (all temporal things having been set aside), enters this cellar, in which it tastes of those angelic delights as much as is granted to it. And because it is still held in a corruptible body, it does not perfectly satisfy itself; yet from that small amount which it takes in passing, it considers how much it ought to love what it loves. The wine cellar can also, however, be understood as a figure of divine Scripture. For through it, charity is ordered in the bride, because in its teaching it is clearly learned how God and neighbor are to be loved in proper order. Struck by this charity, she continues and says: (Verse 5.) Support me with flowers, surround me with apples, for I am sick with love.

6. By the tender and budding flowers, the beginning faithful are designated, but by the apples, the perfect faithful. For the Bride, because she languishes with love, desires to be supported with flowers and surrounded with apples, because while she afflicts herself with longing for eternity, while she seeks with total anxiety how she might arrive there, but does not at all find the arrival while she lives in the flesh, she rests, wearied in her desire, and rejoices in this alone: if she sees around her those by whom she herself, or in whose perfection, she might perceive consolation for her languishing. To whom she subsequently says this about her Bridegroom: (Verse 6.) His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

7. By the left hand of the bridegroom the present life is signified, and by the right hand the eternal life. By the head of the bride, moreover, the mind that rules over the soul is understood. But the left hand of the bridegroom is said to be under the head of the bride, and his right hand embraces her, because she always places the temporal life beneath her mind, but desires to embrace the eternal life in every way. For those things which she sees, she tramples with greatness of soul and a lofty mind, and occupies herself with heavenly duties. She endures the former out of necessity, but for the latter she sighs with utmost desire, as if bound by the right arm of the bridegroom. When she enters into these things even a little, she rests delightfully, and out of love for that rest she utterly despises worldly tumults. The bridegroom surely loves her all the more as she rests thus, and drives away all the wicked from disturbing her, saying: (Verse 7.) I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the deer of the fields, that you do not rouse or awaken the beloved, until she herself wills it.

8. Deer and goats are said to be clean animals in the law. What then do we understand by deer and goats, if not faith, hope, and charity? While we keep these clean within ourselves, through them we ascend the high mountains of contemplation. But the holy soul, the bride of Christ, desires to rest from all the disturbances of the world; she longs to sleep in holy leisure in the bosom of the bridegroom, with earthly desires lulled to rest, so that she sometimes even disdains necessary conversations, and rejoices in the conversation of the bridegroom alone all the more serenely the more quietly it takes place. But the carnal ones who are in the Church sometimes rudely awaken her as she sleeps; they desire to entangle her in the affairs of the world, because they consider her life useless when they see her abstaining from their cares. Such people are quite fittingly called not sons but daughters, because while they nurture effeminate habits, having lost manly dignity, what they are inwardly is outwardly designated by a feminine name. These are forbidden under the weight of an oath to awaken the beloved, lest they disturb the mind that girds itself to be free for God and longs to cling to spiritual pursuits alone with importunate anxieties, and cloud the eye of her heart with the darkness of earthly cares. And yet not all care for her neighbor is forbidden to her, but when she ought to be awakened is left to her own will, because indeed every perfect soul must discern both when to devote herself to heavenly contemplation and when to serve the needs of her neighbors. The bride most gladly accepts this freedom to be at leisure for God, and immediately embraces the word of the bridegroom and says: (Verse 8.) The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.

9. As if she were saying: I recognize this to be the voice of my beloved spouse; I desire always to hear this from his mouth, because in this I see how much he loves me, since he forbids anything to hinder me from his desirable embraces. How she arrived at these embraces she suddenly narrates, saying: Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. Christ, arranging to come to the embraces of his bride, graciously assumed our humanity. To accomplish this mystery, he came as if leaping upon the mountains, because he displayed certain works among men which the human race, perceiving them to be exceedingly sublime and beyond human capacity, could admire but could not attain. For he was born of a virgin; an angel urged the shepherds to go and adore the crying infant; a star led the magi; hanging on the cross, he gave up his spirit at the hour he willed; dead, he raised himself on the third day; entering heaven, he bestowed the Holy Spirit on those whom he pleased; through fishermen and unlettered men he subjected the world to his faith — doing these things, he walked as it were upon the mountains, where no creature was able to follow him. In these works, indeed, he bounded over the hills, because he transcended all the saints, however much they may have grown, by the power of his working. Of him it also follows: (Verse 9.) My beloved is like a roe and a young hart of the stags. He is rightly said to be like a roe, because he drew his flesh from the Synagogue, which is signified by the roe. And because he was begotten from the stock of the ancient saints, he is rightly declared to be as it were a young hart of the stags. There follows: (Verse 9.) Behold, he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattices.

10. Christ incarnate stood, as it were, behind our wall, because in the humanity he assumed, his divinity lay hidden. And because if he were to reveal his immensity, human weakness could not endure it, he set before himself the barrier of flesh, and whatever great things he accomplished among men, he did as one hiding behind a wall. Now he who looks through windows and lattices is partly seen, but partly conceals himself. So also the Lord Jesus Christ, while he both performed miracles through the power of his divinity and endured lowly things through the weakness of his flesh, looked forth as it were through the window and lattices, because while hiding in one nature, in the other he revealed who he was. Therefore, incarnate, he speaks to his Church, or to each perfect soul, and exhorts her toward the eternal homeland, saying: (Verse 10.) Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.

11. On account of faith, Christ calls his bride his friend; a dove on account of simplicity; beautiful on account of her works. For since without faith we cannot please God, rightly through faith we are called friends, because while by faith we seek heavenly things, having cast aside earthly things, we cling to God. The soul is rightly called a dove on account of simplicity, because while it searches for the simple God with simplicity of heart, it by no means pursues in dissoluteness the foolish joy of the world, but always hastening toward eternal things, it lovingly imitates the groaning of the dove. The soul is rightly called beautiful on account of her works, because while she redeems the sins of her past life through good works, she hides, as it were, her former ugliness by assuming a better form before the eyes of the Bridegroom. Therefore the Bridegroom exhorts her to arise and come, because it is fitting that whoever hastens to the love of Christ should cast off the sluggishness of the flesh as much as he can, and gird himself quickly to attain eternal things. But because we have received from God, through the presentation of the New Testament, the means to hasten toward heavenly things, therefore there rightly follows: (Verse 11) For now the winter has passed, the rain has departed and gone away.

12. What is to be understood by winter, if not the austerity of the law? Which, while it held the ancient people in carnal sacrifices, did not help its observers to seek spiritual and heavenly things. We can also understand by winter the present life, which, while it assails us with constant temptations, compels us to grow sluggish in following Christ, as if by relentless rains. But let the bride now arise, because the winter has passed, since the more the last day presses near, the more the present life recedes, and the more time is drawn toward its end, the more quickly one must run, lest the chosen soul be deprived of the eternal gifts offered to it. For it is said to have "passed" because it is not doubted that it is about to pass away shortly. There follows: (Verse 12.) The flowers have appeared in the land, the time of pruning has come.

13. The flowers are said to have appeared on the earth, because when holy souls depart from their bodies, they are received in heaven. And because in this life, although it was winter, they did not grow sluggish from good work, as soon as they departed, they gloriously flourished in the land of the living. Rightly therefore follows what he says: The time of pruning has arrived, because the more the number of the elect is gathered in heaven, the more quickly the reprobate are cut off from the Church like useless branches, so that the world may end more swiftly. There follows: (Verses 12, 13.) The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land, the fig tree has put forth its green figs, the flowering vines have given forth their fragrance.

14. What is designated by the turtledove, if not the Church; what by the land of the bridegroom, if not that blessed life? But the voice of the turtledove is said to have been heard in the land of the bridegroom, because while the holy Church prays for what it desires, it is most mercifully heard by Christ in heaven. Concerning which it is rightly added: 'The fig tree has put forth its green figs, the flowering vines have given their fragrance.' For the fig tree put forth its green figs, because the holy Church sent its martyrs ahead to the eternal homeland. After whom the flowering vines gave their fragrance, because throughout the whole world examples of good works increased. The vines indeed produce flowers when the individual churches lead souls previously unbelieving to the newness of faith through baptism. But the flowers themselves bring forth fragrance when believing souls spread good examples to one another and to others through a sweet reputation. But because Christ draws us by both modes of exhortation — namely, that he both admonishes us by precepts and raises us up by the examples of the saints — therefore he first commanded his bride by admonishing her to arise, and then brought the examples of the saints to her knowledge, and after the presentation of examples he again turned to the admonition of precept, saying: (Verses 13, 14.) 'Arise, my beloved, my sister, and come, my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow of the wall.'

15. The soul rises when it lifts itself from the commission of sin; it comes when through good works it advances with the holy steps of holy desire toward heavenly things. For when a holy mind beholds the shameful deeds of its past life, when it counts up the sins it has committed, it soon blushes with shame within its own conscience, and turning to hatred everything it had loved in the world, it punishes itself with tears, and made stronger by that very repentance, it leaps free from every defilement and shakes itself loose from all the sluggishness of negligence, so that it no longer lies prostrate in base thoughts but stretches itself out through holy desires toward the longing for invisible things. This mind, therefore, rises and comes, because it both lifts itself from the weakness of torpor through compunction and, exercising itself in holy pursuits, runs toward eternal things on the feet of love. By the holes of the rock, moreover, I would gladly understand the wounds of the hands and feet of Christ hanging on the cross. And the cavity of the wall I would interpret in the same sense as the wound in his side made by the lance. And rightly is the dove said to be in the holes of the rock and in the cavity of the wall, because while it imitates the patience of Christ in the remembrance of the cross, while it recalls those very wounds to memory for the sake of example, just as a dove in the holes of a rock, so the simple soul finds in the wounds the nourishment by which it grows strong. Nevertheless, by the holes of the rock can be signified the mysteries of Christ's incarnation, and by the cavity of the wall can be figured the very protection of angelic guardianship. When the soul is placed in this guardianship, the bridegroom rightly says to her: (Verse 14.) Show me your face, let your voice sound in my ears: for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

16. For what do we understand by the face, except the faith by which we are known by God? And what do we understand by the voice, except preaching? But the bridegroom commands the bride to show him her face, because whoever says he has faith must necessarily exercise himself in good works, so that through outward works the interior faith may become known. But it is also necessary that the voice of preaching follow the works, because whoever expands himself in holy works, it follows that he should exhort all his neighbors to do the same. Therefore it follows: 'For your voice is sweet, and your face is beautiful.' For the voice pleases and the face is made beautiful when preaching accompanies works, and in turn good works accompany preaching. To such preachers it is consequently said: '(Verse 15.) Catch for us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards, for our vineyard has blossomed.'

17. By the foxes, heretics are designated; by the vineyards, individual Churches. But the foxes destroy the vineyards, because through heretics the Churches are dried up from the greenness of right faith. They are rightly called "little," because although they are inwardly puffed up against the truth, outwardly they pursue humility in their words through pretense. They are then caught by holy preachers when, in the course of disputation, they are refuted by the judgments of truth. Indeed, holy preachers are sometimes called dogs by way of comparison, because through their constant preaching, as if by relentless barking, they strive to drive all adversaries away from the flock of sheep. These dogs catch the foxes for Christ, because while they faithfully love their leader, laboring for love of him, they lead the evasive heretics out from the entanglements of their questions, as if from dark dens into the light of truth. The reason the destruction wrought by the foxes is to be feared is made clear when it says: 'For our vineyard has flourished.' The vineyard has indeed flourished, because the holy Church through baptism has brought her children to a new manner of life in the faith. For these there is reason to fear lest they be corrupted by heretics, because when any believers are regenerated into the newness of Christ, the more tender each one is, the more quickly he is seduced into error. There is every reason to fear for the blossoms, lest they perish, because while anyone has not yet grown strong toward perfection through long practice, if he is bitten by a venomous tooth, he easily fades from what he had attained. For every perfected soul does not easily lose what it has long exercised itself in, because the more frequently it has tasted with its innermost palate how sweet the Lord is, the more steadfastly it holds to the righteousness of the bridegroom and spurns what is crooked. She fittingly continues and says: (Verses 16–17.) 'My beloved is mine, and I am his, who feeds among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows decline.'

18. As if she were saying: I hold firmly to the friendship of my beloved, because I feel his constant goodwill toward me. For while I have his kind intimacy, whatever I hear from barking enemies against him is grievous to me. And while in his constant presence I see what he is like, if adversaries bring forth any error, I do not depart from the truth that I have come to know in the sight of him. About which there well follows: 'Who feeds among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows decline.' What is signified by lilies, if not souls? Which, while they retain the brightness of chastity, smell sweetly to all their neighbors through the reputation of good fame. The bridegroom therefore feeds among the lilies, because without doubt he is delighted by the chastity of souls, which both preserve purity of the flesh in themselves, and please him through pure thoughts in his presence, and give examples to their neighbors like the sweetness of fragrance. The day will then breathe, and the shadows will decline, when eternal life appears and the present life comes to an end. For that will be day, but here is night; because here we are dim in our vision, but there the day itself, which is the whole truth, will shine forth to our minds. Toward this day souls earnestly strive to arrive; for its sake they preserve justice unstained as much as they can; and because without Christ they can do nothing, they invoke his help and desire his intimacy. While he considers their mind, he is near and kindly helps them, and the more they advance, the more intimately he always loves them, until, when the darkness of the world is ended, he leads them, now made perfect, to the light of eternal life. Because they greatly desire this light and believe it will be seen when the Lord comes to judgment, therefore with the greatest desire they say: (Verse 17.) 'Return, be like, my beloved, a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of Bethel.'

19. The Beloved departed from us bodily when after the resurrection he ascended into heaven. But he will return when, at the end of the world, with the bodies of men having been raised, he will be manifested to all in judgment. He will truly appear like a gazelle and a young stag, because coming in our flesh to judgment, he will show himself to all. For by the gazelle, which is a clean animal, the Church is designated, which while it dwells in mind among heavenly things, feeds as it were upon the mountains. And by the deer, what else is designated but the ancient fathers, from whose flesh Christ was born and presented to the world as a young stag? Now Bethel is interpreted as "house of God." Which is rightly called the Church of God, because the Lord dwells in it, while our hearts are cleansed through faith. Therefore upon the mountains of Bethel he will appear like a gazelle and a young stag, because he will come to judgment in that form of humanity which he took from the Church, when in this world he was born humbly from the lineage of the fathers, like a fawn from deer. He will truly appear both like a gazelle and upon the mountains of Bethel, because in his human form he will be like the Church, and yet he will stand forth more sublimely in the Church above even the highest ones, who rise up like mountains. While he delays in coming, because the holy soul always strives to seek him, therefore there follows:

CHAPTER III. (Chap. III.--Verse 1.) On my bed through the nights I sought him whom my soul loves: I sought him, and I did not find him.

1. The holy soul makes a bed for itself through the nights, when, fleeing all the disturbances of the world, it prepares a secret place in which it rests. In this bed it seeks the one it loves, because while it is free from all the anxieties of the world, it does not rest in its search for how it might reach him. It should be noted, moreover, that the one who now lives in this world seeks through the nights, and perfectly shakes off from itself the darkness of temporality. The more heavily it suffers these darknesses, the more fervently it seeks him, upon finding whom it will no longer suffer darkness. But because it never perfectly finds the one it seeks in this world, it therefore adds: "I sought him and did not find him." Because indeed it burns with the greatest desire, and whatever it holds does not suffice, until it finds the beloved, it therefore adds the constancy of its searching, saying: (Verse 2.) "I will rise, I will go about the city: through the streets and squares I will seek him whom my soul loves: I sought him, and did not find him."

2. What do we understand by the city in this place, if not the Church; what by the streets of the city, if not all those who are spiritual? While they walk toward the Church with their whole heart, they hold to the narrow way by which they are led to life. By the broad ways, however, the worldly are designated, who, while they follow their many pleasures, walk along wide roads. The bride therefore rises and goes about the city, because the perfect soul that despises visible things contemplates in her mind all the saints who are or have been in the Church, to see whether perhaps she may find something in their deeds that, by imitating, she might at some point arrive at the finding of the bridegroom. She searches through the streets and through the broad ways, because while she strives to reach the intimate embraces of the beloved through the imitation of the good, she sometimes finds not only in spiritual persons but even in carnal ones something that she can worthily imitate. But after she has indicated her twofold labor, she again adds the difficulty of finding, saying: "I sought him, and I did not find him." But while she seeks and does not find, she herself is also sought and found, and therefore it is added: (Verse 3.) "The watchmen who guard the city found me: Have you seen him whom my soul loves?"

3. What is designated by the watchmen, if not the teachers of the Church? For while they keep watch through writings and words for the sake of winning souls, whenever they perceive even a little desire, they never cease to increase it toward something better. These find the bride seeking, because they receive the devout soul striving to find Christ, and so that she may find him more quickly, they instruct her with precepts and kindle her with examples. Questioning them, she says: "Have you seen him whom my soul loves?" The bride is rightly said to question them, because while she searches through their writings or words with a watchful mind, speaking as if to those present even though absent through the attention of her soul, she inquires what they have understood concerning Christ. But because while she fixes her attention on them, she never finds the bridegroom, she consequently adds: (Verse 4.) "A little while after I had passed beyond them, I found him whom my soul loves."

4. She passes the watchmen a little way and finds her beloved, because while she considers them to be mere men, she raises her mind to the divinity, and there recognizes her bridegroom as equal to the Father, above men. She says she then found him when, aided by holy labors, she fixes the eye of faith somewhat upon the brightness of his divinity, as if contemplating through a mirror. How eagerly of mind she receives that small portion, she shows by saying: (Verse 4.) I held him and will not let him go, until I bring him into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who bore me.

5. The Mother of the Church was the Synagogue, because from her she received the holy preachers, from whom she accepted the word of truth, through which she was reborn in faith. The Church therefore holds fast to the Bridegroom until she brings him into the house of her mother, because until the end of the world she does not withdraw from faith in him and love of him, until she leads the Jews to faith. Not that she withdraws afterward; for him whom she loves in exile, she will love even more when she sees him in the homeland. But this had to be said concerning that time about which some could have doubted on account of opposing temptations. She will therefore bring the Beloved into the house of her mother when at the end of the world the Church, through preaching, introduces the Christian sacraments into the Jewish people. She will bring him into the bedchamber, as into the more secret part of the house, because from that same people she will convert so many that they will cast off all the burdens of the world and desire in their innermost thoughts to please God alone. Such people will make a bedchamber for the Bridegroom, because when they cast away from themselves all the filth of cupidity, they will prepare, as it were, a secret place in the mind in which he may take delight. Resting delightfully among them, free from their disturbance, the Bridegroom forbids the wicked, saying: (Verse 5.) I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the deer of the fields, do not stir up nor awaken the beloved until she herself wills it.

6. In this, certainly, he shows that after her conversion he will find some from the Synagogue of the same perfection as very many from the Church, since he takes equal delight in their rest and forbids any disturber from them, just as he forbade it from the Church. The Synagogue, therefore, having been brought to the faith, beholds the mind of the Church through the works she sees, and greatly admiring her sublimity, says: (Verse 6) 'Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?'

7. Therefore in the desert, that is, in this world, the Church, or every holy soul, lives while, exiled from the kingdom, it dwells among beasts, namely demons. For here, although she is not entirely abandoned by the bridegroom, nevertheless while she is in the flesh, she is not yet admitted to the certain vision of him; while she wanders from him through exiles and temptations, because while she does not yet reign with him, she seems to herself to be abandoned by him. On this account she always labors to ascend, so that she may sense him whom she greatly loves more and more, so that since she does not perfectly possess him in the desert, she may at least refresh herself in the very desire for him, so that thus strengthened on the way, she may at some time arrive at that which she has long desired. For there are some who, while they disdain all visible things, raise their minds to heavenly things, and because they see nothing among lowly things that might be sweet to them, turn their whole heart to things above. These strip themselves of all evil habits, despise the wealth of the world along with its desires, reach out in hope toward invisible things, and the greater the desire with which they cling to those things, the more and more painfully they bear the corruption they possess. These indeed ascend through the desert, because while they live in this world among temptations, the more they fear being abandoned while they remain here, the more strongly indeed they abandon these things, and the more fervently they advance toward those things in which, once they have arrived, they will no longer fear anything that might remove them. 8. But fittingly they are said to ascend like a column of smoke, because they are said to possess both the fragrance of good reputation and subtlety of mind. This smoke, however, is not said to be of just any substances, but is declared to come from the spices of myrrh and frankincense and every powder of the perfumer. For with myrrh the bodies of the dead are embalmed lest they decay, while frankincense is burned so that it may give off fragrance. By myrrh, therefore, the mortification of the flesh is signified; by frankincense, the purity of prayers is understood. The holy soul, therefore, while it mortifies its flesh from the decay of vices, while it renounces all the pleasures of the world through continence, as it were applies myrrh to the body that will die, so that after the judgment it may remain whole from eternal corruption. But when it kindles itself toward heavenly things with greater desire, and fervently casts out from the chamber of the heart all superfluous thoughts, it makes its heart, as it were, a censer before God. In this, while it gathers virtues through love, it arranges, as it were, coals in the censer, in which the mind may set itself aflame in the sight of God with the fire of charity. And while it sends forth fervent and pure prayers to God, it draws out, as it were, the smoke of spices from the censer, so that it may smell sweetly before the beloved, and may not cease to stir up all its neighbors to love of him through good examples. But it should be noted that it does not say "of every perfume," but "of every powder of the perfumer." For we make perfumes when we gather virtues in the heart. But when we more carefully examine our very virtues through each and every work, lest anything in our works remain unrefined, lest a vice lie hidden among the virtues, then without doubt we grind the ointments of virtues, as it were, into powder, so that our works may be the purer, the more carefully we do not cease to distinguish them from every encroachment of vices. Minds of this kind make themselves delightful to their beloved through his grace, and while they separate themselves from all worldly noise, they prepare within themselves a place in which the bridegroom may rest. Concerning this rest, it is added: (Verses 7, 8.) Behold, sixty mighty men surround the bed of Solomon, from the mightiest of Israel, all holding swords and most skilled in war, each one's sword upon his thigh because of fears in the night.

9. Solomon is interpreted as "the peaceful one." What then is understood by Solomon, if not Christ, of whom it is written: "He himself is our peace, who made both one" (Ephesians 2:14)? We therefore make a bed for Solomon when we cease entirely from the anxieties of the world, when we willingly rest in the desire of Christ alone, and cleanse our heart from every earthly desire so that he may rest with us. Now if the number ten is multiplied by six, sixty is of course completed. By ten, therefore, we understand the Decalogue of the law; by six, however, we understand this entire time which we see revolving in six working days. By the sixty mighty ones, therefore, we understand all the perfect who were before us in the Church; who, since they fulfilled the ten precepts of the law in the six days all the more strongly as they did so more spiritually, completed, as it were, the number sixty. These surround the bed of Solomon, because they fortify the holy mind in which Christ rests with their words and examples, by which they repel enemies coming to the entrance of the mind, while they sustain that mind by their examples and instruct it by their writings. These hold swords and stand forth most learned in warfare, because while they fulfill the word of God in deed, what they know in their heart, ever more and more learned, they conquer their enemy — namely, the devil — by wisdom and strength. For by the sword, the word of God is signified, and by the hands with which they hold the swords, their very deeds are represented. Of these it is well added: "Every man's sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night." What do we understand by the sword, if not the rigor of their way of life; and what by the thigh, if not the appetite of the flesh? Therefore all the elect who have already advanced to the perfection of life always carry a sword upon their thigh, because by the rigor of their way of life they continually break the appetite of the flesh, lest the enemy whom they fear in the night of this world, coming suddenly, should find a soft entrance, and through the softness of pleasure should lead them to graver sins all the more easily the more pleasure-seeking he finds them. Concerning the praise of Solomon, it is further added: (Verses 9–10.) "King Solomon made himself a litter of the wood of Lebanon. Its pillars he made of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; the interior he paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem."

10. The timbers of Lebanon are declared to be imperishable. Therefore King Solomon made himself a litter from the timbers of Lebanon, because, according to the grace of His foreknowledge, Christ built the holy Church from saints who would endure forever. He made its columns of silver, because He gave preachers to that same Church, whom He strengthened with the great uprightness of justice so that they might sustain it by their examples, and adorned with the brilliance of eloquence, as with the splendor of silver, so that they might instruct through their preaching. He made a golden reclining seat, because when He shone forth in the hearts of the perfect, He showed them the power of His divinity through contemplation. In which contemplation, when He displayed to them the beauty of heavenly joys, He composed, as it were, a reclining seat of gold, because He provided a place in which they might rest and be refreshed. This reclining seat is rightly said to be golden, because wisdom is better than all riches, and all things that are desired cannot be compared to it (Prov. 8:11). This reclining seat is reached through many labors, ascended through many tribulations, so that, if necessary, even the shedding of blood is permitted. Therefore the ascent is rightly said to be purple. For when the holy martyrs handed over their bodies to torments for the sake of eternal life, when they patiently endured scourges, the rack, fires, swords, and other innumerable tortures, did they not ascend to that reclining seat, that is, to the blessed life, by a purple ascent? But what are we wretches doing, who are not silver columns in this litter, because we neither sustain the holy Church by our examples nor teach by our preaching? We do not have a golden reclining seat in it, because, entangled in earthly thoughts, we do not rise up through contemplation to the splendor of wisdom. We do not even know the purple ascent, because, devoted to pleasures, we refuse to bear labors and persecutions for eternal blessedness. We are somewhat consoled by what follows concerning this litter: He paved the middle with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem. For what do we understand by the daughters of Jerusalem, since he said not sons but daughters, except us weak ones, who in the Church are not men but women, because we do not struggle bravely against vices, do not resist manfully, but submit in womanly fashion? For Jerusalem is interpreted as "vision of peace," by which the Church, which is our mother, is designated, because she continually contemplates perpetual peace. If, therefore, we are not silver columns in the King's litter, if we do not have a golden reclining seat, if we cannot ascend by the purple ascent, let us at least hold fast to love, which is common to all the elect and placed, as it were, in the middle. Through this, indeed, King Solomon recognizes us as being in his litter, because in it, along with the silver columns, along with the golden reclining seat, along with the purple ascent, he also paved the middle with love for the daughters of Jerusalem, because we arrive at the same blessedness of the Bridegroom together with the members of the Church, if we maintain unwearied love. There follows: (Verse 11.) Go forth, daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon in the diadem with which his mother crowned him on the day of his betrothal, and on the day of the gladness of his heart.

11. The blessed Mary, Mother of Christ, is believed to be she who crowned him with a diadem, because he himself assumed our humanity from her, as is recounted in the Gospel (Matt. 1). And this is said to have taken place on the day of his betrothal and on the day of the gladness of his heart, because when the only-begotten Son of God wished to unite his divinity to our humanity, when by his good will he was pleased to take his Church to himself at the appointed time, then with the exultation of love he willed to take on our flesh from the Virgin Mother. Living in her with sufferings for a time, he rejoiced exceedingly over our redemption. But since a diadem is assumed for glory, while in the taking on of humanity not glory but humility of the Word of God is recognized, how is he said to have been crowned with our humanity as with a diadem? Yet since his very incarnation was truly our glory—because we are his members through the communion of the body—Scripture rightly foretold the diadem of the members upon the head. Here, therefore, because he is praised by the bride, he in turn deigns to praise the bride, saying:

CHAPTER IV. (Chap. IV.--Verse 1.) How beautiful you are, my love, how beautiful you are and comely! Your eyes are like doves, apart from that which lies hidden within.

1. Because we have explained these things above (Chapter 2, n. 35), as best we could, we now avoid repeating the same things for the sake of preserving brevity. But because there is added 'Apart from what lies hidden within', we must briefly consider how it is connected with what precedes. The bride is therefore beautiful, and her eyes are those of doves, apart from what lies hidden within, because whatever she does in outward things is very honorable: that she lives simply among people, that she disdains to desire the things she sees in this temporal world, and if anything in this world nevertheless pleases her, she abhors going after her desires. But it is far more beautiful and honorable that she strives to keep the desire of her heart unstained, that she holds in her mind the brightness of eternal blessedness and gazes upon it with uplifted contemplation, that in those things which she sees within she sweetly rests and is purified. There follows: (Verse 1.) 'Your hair is like flocks of goats that have ascended from Mount Gilead.'

2. If by the eyes the preachers of the Church are designated, because they show the way to the rest, then by the hair the peoples are fittingly signified, because they bestow adornment upon the same Church. The hair of the bride is therefore said to be like a flock of goats, because the peoples of the Church, while ruminating on the precepts of the law and contemplating heavenly things by faith, are clean animals and graze on the heights. Now Gilead is interpreted as "heap of testimony." And what do we understand by a heap of testimony, if not the multitude of martyrs? For while they held the faith of Christ unconquerably, we know that they bore testimony to the truth even through their own death. And so that flock of goats ascends from Mount Gilead, because the people of the Church raise themselves by faith toward eternal things all the more, the more firmly they have known that the holy martyrs bore testimony to that same faith. There follows: (Verse 2.) Your teeth are like flocks of shorn ewes that ascend from the washing, all bearing twin offspring, and there is no barren one among them.

3. Just as by the eyes preachers are understood, because through them the Church is illuminated, so likewise they can be called her teeth, because through them unbelievers are consumed and little ones are nourished. Indeed, holy preachers are rightly called teeth, because when they elucidate Holy Scripture by expounding it to the lesser brethren, they chew bread, as it were, for the little ones, like mothers for their children, so that the weak may grow strong for harder fare. These are rightly said to be like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, because when they remember that they were washed from all sins in baptism, they willingly lay down the burdens of the world, so that they may advance toward attaining and preaching heavenly things all the more freely and easily. Of these it is added: All bearing twins, and there is no barren one among them. All holy preachers bear twin offspring, because while they surpass other people in the two precepts of charity, they preach the twofold love, and in it they do not cease to beget two peoples, Jewish and Gentile. Among them none is barren, because indeed one who disdains to beget spiritual children is not to be called a preacher. Of these it is further added: (Verse 3.) Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your speech is sweet.

4. These same preachers are called the lips of the Church, because through them she speaks the precepts of life to the peoples. They are fittingly compared to a ribbon, because while they restrain loose thoughts in the hearts of men by their preaching, they hold back, as it were, scattered hairs lest they spread out excessively. But what does it mean that they are compared not merely to a ribbon, but to a scarlet one, unless that by scarlet is understood the flame of charity, with which they burn, and through them others are kindled? Through them the speech of holy Church is sweetened, because while they practice what they preach, they set before men their preaching as if it were savory food. There follows: (Verse 3.) Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate, besides what lies hidden within.

5. What do we understand by the cheeks of the Church, if not those same preachers who, while they stand out among the peoples so as to benefit them, appear as if visible upon the face of the Church? By the pomegranate, moreover, the Church itself is signified, because while it nourishes many peoples in the unity of faith, it binds together, as it were, many seeds under one rind. The holy preachers are therefore a piece of pomegranate, because while they afflict themselves as seeds more vigorously than others in divine service, while they despise all worldly things, while they deny their own pleasures and utterly mortify their vices, and elevate others, and while they nourish others through their examples, they offer themselves as food, as if broken open and laid bare. But although the things that appear outwardly are great, they nevertheless retain greater things in secret, which the divine eyes alone see. Therefore it is added: Apart from what lies hidden within. There follows: (Verse 4.) Your neck is like the tower of David, which was built with battlements; a thousand shields hang from it, all the armor of the mighty.

6. For we stretch out the neck when we wish to see farther ahead. Therefore the holy preachers are fittingly called eyes for one reason, teeth for another, cheeks for yet another, and the neck for still another. Rightly, then, the neck of holy Church is said to be like the tower of David, because the holy preachers watch from afar the enemies approaching holy Church, and they resist mightily if any try to harm the Church, and, freely despising earthly things, they contemplate heavenly things. They are called the neck, therefore, on account of watching for enemies, and a tower on account of their strength and on account of the lofty contemplation of heavenly joys. This tower is rightly said to be David's, because David is interpreted as "strong of hand," by which Christ is signified, whose is whatever works with strength and loftiness. Of this it is added: 'Which is built with battlements; a thousand shields hang from it, all the armor of the mighty.' The tower of David is said to be built with battlements because the holy preachers are armed with miracles against hostile men, if need be. Against vices, however, they fortify themselves with shields, because lest they succumb to spiritual enemies, they defend themselves with virtues. On them hangs all the armor of the mighty, because whoever wishes to resist strongly the battalions of enemies sees in them examples by which he is able to vigorously overcome armed foes. A thousand here stands for perfection, because in the number one thousand all perfect numbers are completed. There follows: (Verses 5, 6.) 'Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows recede.'

7. By the two breasts, two orders of preachers are designated: one in circumcision, the other in uncircumcision. They are fittingly called like two fawns of a doe, because they are children of the Synagogue and feed on the mountains of contemplation. They are called twins because they preach in harmony and think in harmony. They feed among the lilies until the day breathes and the shadows decline, because they pursue purity tirelessly until on the day of judgment they receive the rewards which they continually contemplate during the labors of the night. The bridegroom follows, saying: (Verse 6.) I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.

8. What do we understand by the mountain of myrrh, if not the strong height of mortification in work, and what by the hill of frankincense, if not the lofty humility in prayer? The bridegroom therefore goes to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense, because he intimately visits those whom he perceives to be advancing to great heights through the mortification of vices and to be giving off a sweet fragrance through pure and humble prayers. For by these virtues the holy Church, or each individual soul, is made clean, because while she struggles against vices through the mortification of pleasures, and is frequently washed with tears through holy prayers, she cleanses away her stains so that she may please the bridegroom, before whom she strives to appear beautiful. The bridegroom through his grace brings her striving to its fulfillment, and kindly praises his own work in the bride and says: (Verse 7.) You are altogether beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you.

9. Since it is written: "No one lives without sin, not even an infant whose life is of one day upon the earth" (Job 24:4, according to the Septuagint), what does it mean that the bride is said to be entirely beautiful, in whom no blemish is found? For elsewhere it is written: "The stars are not pure in his sight" (Job 25:5). And elsewhere: "In many things we all offend" (James 3:2). And the apostle John says: "If we say that we have no sin, the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). And likewise: "If we say that we do not sin, we lie, and do not practice the truth" (ibid. 6). But when the holy soul cleanses itself from daily sins through repentance, when it daily washes away minor sins with tears and guards itself from greater ones, although it sins frequently, nevertheless through constant repentance it continually preserves its purity. For this reason it is commanded elsewhere: "Let your garments always be white" (Ecclesiastes 9:8). And that saying: "The just man lives by faith" (Romans 1:17). For although as soon as he sins he strays from justice, yet since he always believes in him who justifies the ungodly, and continually bewails his sins under that faith, through constant washings he retains his righteousness. Therefore to the bride who thus cleanses herself, it is consequently said: (Verse 8.) "Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon, come; you shall be crowned from the summit of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards."

10. For Lebanon is interpreted as "whitening." What then is understood by Lebanon if not baptism, in which holy Church is washed with water and is whitened from the blackness of sins through the Holy Spirit whom she receives and through faith in Christ? Whence it is written: "You will sprinkle me, Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed" (Psalm 50:9). From Lebanon, therefore, holy Church comes to the crown, because in Christ's baptism she receives faith, under which by Christ's grace she merits to be able to receive the reward. But what does it mean that "Come" is said three times, unless that whatever she works subsists in faith and in hope and in charity, so that fortified by these three virtues she may have the strength by which she does not grow weary on the way? For concerning faith it is said: "Cleansing their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9). And again: "Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11:6). Concerning hope it is said: "None who hope in you, Lord, shall be confounded. For who has hoped in you and been forsaken?" (Sirach 2:11–12). Concerning charity it is said: "Charity covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). And again: "If I distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body so that I burn, but have not charity, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). And the apostle John: "God is charity" (1 John 4:16). However, it can also be understood in another way that "Come" is said three times. For the holy bride comes to Christ while living in this world she works whatever good she can. She comes when at the hour of death the soul, that is the bride herself, is stripped from the flesh. She comes a third time when on the day of the last judgment she takes up the flesh again and enters the heavenly bridal chamber with Christ. There indeed she obtains the rewards of all her labors; there, with her enemies now utterly cast down and shut out, she is gloriously crowned. And therefore here it is said to her by way of promise: "You shall be crowned from the top of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards."

11. What is understood by Amana, Sanir, and Hermon, namely the names of mountains, if not the powerful of this age? The wealthier they are, the more exalted and stronger they appear to be among the weak. But from these mountains holy Church is crowned, because while she preaches the eternal kingdom, while by her own example she demonstrates that all things of the world are worthless, she bends even the powerful themselves to repentance, and prepares for herself a crown in the heavens for seeking them out. Thus indeed it happens that the humble cast down the proud, and the weak bring low the exalted. Therefore it is written: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low" (Isa. 40:4). But what does it mean that she is said to be crowned not only from the mountains but also from the peaks of the mountains, except what we see fulfilled — that already the most exalted persons themselves believe in Christ and obey His precepts through the preaching of the Church? For kings and emperors serve Christ, lay down their crowns, and through repentance seek pardon in the Church. If therefore by the peaks of the mountains we understand the highest persons, rightly by the dens of lions and the mountains of leopards are designated the various princes and ministers who serve cruelty and deceive by their cunning those whom they cannot harm by force. Leopards indeed always carry spots on their skin — by whom are signified any other than hypocrites or the quarrelsome? For in those who pursue credulity, demons recline as lions. In those, however, they build mountains as leopards, whom, while they permit them to mix certain virtues with their vices, they compel to seek the glory of praise for all their good deeds. These therefore truly imitate the variety of leopards, because while they pursue vices along with virtues, they are divided as if by dissimilarity of color on a mottled hide. But from the dens of lions and from the mountains of leopards the Church is crowned, because while through her preaching both the cruel are converted to piety and hypocrites to the unity of a humble life, for all these she will receive the reward she deserves. To her it is said again: (Verse 9). "You have wounded my heart, my sister, my bride; you have wounded my heart with one of your eyes, and with one chain of your neck."

12. By the eyes of the bride, the preachers of the holy Church are designated, as has been said; by the hair, the multitude of the people is figured; by the neck, moreover, the joining of the holy head and body is shown, which is understood as the faith of the Church. For through this faith the head and body are joined, since each person clings to Christ all the more tenaciously, the more faithful he is held to be in good conduct. Therefore the bridegroom is wounded by one of the eyes and by one hair of the bride's neck, because indeed he is afflicted even to the death of the cross, so that the unity of preachers and people in the Church might be confirmed. Concerning his love toward the bride, the bridegroom again adds: (Verse 10) How beautiful are your breasts, my sister, my bride!

13. What is more fittingly understood by the breasts in this place than the very love of God and neighbor, about which we spoke above? Through these the holy mind nourishes all its senses in love, while it is bound to its God by the tenacity of charity, and freely bestows upon its neighbors whatever benefit it has, whenever it is permitted. How much the bridegroom loves these breasts of the bride, he openly shows in the repetition of praise, saying: (Verse 10.) Your breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the fragrance of your ointments surpasses all spices.

14. What we said above concerning the breasts of the bridegroom, we consider can also be understood here when he speaks of the bride. 'And the fragrance of your ointments is above all spices.' By ointments, indeed, are understood those very virtues which arise from charity. For even the reprobate sometimes possess spices with which they give off fragrance, because they possess certain virtues and perform good works; but because they live without charity, nothing they do is pleasing in the sight of God. Hence at the judgment, when they shall say: 'Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' (Matt. 7:22), it shall be answered to them: 'I never knew you; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.' Rightly, therefore, the ointments of the Church are said to give off fragrance above all spices, because even though the works of the reprobate sometimes please men, those which holy Church prepares from charity give off fragrance in the divine nostrils without ceasing. There follows: (Verse 11.) 'Your lips, O bride, are a dripping honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of frankincense.'

15. The preachers of the Church are rightly said to be the lips of the bride, because through them she speaks to the peoples, and through them the little ones are instructed in the faith, since through them the hidden things of divine Scripture, as if secrets of the heart, are made manifest. Now in a honeycomb, the honey lies hidden and the wax is seen. Rightly, therefore, the lips of the bride are called a honeycomb, because when great wisdom is held in the frailty of the flesh, honey is, as it were, hidden in wax. But when any one of the elect preaches, when he reveals heavenly joys to those who do not know them, then the honeycomb drips, because he makes manifest to his hearers through the frailty of the mouth how great a sweetness of wisdom lies hidden in the heart. Whence it is written: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (1 Cor. 4:7). Therefore it is added: "Honey and milk are under your tongue." To be sure, false preachers carry honey on their tongue which they do not have under their tongue, because they sometimes preach heavenly joys as though they were genuine, while they themselves desire earthly goods with all their longings. But the holy mind displays honey on its tongue, because it shows the sweetness of wisdom by speaking, and by preaching truthfully, it refreshes its hearers as if with the sweetness of honey. It bears milk, because with teaching suited to them it nourishes all the little ones in the Church. But all these things it reserves for itself under its tongue, because it carries its inner sweetness constantly within. For while it casts aside earthly things, while it rejects the bitterness of vices, it feeds itself in its interior senses on the sweetness of wisdom, from which it gathers strength, so that as it advances toward eternal things, it cannot grow weary in the labor of the journey.

16. To whom it is well said: "And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of frankincense." What is designated by these garments, if not holy works, by which the shame of preceding evils is covered, lest it be seen? For hence it is written: "Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Rev. 16:15). Frankincense, moreover, is placed by signification for prayer, as it is written: "Let my prayer ascend like incense in your sight" (Ps. 141:2). The holy soul therefore, in this world, performs as many good works as it can, and while working well, stretches itself toward eternal things with holy desire and intention; nor does it do any good except with that intention, that it might at some time be able to arrive at the heavenly things which it loves. Rightly therefore the fragrance of its garments is said to be like that of frankincense, because in all its works it prays, while with the intention of arriving there, it performs whatever good works it can. There follows: (Verse 12.) "A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed."

17. The garden represents holy Church, because when she brings forth many peoples in faith, she sends out beautiful flowers like good soil. This garden is rightly said to be enclosed, because it is fortified on every side by the wall of charity, lest any reprobate enter within the number of the elect. Each holy soul is also understood to be an enclosed garden, because when she hides her good works by the intention of eternal life, when she utterly despises human praises, she surrounds herself with that good intention, lest the ancient enemy be able to break in to seize what is within. She is also called a fountain, because when she continually thinks on heavenly things, when she always gathers the knowledge of the Scriptures into the belly of memory, the holy mind does not cease to produce living waters within herself, which she is able to offer to thirsting neighbors so that they may be refreshed. Whence it is written, the Lord saying: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life" (John 4:13). And elsewhere: "He who believes in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly" (John 7:38). But why is that fountain said to be sealed, unless because spiritual understanding is hidden from unworthy minds? For to the unfaithful man it is said by the Lord: "The Spirit breathes where He wills, and you hear His voice, and you do not know whence He comes or where He goes" (John 3:8). And again it is written: "The light of Your countenance is sealed upon us, O Lord" (Psalm 4:7). For what is there called a sealed light is without doubt here declared to be a sealed fountain. For the Holy Spirit both illuminates and bedews the mind He fills, and bedewing illuminates it: so that from His light it may see what to desire, and from His dew it may refresh itself, lest it grow weary. There follows: (Verse 13.) "Your shoots are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of orchard trees."

18. What does holy Church send forth, if not holy words together with holy works, by which she begets and nourishes her children? When she leads some all the way to martyrdom and instructs others in holy conduct — sending the former, red with the blood of martyrdom, to the eternal homeland, while presenting the latter, living in holy works, to their neighbors as an example of holiness — what else does she send forth but pomegranates and the fruits of fruit trees? For pomegranates contain a multitude of seeds beneath a red rind, while the fruits of fruit trees hold within themselves the sweetness of refreshment. Just so, when martyrs labor under the fire of tribulation, when they do not hesitate to pour out their blood outwardly for Christ, they gather inwardly within their minds a multitude of virtues. Likewise, all the saints who live in the peace of the Church bear the fruits of fruit trees, because when they do holy works, they provide examples to their neighbors, by the display of which those who wish may refresh themselves. For however many saints there are in the Church, whether they burn with the fire of suffering or grow up quietly in the peace of the Church, they do not cease, while they live, to build up within themselves the fragrance of holy virtues like a paradise of sweetness and delights. Scripture reveals the abundance of this paradise when, under the voice of the bridegroom, it designates various virtues by the names of trees, saying: (Verse 14.) Henna with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all the trees of Lebanon, myrrh and aloe with all the finest perfumes.

19. For what is designated by these diverse species of spices, if not the fragrance and progress of holy virtues, which is found in the saints? From these species, indeed, royal ointments are prepared; from these, healings of bodies are obtained. Rightly, therefore, they designate the virtues of souls, which, when gathered and compounded, both the good fragrance of reputation goes forth, and fitting health is restored to sick souls. But still the praise of the Church is repeated by the Bridegroom, when it is added: (Verse 15.) A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, which flow with force from Lebanon.

20. Rightly in the sendings forth, she is described as a fountain of gardens and a well of living waters. For what is designated by the fountain and the well, if not Holy Scripture? Which so generates the water of wisdom that it both always refreshes those who drink and yet does not cease to flow. It is fittingly said to belong to gardens, because Holy Scripture belongs especially to those in whose minds the seeds of virtues spring up. But we must ask why Scripture is called both a fountain and a well at the same time, since a fountain appears on the surface, while a well, lying hidden in the depths, exercises all who seek it with greater labor. But it should be known that divine Scripture, being clear in certain passages and presenting itself as obscure in others, is sometimes drunk easily as it is found, like a fountain, and sometimes requires great searching in order to be grasped once found. That the understanding of Holy Scripture is designated by water is shown elsewhere when it is said by the divine voice concerning the reprobate: I will send upon them a thirst for water and a hunger for bread (Amos 8:11). And through Isaiah it is said: The Lord will take away from Jerusalem and Judah every support of bread and every support of water (Isaiah 3:1). Here it should be noted that the support of bread is taken away first, and afterward the support of water. For when the weighty sayings of Scripture are not sought out so as to be obeyed, the mind gradually falls away from knowledge, so that at some point even easy things are not grasped by the understanding. But these waters are fittingly said to flow from Lebanon with force, for Lebanon, as has been said, is interpreted as "whitening." In baptism indeed we are whitened, when, the blackness of sins having been removed, we are reformed to the purity of new life. From Lebanon, therefore, the waters of the well flow with force, because in baptism all the elect receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, by which, being illuminated, they understand the meaning of Sacred Scripture. This knowledge of Holy Scripture flows with such force that when it touches the elect, it removes them from love of this life and carries all who cling to it across to eternal joys by the power of its rushing. For this is why it is written in the Psalm: The rushing of the river makes glad the city of God (Psalm 45:5). For the rushing of the river makes glad the city of God, when through the gift of the Holy Spirit the wisdom of Scripture, flooding in powerfully, gladdens the holy Church, or the mind of anyone who receives it, by its infusion. At the coming of this Spirit, the malignant spirit is rebuked, when here in what follows it is said: (Verse 16.) Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind: blow through my garden, and let its spices flow forth.

21. For what is designated by the North wind, which constricts with cold and makes things numb, if not the unclean spirit, who, while he possesses all the reprobate, makes them numb to good work? By the South wind, truly, that is, the warm wind, the Holy Spirit is figured: who, when He touches the minds of the elect, releases them from all numbness and makes them fervent, so that they eagerly perform all good things. For hence it is said: "Turn again, O Lord, our captivity, as a torrent in the South" (Psalm 125:4). Let the North wind arise, then, and let the South wind come and blow through the garden of the Bridegroom, and let its spices flow; that is, let the evil spirit depart from the Church or from each soul, and let the Holy Spirit come. Who, coming, may pour the fire of charity into their thoughts, and, having poured Himself in, may release them from the numbness of negligence. When He does this, the spices flow; because when, with the Holy Spirit arriving, the heart that had previously been numb rouses itself to works, soon the fragrance of holy activity spreads sweetly through all the neighbors, so that all who hear may kindle themselves to the same things, and, with the South wind blowing, that is, with the Holy Spirit pouring Himself in, they may send forth the odors of virtues, so that everywhere the holy garden may bloom, and after the flower may produce fragrant and refreshing fruit. Into this garden the bride invites the beloved, when she adds:

CHAPTER V. (Chap. V.--Verse 1.) Let my beloved come into his garden, that he may eat the fruit of his apples.

1. The beloved comes into the garden and eats the fruit, when Christ visits souls and satisfies himself with the delight of good works. Whence he also adds, saying: (Verse 1.) I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I have gathered my myrrh with my spices; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk.

2. The beloved reaps myrrh with spices when Christ, having brought the mortification of life to perfection, cuts off His chosen one from this life and brings him into the heavenly storehouse with a holy reputation. He eats the honeycomb with the honey when He fulfills the holy desire lying hidden in holy works, and brings the holy soul to the banquet of the saints to be fattened with His delight. He drinks His wine with milk when He refreshes Himself both with the perfection of some and, lovingly cherishing the innocence of others with piety, brings both to the eternal banquet. He invites all those remaining to follow their example, when He adds: (Verse 1.) Eat, my friends, drink and be inebriated, dearest ones.

3. It must be noted first of all that those who eat are called friends, while those who drink and become inebriated are declared to be the dearest beloved. By these words it is given to be understood that in this passage, to eat is good, but to drink and become inebriated is a greater good. For there are indeed certain persons in the holy Church who hear the divine precepts in such a way that they learn to love heavenly things more than earthly ones, give much to the poor out of desire for those things, guard themselves from wicked works, seize nothing from anyone by violence, willingly hear the preaching of the Church, instruct themselves in the faith, and exercise that faith through holy works — and yet they have wives, raise children, and care for their possessions, although they set Christ above all these things. These persons truly eat and are friends, because in hearing holy Scripture they take such refreshment for themselves that, even though they do not yet rise to the summit of perfection, nevertheless, perfect according to their own measure, they live without fault in the divine precepts. And while the parents of blessed John — namely Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1) — strove to observe this, through angelic revelation they merited in their old age to receive a son, than whom no greater has arisen among those born of women, and who himself merited to point out with his finger and to baptize the very Savior of the world (Matthew 11). Of his parents it is said: "They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord without blame" (Luke 1:6). But there are others who hear or read divine Scripture with such eagerness that, having at once renounced all earthly occupations, they seek only heavenly things; they abandon parents, wives, homes, children, and all transitory things, desiring only to follow and embrace Christ. Out of longing for Him they afflict themselves with fasts, pour forth tears, devote themselves to divine meditations, think only on what is eternal, give themselves to contemplation, laboring to this end: that forgetting the things which are behind, they may stretch themselves forward more and more to the things that lie ahead (Philippians 3). What indeed are these persons doing, what else, but drinking until they are inebriated — so that while they forget all earthly things through desire, they rightly deserve to be called by the heavenly Bridegroom not merely friends, but dearest beloved? Of these the same Bridegroom continues and says: (Verse 2.) "I sleep, and my heart watches."

4. Indeed, the hearts of the elect of this kind can rightly be called the heart of the bridegroom, for the more they flee the outward things that are in the world, the more secretly they come to know the inward things of the bridegroom. Of these the same bridegroom doubtless speaks elsewhere: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and I will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21). The bridegroom therefore sleeps, and his heart keeps watch: because while Christ, now glorified, rests in blessedness, whoever loves him perfectly labors to reach him. Of this watchfulness the bride spoke above: "While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance" (Song of Songs 1:11). For that his resting is called sleeping is made clear by what is read elsewhere: "In peace, in the selfsame, I will sleep and rest" (Psalm 4:9). Yet the bride herself can also say this of herself. Let her therefore say: "I sleep, and my heart keeps watch." As if a holy mind were speaking openly, saying: While I sleep outwardly from worldly tumults, I weigh in wakeful interior thought what heavenly things there are. For when holy men despise all earthly things, when they flee entirely the tumults of the world, when they take up leisure in the way of God, they by no means abandon those things in order to give themselves over to torpor; but laboring inwardly, they strive to behold in their heart what those things are for which they were made. For they do not sleep in order to grow sluggish, but they rest from transitory things in order to contemplate eternal things more freely. Yet sometimes the bridegroom rouses them for the benefit of their neighbors, and calls them back from the leisure they love so that they may profit those among whom they live. Hearing his voice, the bride says, even while she sleeps: (Verse 2) "The voice of my beloved, knocking." What he says while knocking, she adds: (Verse 2) "Open to me, my sister, my friend, my dove, my spotless one." She also joins the reason for his cry, saying: (Verse 2) "For my head is full of dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."

5. While the bride sleeps, the beloved knocks that she may open to him; because while the holy mind attends to itself through rest, Christ endures many sinful works in this world; which unless spiritual men gird themselves for teaching, carnal people never recognize on their own, nor care to correct. The bridegroom therefore wills that leisure be sometimes set aside, and that all spiritual persons be stirred to the edification of their neighbors; because while perfect men attend only to themselves through interior quiet, the bridegroom grieves that worldly people fall more and more toward worse things, since they know him less and less on account of the silence of spiritual persons; which he himself makes manifest when he says: 'Because my head is full of dew, and my locks with the drops of the nights.' What is meant by the head of the bridegroom, if not God, and what by the dew in this place, where it is spoken in lamentation, if not the coldness of minds? For it is written: 'The head of Christ is God' (1 Cor. 11:3). And concerning the coldness of any carnal mind it is again written: 'As a cistern makes its water cold, so has she made her malice cold' (Jer. 6:7). The head of Christ, therefore, is full of dew, because many who are placed in the Church both believe him to be God and yet, persisting in coldness, are not kindled to the ardor of charity. By his locks, moreover, we understand the peoples whom we know to hang from and weigh upon the faith of his divinity, as if from the head of Christ. But the locks are said to be full of the drops of the nights; because while they hang suspended in the time of this dark temporality, they flow more and more with the drippings of iniquities. The bride is roused to kindle these, when any spiritual person is called from rest to the prelacy of the Church for the edification of many. But since she fears that if she comes to the prelacy, it will be necessary to be occupied with the cares of the world; and thus, while through the occasion of edifying many she inclines herself to temporal things, she may lose her quiet and even be stained with the filth of sins — therefore she responds to the crying bridegroom, saying: (Verse 3.) 'I have put off my tunic; how shall I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them again?'

6. His bride stripped herself of her tunic, because she cast off all the outward things by which she was burdened. Concerning this tunic it is said: "Now let him who has a tunic sell it and buy a sword" (Luke 22:36). For he buys a sword by selling his tunic, who renounces temporal things for the sake of eternal ones, and living in holy conduct, acquires the word of preaching. Of which it is said: "And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). Moreover, the bride washed her feet, because while the holy soul lives in holy leisure, she diligently calls her works back to memory, and whatever she finds sordid in them upon examination, she bewails with daily tears and groans. She washed her feet, therefore, because she lamented the past works by which she had walked dissolutely through this world. She washed her feet, because, washing away her sins with tears, she longed to appear clean in the sight of her beloved. She fears to soil these feet again, because she is greatly anxious lest, if she is placed in a position of authority, walking through earthly things, she should again take up what she had put aside. For this reason she withdraws from her leisure unwillingly, because while she is far from the waves of the sea, she lives more securely, as if placed upon the shore. But her beloved does not lightly endure the death of his neighbors. And therefore, drawing nearer, he does not hesitate to rouse her by his own hand, when it is said: (Verse 4.) "My beloved put his hand through the opening, and my womb trembled at his touch."

7. The beloved sends his hand to the bride through the opening so that she may arise, when through subtle understanding he makes manifest to her by inspiring how great is the power of divine operation: namely, that he is able to save even amid dangers; that even in peace no one is saved except through him; that he does not abandon those hoping in him in the tumult of battle. At his touch the belly of the bride trembles: because the more the holy soul feels the divine power presently through interior visitation, the more strictly she judges whatever carnal thing she discovers in herself. For the greater the charity with which she burns for him whom she desires in her mind, the more timidly she submits herself to him, and the more she fears lest the bridegroom find something in her on account of which he would wish to dismiss her from himself. Therefore, obedient to the bridegroom, she prepares herself for labor; so that just as she appears familiar to the bridegroom in rest, so also she may appear devoutly serving in labor. Therefore she adds, saying: (Verse 5.) I arose to open to my beloved.

8. Having been touched, she rises to open: because when she receives the spirit of love more abundantly than usual, she immediately thinks about the edification of her neighbor; and by preaching she acts so that, with hearts opened, the Bridegroom, coming to dwell in her neighbors, may find an entrance for entering. She also demonstrates examples of works to her hearers along with her preaching, saying: (Verse 5.) My hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh.

9. What is understood by hands, if not works; what by myrrh, if not the mortification of the flesh? The hands of the bride who preaches therefore drip with myrrh; because whoever preaches to others, if they wish to benefit many, must strive to mortify the carnal life in all their work. But that this may be done with great discernment, he makes clear when he adds, saying: 'My fingers are full of the choicest myrrh.' For just as many fingers are divided from one hand, so in one holy manner of life diverse virtues are found through discernment. For the virtue of generosity is one thing, the virtue of frugality another. The work of humility is one thing, that of frank rebuke another. We do one thing when we keep ourselves in silence for our own edification; another when we speak to our neighbors for their benefit. But the fingers are said to be full of the choicest myrrh; because in everything that is done, it is always necessary that the mortification of carnality be maintained. This is rightly called the choicest when, in every temptation that is brought by the enemy, carnal pleasure is unceasingly guarded against lest it be admitted. When this happens, all hardness of mind is dissolved, and a way is prepared for the Bridegroom to enter the heart. Hence what follows: (Verse 6.) 'I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside and passed on.'

10. We make a bolt for the door when, through the pleasures of the flesh, we bar the entrance of the heart against the Bridegroom. But we open the bolt when, having removed fleeting pleasures, we soften our heart—which had previously been hard—into the love of Christ, and make a free entrance for the Bridegroom knocking at the door. Since this cannot happen suddenly while we live in this flesh, it remains for us to do so more and more each day. For no one, as it is written, suddenly becomes perfect. For sometimes, while we seek our Lord, placed as we are in this corruption, He seems to withdraw further from us rather than to draw near. And therefore it follows: 'But He had turned aside and passed by.' Now the Bridegroom touches His beloved, now He turns away: because when He sees us sluggish, He stirs us to love; but when it seems to us as we labor that He can be grasped, then lest He be grasped, He passes on and turns away. This is done by His greatest grace in us, so that namely neither do we, lying in our sluggishness, lose Him entirely, nor grow proud from what seems to us a full apprehension of Him. Yet as soon as He has withdrawn, He returns; and lest the holy soul be estranged from her Beloved for too long, He pours Himself into the longing soul by the word of His inspiration, and melts her. Whence the bride exults, saying: (Verse 6) 'My soul melted when my Beloved spoke.'

11. She says that she melted at the word of the Bridegroom, because when Christ pours himself through his spirit into the desiring soul, he soon dissolves all hardness of heart: and sometimes he melts the mind into such great tears that it can scarcely contain that which it rejoices to contain within itself, and inwardly marvels at what it had been and what it suddenly sees itself made into. While it feels this melting, it desires to apprehend it more perfectly; and sometimes while it thinks upon this very thing, what it was just feeling it no longer feels. Whence it is stirred to seek, that it might find the same thing again; but sometimes even when it has long wearied itself, it does not find what it just now held so present. Therefore there follows: (Verse 6.) I sought him, and did not find him: I called him, and he did not answer me.

12. The bride seeks the beloved, but does not find him; because the mind inspired by God continually desires to enjoy that intimate sweetness, but the corruption which it bears in this life prevents it. She calls, therefore, and no answer is given to her: because through her prayers and works she longs to be satisfied with the sweetness of his presence, but what she calls upon does not come according to her desire. It remains, therefore, that returning to herself she may know herself, and through the Holy Scriptures, aided all the more by that taste, seek her beloved. And this is what follows: (Verse 7.) The watchmen who guard the city found me; they struck me and wounded me; the watchmen of the walls took away my cloak.

13. While the bride is troubled in her search for the beloved, she encounters the watchmen of the city: that is, while the holy mind afflicts itself with desire for her Bridegroom Christ, she receives the words of the preachers in the divine Scriptures, and through them, as long as she is exiled from Christ, she devotes herself to the love of the very one whom she was seeking. What exercise she finds in them, she adds: 'They struck me and wounded me; the watchmen of the walls took away my cloak.' The watchmen strike the bride and wound her, because the holy preachers, when they speak of heavenly things, move the loving soul and pierce it with a greater love. They take away the cloak, because if anything of worldly pomp remained in the heart, they remove it from the soul by their exhortations. They take away the cloak, because sometimes before the words of the preachers we did not know ourselves, and they, while speaking, uncover everything that lay hidden within. While this happens, they are to be loved all the more, and they are to be implored more devoutly to speak to the beloved on our behalf. This the bride does when she adds: (Verse 8) 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell him that I languish with love.'

14. For when we disclose our thoughts to holy men, when we spread out our desire to them—whether they are still living among us or have already entered eternal life—and pray through God that by praying for us they may offer to the Lord Christ the desire with which we are moved, what else do we do than adjure the daughters of Jerusalem to announce to the beloved, to whom they are nearer than we are, that we are sick with love? But the Saints themselves, if they are still with us, both pray for those who ask them to pray and, when asked to carry the message, out of humility inquire as though they did not know, saying: (Verse 9.) What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? But because the more ardently they love, the more sweetly they repeat words about him, they say the same thing again: (Verse 9.) What is your beloved more than another beloved, since you have so adjured us? The Bridegroom is called the beloved from the beloved: so that, clearly, through the repetition of love, the greatest love of the speaker may be shown. Or Christ is rightly called the beloved from the beloved, because if we love the Son, we consequently love also the Father from whom he is. The bride responds by continuing, saying: (Verse 10.) My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.

15. Christ is declared to be white and ruddy; because, committing no sin whatsoever, He held the beauty of justice in its entirety, and yet, as though He were a sinner, He approached the passion of death. To whom it is said through the prophet: "Why then is your garment red?" (Isaiah 63:2.) He is truly chosen out of thousands, because from the whole mass of the human race, no one is found without sin: but He not only was without sin, but also redeemed sinners by His justice and blood. There follows: (Verse 11.) "His head is the finest gold: his locks are like the branches of palm trees, black as a raven."

16. The head of Christ is God. This head is rightly called gold, because in comparison with the Creator every creature is reckoned a most worthless thing (1 Cor. 11). His locks are like clusters of palm branches, black as a raven. What do we understand by the locks of Christ, if not all the faithful? For while they guard the faith of the Trinity in their mind, and cleaving to God, do what they believe, they confer honor upon the one who bears them, as though hanging from his head. Moreover, the palm tree greatly thrives by ascending on high, and by its symbolism it signifies victory. Therefore his locks are like clusters of palm branches, because all the elect, while they always raise themselves to the heights of virtues, through the grace of God at length bring themselves to victory. Yet they are black as a raven, because however much they raise themselves by virtues, they always nevertheless recognize themselves to be sinners. There follows: (Verse 12.) His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, washed with milk, and sitting beside the fullest rivers.

17. The eyes of the bridegroom are like doves, because the preachers of Christ who show us the way live in simplicity. Moreover, they are said to be beside streams of water, because they always dwell in the refreshment of the divine Scriptures. Indeed, they are washed with milk, because by the grace of creative wisdom, as by a mother's milk, they have been cleansed from sins through baptism. What do we understand by the fullest streams, beside which they sit, if not the profound and hidden sayings of sacred Scripture, which we examine, by which we refresh ourselves, while we drink them in by reading or hearing? For this reason also doves are accustomed to sit beside streams, so that they may see the shadow of flying birds in the water, and casting themselves over it, they thus escape the talons of predators. So holy men perceive the deceits of demons in sacred Scripture, and from the description which they see, as from a shadow, they recognize the enemy. And while they devote themselves entirely to the counsels of Scripture, so that they do nothing except what they hear from the response of the Scriptures, as if casting themselves into the water, they elude the enemy. These streams are called most full, because concerning whatever difficulties counsel is sought in the Scriptures, it is found fully regarding all things without diminishment. (Verse 13.) His cheeks are like beds of spices, planted by perfumers.

18. If preachers are designated by the eyes, fittingly by the cheeks are figured those in the Church who are reported to have ended their lives by martyrdom in the Church. For while they do not hesitate to pour out their blood for the faith of Christ, they redden like cheeks on the face of the Bridegroom. Through them indeed the beauty of the Christian faith is made public: because they show toward how great a reward of faith they press forward, when they die for it. These are rightly said to be like beds of aromatic spices: because while the elect are tested by martyrdom in the steadfastness of faith, they are spread abroad through the cultivation of virtues and the fame of holy reputation, as if by the fragrance of spices. But the beds of spices are planted by perfumers; because the holy martyrs are both strengthened in their confession by the preachers who preceded them, and are brought forward by those who follow as an example of imitation to the peoples. By those who went before, the perfumes of virtues are cultivated; by those who follow, the perfumes of examples are taken up. Whence it also follows: (Verse 13.) His lips are lilies dripping choice myrrh.

19. For what do we understand by the lips of the Bridegroom, if not those very ones whom we call the preachers of Christ? Who, while they preach the deaths of the martyrs to the peoples, distill as it were myrrh as a seasoning for the mortification of the flesh. This myrrh is rightly said to be the first, because no one is so mortified as he who is ended by martyrdom for Christ. For he said "first" not with respect to time, but with respect to dignity. What does it mean that the lips of the Bridegroom are said to be lilies, except that those through whom Christ speaks must necessarily be pure, and through them a good fragrance is spread? Among whom was the apostle Paul, who said: 'We are a good fragrance to God in every place, both among those who perish and among those who are being saved' (II Cor. 2:15). But it should be noted that whatever of justice and fortitude is found in the Church is drawn from Christ himself through the examples of his works. Therefore there follows: (Verse 14.) 'His hands are turned columns of gold, set with hyacinths.'

20. For what is designated by the hands of Christ, if not the holy works which He performed in the world, and which are set before us for imitation? For He Himself says: "He who loves me, let him follow me" (perhaps John 12:26). And the Apostle: "He who says he abides in Christ ought to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6). His hands are said to be turned on a lathe, because His holy works, without the imposition of any iniquity, proceeded on every side in justice. For what is turned on a lathe revolves in its roundness without obstruction. So the works of Christ revolved in the roundness of rectitude, because no fault clung to Him that might prevent His justice from being carried through in its fullness. His hands are also said to be golden, because whatever He outwardly performed among men was inwardly ordered in the beauty of His divinity. The hands of the Bridegroom are also said to be full of hyacinths, because whoever imitates His works with a devout heart is enriched in recompense with the gifts of eternal happiness. Whence the same Redeemer says: "He who serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my servant be" (John 12:26). There follows: (Verse 14.) His belly is of ivory, set with sapphires.

21. What is signified by the belly, if not mortality? And what by ivory, if not incorruption? For ivory is regarded as a very durable bone, and is taken up for the adornments of kings. Therefore the belly of Christ is rightly said to be ivory, because the mortality of Christ is brought through to immortality, since through the resurrection he is established in eternal life unto the glory of his Father, namely the eternal King. Of whom it is said: "Christ, rising from the dead, now dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him" (Rom. 6:9). He is truly taken up as an adornment of kings, because whoever is proven to be king and lord of his own flesh is adorned by the very mortality and resurrection of Christ, by love of knowledge and hope of immortality. Whence it is said elsewhere: "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1 Cor. 1:31). But the belly is said to be set apart with sapphires, because in our corruption which he bore, he wove heavenly works into our sufferings through the miracles he performed. For the sapphire, which bears an airy color, fittingly signifies the heavenly deeds that were displayed in his miracles. And the belly of Christ is distinguished with sapphires, because while he worked divine miracles amid the sufferings of the flesh, corruption was, as it were, varied by incorruption. By this dispensation the apostles were instructed in the faith and stood firm and strong for enduring sufferings. Therefore there follows: (Verse 15.) "His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold."

22. For by the legs we understand the apostles, through whom he went around the entire world, and as they preached the faith, he scattered it among the peoples who heard. To whom he himself says in the Gospel: "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15). But the legs are said to be marble columns, because they support the Church unbendingly, while she is strengthened against all adversaries by their preaching and examples. Moreover, the columns are founded upon golden bases; because from the sayings of the prophets, so that they might stand strong, they received the faith whole and entire. Whence the first of the apostles himself says: "We have the more sure prophetic word, to which you do well to attend as to a lamp burning in a dark place" (2 Peter 1:19). For they are called golden because they are known to shine with the light of wisdom. There follows: (Verse 15.) His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

23. Lebanon indeed is a mountain on which very tall and fragrant trees grow. Moreover, Lebanon is interpreted as "whitening" or "making bright." And concerning Christ the apostle Paul says: "He himself was made for us by God wisdom and sanctification and righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30). Rightly therefore his appearance is like that of Lebanon, because through him we who believe are made white; if we cling to him by our roots, we are made lofty. From his grace we also receive whatever fragrance of good reputation we may have. He is also said to be chosen like the cedars, because the Father speaks of him: "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased" (Isa. 42:1). Now the cedar is a very tall tree, fragrant and incorruptible. But Christ is loftier than the cedars, because although he is man, he does not cease to be God. Of whom it is said through Isaiah: "And he shall be very exalted" (Isa. 52:14). Christ is also more fragrant than all others, because he himself says of himself: "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valleys" (Song 2:1). And through the bride it is said to him: "We will run after the fragrance of your ointments" (Song 1:3). Of whom there rightly follows here: (Verse 16.) "His throat is most sweet, and he is wholly desirable."

24. For through the throat voices are conveyed, and flavors are drawn into the stomach. What then is understood by the throat of the Bridegroom, if not the Testament of Christ, through which Christ speaks to us, and in which how sweet the Lord is, is tasted by the faithful? He is therefore said to be wholly desirable; because through the fact that the holy soul hears all good things about him, she desires more and more always to see him. After so many of his good qualities have been recounted, she consequently concludes and says: (Verse 15.) Such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

25. But with so many praises enumerated and so many gifts displayed, who upon hearing does not desire, who upon attending does not burn with longing? For every faithful soul, the sweeter and more abundant the things it hears about its Redeemer, the more ardently it yearns and desires to know yet more manifest things about Him, saying: (Verse 17.) "Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with you?" For when one neighbor speaks to another about Christ, when one inquires of another how He may be found, what else is being searched out but how He ought to be sought? Although this can also be understood of the Synagogue, so that, once converted, it questions the Church, to which the Church immediately responds.

CHAPTER VI. (Chap. VI.—Verse 1.) My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the bed of spices, that he may feed in the gardens, and gather lilies.

1. The Beloved descends into his garden to the bed of spices, because in visiting the Church, he comes with greater grace to those whom he knows to send forth from themselves to their neighbors the fragrance of good reputation through holy works and examples of virtues. He feeds in the gardens when he delights in the virtues of many souls. He gathers lilies when he cuts down each of the perfect from this life. But because the holy Church in her children is so joined to Christ by faith, sustained by hope, and bound together by charity, that she loves nothing apart from Christ, and holds him inseparably close to herself through faith and love, she therefore adds: (Verse 2.) "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine, who feeds among the lilies."

2. It should be noted, indeed, that the Synagogue will one day be converted to the faith through the preaching of the Church, so that, denying itself, it will follow Christ alone, and will love Christ with the same desire with which the Church loves him, whom she loves alone above all others. The Bridegroom now addresses her, already made his friend, already joined to himself as his bride, rejoicing and saying: (Verse 3.) You are beautiful, my friend, sweet and comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army set in battle array.

3. Beautiful and beloved, sweet and comely like Jerusalem, is said to be the Synagogue; because, once converted, she will follow the four holy Gospels just as the Church does. Jerusalem indeed is interpreted as "vision of peace." By which the holy Church is well figured; because while she always suffers tribulation in the world, scorning the way, she contemplates by running what the peace of the heavenly homeland may be, trusting in him who said to his disciples: "In the world you will have tribulation; but be confident, I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). Worthily then the converted Synagogue is called beautiful and beloved and sweet and comely like Jerusalem; because while she imitates the holy Church, she practices the precepts of the four Gospels, from which she receives beauty of character so as to please, gathers the exercise of holy work so as to cling to friendship, learns the sweetness of meekness so as to endure, and displays the appearance of comely conduct, so as to draw others by example. Concerning which it is consequently said: "Terrible as an army set in array." It is known to those with experience that when soldiers go forth in battle array against enemies, if they advance in close and united formation, they are feared by the enemies coming against them; because while they see no entrance through a gap in them, they do not find, hesitating, how to penetrate them. And this becomes an impenetrable defense for them, that being arranged in harmony they protect themselves by means of themselves. For while they make a rampart for themselves from themselves, they leave no entrance for enemies to get through to them, and when attacked to be killed, they themselves more easily kill. So it happens among the multitude of the faithful, which while it does not cease to fight against malignant spirits, must be bound together by the peace of charity in order to be safe. For if it holds peace, it appears terrible to enemies. If it is divided through discord, it is easily penetrated on all sides by enemies. Therefore let it fortify itself with peace, bind itself with unity, unite itself with charity; so that while it suffers no damage within itself through division, it may always follow its leader rejoicing without confusion. In peace indeed the eye of the mind is cleansed, so that it may be directed toward the very vision of blessedness. Which no one beholds as it is in this life; because it is impossible to possess the homeland while each one of us groans in exile. Therefore to the holy soul burning with desire, yearning, drawing near, the Bridegroom responds, saying: (Verse 4) "Turn your eyes away from me, for they have made me fly away."

4. We direct our eyes toward the Bridegroom when we open the gaze of the mind even a little to see the blessedness of Christ. But we are commanded to turn our eyes away, lest we suppose that, however much we see, we behold it as it truly is. For the very eyes have made him fly away; because the more he is seen, the more he is recognized to be invisible. And he flies away from us; because however slightly grasped by a flash of the mind, he reveals himself to be incomprehensibly exalted above every effort of ours. Indeed, the eyes of the mind bring it about, as it were, that he flies away; because through that small measure that is seen, he appears very far off and flying away from us, as has been said. There follows: (Verses 4–6.) 'Your hair is like flocks of goats that have ascended from Mount Gilead. Your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep that have come up from the washing; all bearing twins, and there is no barren one among them. Like the rind of a pomegranate, so are your cheeks, apart from what is hidden.'

5. All these things said above about the Church, we have explained as best we could; therefore we now avoid repeating the same things about the Synagogue. There is one thing, however, that is not repeated in the same way: because there it says "like the pieces of a pomegranate," but here it says "like the rind of a pomegranate." I think nothing else is signified by this except the blood of the martyrs who will die under the Antichrist, and the unity of the faith under which many of the Jews will be bound together. While they endure the shedding of blood in their steadfastness, they will be adorned by the tribulation of faith as if by the redness of the rind. There follows: (Verse 7.) "There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines; and of young maidens there is no number."

6. What is designated by the queens, if not the souls of the saints, who, while they prudently govern their bodies and preside over others, acquire for themselves an eternal kingdom? For there are some in the holy Church who mortify their flesh and afflict it for the sake of God, conquer vices, subject demons to themselves as though tyrants, wisely govern all their impulses so that they run in an orderly manner, preach to others what they themselves do, and fighting with the sword of the word, snatch many from the jaws of demons. What are such souls if not queens, who, while they greatly love Christ the King, their spouse, through the mingling of love and the abhorrence of lust, beget royal children, that is, faithful peoples? To all of whom the blessed apostle Peter said: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own" (1 Peter 2:9). But the queens are said to be sixty. For indeed the number ten multiplied by six is completed in sixty. And what is signified by ten, if not the ten precepts of the Law; and what by six, if not the labor of this life? For in six days we work what is necessary, and on the seventh we are commanded by the Law to rest (Exodus 23 and 31). Rightly therefore the queens are said to be sixty; because while the ten precepts are practiced in this age, and this age unfolds in six working days, in them the number ten is, as it were, multiplied by the number six. For each one preaches the ten precepts of the Law, in the practice of which they exercise themselves in the temporal condition of this corruption. Therefore they multiply six by ten, or ten by six; because they demonstrate by their works and proclaim by their word that this entire time must be spent spiritually in fulfilling the ten precepts of the Law. The reprobate sometimes behold their praise in this world; and so that they may be similarly praised, or so that they may somehow obtain some advantage in this life, they too become preachers on their own. Concerning whom it is rightly added: "And eighty concubines."

7. For concubines do not truly but feignedly love their masters, and they seek from them not the posterity of children but present advantage, nor do they exercise themselves in continence but desire to fulfill their lust. So false preachers exist in the Church: because while they love not Christ but gain or praise, they join themselves to Christ not spiritually and chastely but carnally and lustfully. Rightly therefore they are called concubines, because they follow Christ whom they preach not in spirit but in the flesh. Of whom the apostle Paul said: "Many indeed walk according to the flesh, but not according to Christ" (Phil. 3:18). Of whom he himself also says: "Whom I often told you of, but now tell you even weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly." Of whom he himself likewise says: "Such as these do not serve the Lord Jesus, but their own belly" (Rom. 16:18). Yet these concubines are rightly said to be eighty in number, because even though they love earthly things with their whole heart, they nevertheless speak of heavenly things. For we multiply the number eight by ten and arrive at eighty. By ten, as has been said, the Decalogue is signified; by eight, the resurrection, because our Redeemer is shown to have risen on the eighth day. And preachers, even if they are false, nevertheless through desire manifest both the divine Scripture and the resurrection in which we believe through their word. For if preachers were to preach something else, they would not be among Christians; of whom Truth says in the Gospel: "The Scribes and Pharisees sit upon the seat of Moses: what they say, do; but what they do, do not wish to do" (Matt. 23:2).

8. But because by the preaching of both false and true preachers very many come to the faith, and with the elect many enter who do not attain to the lot of the elect, therefore it is added: "And of the young maidens there is no number." For since it is written: "Adolescence and youth are vanity" (Eccles. 11:10, from the Hebrew), what do we understand by these young maidens except souls which, while they pursue the vain things of this world that they love, exceed the number of the elect? Of whom it is said through the Psalmist: "I have declared and spoken; they are multiplied beyond number" (Ps. 39:6). For the Apostle Paul makes clear that the number of the elect has been established with God, when he says: "The Lord knows who are his" (2 Tim. 2:19). And through himself the Lord says: "I know whom I have chosen" (John 13:18). Because he knows them not imperfectly but knows them perfectly, without doubt he also knows the number in which they are chosen. Of whom it is said through Paul: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:29). Rightly, therefore, "of the young maidens there is no number," because while through the vanity they love they do not run toward the number of the elect, remaining outside they do not, as it were, come into the divine knowledge. To whom the Truth itself will say at the future judgment: "I do not know you" (Matt. 25:12); and: "Depart from me, all you who work iniquity" (Ps. 6:9). But while the reprobate seek worldly things and divide their mind through manifold desires, every holy soul draws itself into the number of the elect, despising the many things it sees, ardently desiring the one thing it does not see; and as long as it does not possess it, it nourishes itself in faith and unites itself in love. And while it follows that which is one and the selfsame, from many such souls one Church is formed, of which it is said through the Bridegroom: (v. 8) "My dove is one, my perfect one is one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen one of her who bore her."

9. Our mother is the regenerating grace, in which one dove is chosen, because she chooses only those who remain in simplicity and are not torn from unity. For indeed many of the faithful, while they focus on the same thing, while they nourish one another with one desire for Christ, while having one heart and one soul they bind themselves together in charity, form one body from many members. And all living in the simplicity of unity, they constitute one dove. She alone is called perfect and chosen by her mother, because outside this Church of which we speak, no one is nurtured to perfection, no one to life, except through this one alone by the fostering of grace. Of which it is well added: (Verse 9.) The daughters of Zion saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and the concubines praised her.

10. The daughters of Sion are the daughters of the Church, who, while they contemplate eternal life in this flesh, are raised up from the pilgrim Church to the reigning Church. The daughters of Sion see the dove and proclaim her most blessed: because holy souls, when they behold the virtues of the Church, burst forth in praise and yearn for her blessedness. For the holy Church is nourished by grace as its mother, while she is instructed by faith, fed on the flesh of her Bridegroom, washed by his blood, and fattened on divine Scripture. Strengthened by such nourishments, she conquers demons, suffocates vices, tames the flesh, fortifies the spirit, and awaits life. Whoever beholds all these things rightly rises at once into admiration and pronounces her most blessed, because he sees to what great glory she rises through so many virtues. The concubines also praise her along with the queens; because even if false preachers contradict by their works, nevertheless in their words they set forth to the people the same things as the true ones do. Of such the Truth himself says: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Matt. 15, from Isa. 27). This he openly reveals when he says again: "For they say, and do not do" (Matt. 23:3). Of whom it is also said through the apostle Paul: "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny him" (Tit. 1:16). But holy men confess God by both words and deeds; because what they believe they do, and to the good things they do, they also draw others by their words and examples. By their virtues adversaries are stirred to faith, while they admire in them both the devotion of faith and the constancy of works. Whence also the Synagogue is raised to faith, when she contemplates with admiration what the merits of faith are in the Church, saying: (Verse 9.) "Who is she that comes forth like the rising dawn, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array?"

11. The holy Church advances like the rising dawn in the last judgment, because, having left behind the darkness of corruption, she is renewed by the brightness of incorruption. She is rightly called chosen as the sun, because she is brought to the same glory to which her head, Christ, who is declared to be the sun of justice, has attained. Whence it is that the same sun says: "I will, Father, that where I am, there also my servant may be" (John 19:26; 17:24). Yet this can also be understood of the members of the same Church still living in this flesh. For there are some who with great attention consider what the torments of the reprobate are, and who strive to examine their own deeds without self-flattery. And when they recognize that they have sinned, and through this fear going to the torments of the reprobate, they suddenly abandon the darkness of iniquity and desire to be kindled by the light of justice. Soon they rise to holy work, and through the good works they do, they begin to shine before their neighbors. These without doubt advance like the rising dawn, because, suddenly dispelling the night of sin, they are expanded more and more toward the light. Thus the soul that was previously in darkness now appears shining, and the soul that was even darkened within itself now shines for others with the light of holy work. Of which it is rightly added: "Beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun." For the moon, while it illuminates the night, shows to dim eyes the path by which a person may walk. So indeed every soul that leaves behind darkness and stretches itself toward holy work, while it gives its neighbors an example of working well, as it were scatters light upon darkening eyes. For when sinners behold a good work and turn themselves to doing the same, they return to the path like those wandering in the night who return by the light of the moon. This holy soul therefore, while it offers examples to sinners, shines like the moon in the night. But when it grows more and more, and from day to day through the habit of work receives the light of justice so perfectly that it even provides examples of imitation to the good—it which previously appeared worthy of imitation only to sinners—then indeed the moon becomes the sun, because she who was shining for those wandering in the night now manifests the light of truth to those walking in the day. Hence what follows: "Chosen as the sun." Of which it is rightly added: "Terrible as an army set in array." Because this has already been said, it is not necessary to explain it again, lest it seem to produce tedium. The Bridegroom therefore follows, and states the reason whence such great virtue can grow in the Church. For she is renewed by his visitation, and what is dark in her is illuminated by his gaze. And hence it is that he adds, saying: (Verse 10) "I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look whether the vines had flourished and the pomegranates had budded."

12. What do we understand by nuts, if not all the perfect, who while they retain divine wisdom within their bodies, carry as it were a kernel in a fragile shell? For there are very many in the Church who attend constantly to divine Scripture, and tasting how sweet the Lord is, desire to taste yet more; they ruminate on holy joys in their heart, and ruminating they grow stronger more and more. And yet outwardly, to those who do not know them, they appear worthless, because it is unknown what sweet food they carry within their interior. What are these if not nuts, who carry the sweetness of the kernel within, but outwardly display the worthlessness of the flesh? Of their number was the Apostle, who said: "We have this treasure in earthen vessels" (2 Cor. 4:7). The garden of nuts, therefore, is the hearts of the saints, who while they love, carry heavenly sweetness in their inmost depths. Whence it is written in the Psalm: "How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you!" (Ps. 30:20). But what does it mean that the Bridegroom descends into the garden of nuts to see the fruits, when he ought rather to see the nuts? Nevertheless, it should be known that he frequently visits the hearts of the perfect and manifests to them the sweetness of his kindness, so that through them he may afterward come to the weaker ones, and through them may know how much they have advanced in the increase of righteousness. Whence it is written: "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there is any who understands or seeks God" (Ps. 13:2). For when divine goodness illumines the hearts of the perfect and urges them to the care of their neighbors through the solicitude of charity, what is this other than that, coming to the garden, he surveys the fruits of the valley through those over whom he presides? For the Lord is said to see or to know when he exhorts his saints whom he illumines to see. But what does it mean that he descends to see not the fruits of the mountain but the fruits of the valley, unless that he grants the regard of his mercy to those whom he knows to persist in humility? Of whom it is said through the Psalmist: "For the Lord is exalted, and he regards the lowly, and the lofty he knows from afar" (Ps. 137:6). And the Lord himself says through his own voice from the prophet: "Upon whom shall my spirit rest, if not upon the humble and quiet one, who trembles at my words?" (Isa. 66:2). The Bridegroom then continues and says: "And I would see whether the vineyards had flourished and the pomegranates had budded." The vineyards flourish when in the Church children are newly begotten in the faith and are prepared for holy conduct, as it were for the solidity of fruit. The pomegranates bud when all the perfect build up their neighbors by their examples and transform them into the newness of holy conduct through preaching and the display of good works. That pomegranate, namely the apostle Paul, had budded, who said: "My little children, whom I again bring forth in labor until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). For thus it is done in the holy Church, that through the good the wicked are converted, through the perfect the imperfect are nourished, until they themselves also come to perfection and lead the weak, just as they themselves were led, to better things. This Christ the Bridegroom of the Church perceives by visiting, and by regarding joins together the holy body — he who is known to have assumed a body of weakness so that the whole Church together might be transformed into the body of his glory. Whence blessed Paul says: "Who will transform the body of our lowliness, made conformable to the body of his glory" (Phil. 3:21). All these things the Synagogue, at last awakened at the end of the world, will perceive, and will reproach itself for having been ignorant of these things for so long, saying: (Verse 11) "I did not know: my soul troubled me, because of the chariots of Aminadab."

13. As if she were saying: Seeing so many miracles taking place in the holy Church, why did I not perceive them in so great a time? Why did I remain unbelieving? Why did I persist so long through my unbelief in the darkness of ignorance? But she is disturbed on account of the chariots of Aminadab, because at a certain point she is stirred up through the preaching of Christ to receive the faith. For Aminadab is interpreted as "the willing one of my people." And rightly, without doubt, Christ Jesus is called by the Father "the willing one of my people," because He truly descended with willing love to save the people, and in order to raise us from death, He accepted death on the cross with pious will and gracious kindness. Whence He Himself also says to the Father: "I will sacrifice to You willingly" (Psalm 53:8). And one of the redeemed, speaking to Christ, said: "Hear me, O Lord, for Your mercy is kind" (Psalm 68:17). Therefore the Synagogue is disturbed on account of the chariots of Aminadab, because when at last she contemplates the four Gospels of Christ running through the world, burning in the hearts of men through faith, she is soon confounded by the darkness of her own unbelief, and when a salutary confusion arises, she is moved to repentance. To whom the Church speaks kindly, saying: (Verse 12) "Return, return, O Shulamite, return, return, that we may gaze upon you."

14. For "Sunamite" is interpreted as "captive." The Sunamite, therefore, is called to return; because the faith of the Synagogue will be offered by the Church at the end of the world, so that she who is held captive by demons under the yoke of unbelief may recover her former dignity. And rightly she is urged to return four times; because the Jews are now dispersed into the four parts of the world, and wherever they may be, as has been said, they will be converted at the end of the world, as was foretold through the prophet: "If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved" (Isaiah 10:22). Let the Sunamite return, therefore, so that we may gaze upon her, that is, let the Synagogue be converted to the faith, and in her repentance let her show to all how great an evil she was committing when she was nailing her God to the cross. But immediately, when the Church desires to gaze upon the faith of the Synagogue, the Bridegroom responds as if asking in congratulation, and says:

CHAPTER VII. (Cap. VII.--Verse 1.) What will you see in the Shulammite, except the dances of the camps?

1. For camps indeed belong to those who wage war. Camps, therefore, will be seen in the Shunammite, because for the faith which she now attacks, she will then fight valiantly against the faithless. But because it will come about through the holy Church that the Synagogue is converted, because she will be converted to the faith by the words and examples of preachers, therefore the Bridegroom rightly turns to the praise of the bride, saying: (Verse 1.) How beautiful are your steps in your sandals, O daughter of the prince!

2. The daughter of the prince is called the holy Church, because she is regenerated into new life by the preaching of Christ, who through the power of his divinity rules over every creature that he made. What are the shoes of the Church, if not the examples of the preceding fathers, by which she is fortified on the road of this world, so that through all the tribulations that arise, she may walk confidently shod? Hence elsewhere Paul says to the preachers: "Your feet shod in preparation for the Gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15). For shoes are made from dead animals. And we spiritually shoe our feet when we take examples from the holy fathers who are dead in the flesh, so that after their likeness we may overcome the temptations of this world. It can nevertheless be understood that the Church is shod when in her preaching she is fortified by the death of Christ to endure the evils that arise against her. Beautiful therefore are the steps of the shod bride, who is the daughter of the prince; because before the divine eyes the service of any elect person preaching according to the examples of the fathers is pleasing. There follows: (Verse 1.) The joints of your thighs are like jewels that have been fashioned by the hand of a craftsman.

3. By the two thighs of the bride, the two peoples of the Church are signified: by the joining of the thighs, the concord of the preachers is designated, by whom the peoples are united, while circumcision and uncircumcision are instructed by them in the Catholic Faith. These are like necklaces; because while in the wisdom by which they shine they do holy works, they bear, as it were, gems set in gold. Of whom it follows: "Which were fashioned by the hand of a craftsman." Necklaces are fashioned by the hand of a craftsman, because by the work of Christ the preachers are made beautiful and useful. There follows: (Verse 2.) "Your navel is a rounded goblet, never lacking mixed wine."

4. The navel is also the order of holy preachers, which is fittingly called a goblet, because while the people are instructed through them, they are intoxicated with spiritual wine by their ministry. It is fittingly called "turned on a lathe," because it is necessary that the tongue of the preacher be turned according to the customs of all people. It "lacks not cups," because what he serves to others, he must drink more abundantly than the rest, and more fully contain what he gives. There follows: (Verse 2.) Your belly is like a heap of wheat, hedged about with lilies.

5. By the belly, the breadth of the people is designated: which is fittingly surrounded by lilies like a heap of wheat; because while intent upon holy works, being prepared for the heavenly granary, it is fortified on every side by the examples of the saints, that it may persevere; of whom it is again said: (Verse 3.) "Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle."

6. The two breasts are two peoples: because while they always live in fraternal love, they nourish one another with the milk of piety in charity. They are fittingly called two fawns, twins of a gazelle: because while begotten in faith through the preaching of the Synagogue, they are nourished in its Scriptures, directing themselves toward the hope of eternity, they feed in harmony as if upon the mountains. Concerning these preachers it follows: (Verse 4.) Your neck is like a tower of ivory.

7. The neck of the bride is said to be like a tower of ivory; because the preachers of the Church are considered both lofty through contemplation, and strong through the exercise of holy works, and precious through divine wisdom. Of whom it is again said: (Verse 4.) Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude.

8. Heshbon is interpreted as the girdle of sorrow. The eyes of the bride are therefore said to be like the pools in Heshbon, because while they are saddened by their pilgrimage, and strengthened by sorrow, they gird themselves against spiritual enemies; they wash themselves with tears, so that through them the peoples may be fittingly cleansed before God. Moreover, they are at the gate of the daughter of the multitude, because they stand in faith, through which they lead the multitude of the Church to heavenly things. There follows: (Verse 4.) Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus.

9. In the nose the discernment of smell is found. By the nose, therefore, the order of preachers is designated: because through them the fragrances of virtues and the stenches of vices are made known to us. But the nose stands like a tower of Lebanon: because once preachers are washed in the water of Baptism, and are made white by daily tears from the sins they committed against God, they become worthy to be raised higher and higher through fortitude. But the tower looks toward Damascus: because any holy preacher always opposes sinners. Damascus indeed is interpreted as "bloody," and it is said to the sinful nation: Your hands are full of blood (Isaiah 1:16). But because he spoke of the members, it is fitting that he speak of the head. Therefore it is added: (Verse 5.) Your head is like Carmel, and the hair of your head like the purple of a King bound in channels.

10. The head of the Church is Christ, who is fittingly called Carmel, because through the passion He endured, He was exalted to the glory of the Father. Of Him it is written: "And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains" (Isa. 2:2). On Carmel, Elijah praying obtained rain (1 Kings 18), and we praying on Carmel obtain rain, when believing in Christ we desire Christ and receive from the Father the watering of grace for which we ask. In the moral sense, however, the head of the bride is called the mind, because just as the members are governed by the head, so all our thoughts are directed by the mind. Now Carmel is interpreted as "knowledge of circumcision." Therefore the head of the bride is said to be like Carmel, because every holy mind knows how to be worthily circumcised: it knows that whatever is done in the body is nothing if the mind has been unclean; and if it is made into a temple of Christ, it is inhabited by Him. Because the Pharisees did not do this, blessed Stephen said to those who were killing him: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51). Now the hair of his head is said to be like the purple of a king bound to channels. For purple is tied by bundles in channels, over which when water is poured, it runs through the channels to the garment placed beneath, so that the garment may be dyed; and from this it receives its name, so that what is dyed with purple color is called purple. All of these things correspond to the holy mind, if they are understood. For the hairs of the head are the thoughts of the mind, which are bound in channels, because they are restrained in the divine Scriptures lest they flow uselessly. Water is poured over them, which dyes the royal garment, because in the thoughts of the holy mind, heavenly grace is received and composes the whole soul into a heavenly ornament, so that the whole soul may burn with desire for eternal life and long to go to the eternal Bridegroom even through the blood of martyrdom. For Paul says of the whole Church: "Who presented to Himself the Church, a garment without spot or wrinkle" (Eph. 5:27). And of each of the Church's faithful it is said: "You shall clothe yourself with all these as with an ornament" (Isa. 49:18). Thus rejoicing over the bride made dyed, thus beautiful, thus made purple, the Bridegroom speaks, saying: (Verse 6) "How beautiful you are and how graceful, dearest one, in your delights."

11. It should be noted that she is called "most dear" in delights, because no one arrives at the love and intimacy of Christ who does not strive to abound in the delights of Holy Scripture. For thus it is said: 'For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath' (Matt. 13:12). For whoever abounds in these delights is refreshed; and being refreshed by them, is continually prepared to receive greater things. Whence also it is said to this most dear bride: (Verse 7) 'This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.'

12. For the palm, as it grows, is narrow at the bottom and spreads wide at the top. So the holy soul begins from the lowest and smallest things, and gradually growing to greater things, arrives at the breadth of perfect charity. For no one, as it is written, suddenly reaches the highest. In the Psalm it is said of the just man: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree" (Psalm 91:13). The breasts of the bride are the two precepts of charity, which possess the soul, inebriate it with heavenly wine, and nourish it. Yet the palm can also be understood as the cross of Christ. For the palm, growing to a very great height, produces the sweetest fruits; and the cross of Christ has prepared heavenly food for us. The bride's stature is compared to it, because whoever, greatly loving Christ, worthily imitates Him does not hesitate to die for Christ. Concerning the palm, the Bridegroom continues, saying: (Verse 8.) "I said, I will go up into the palm tree, and I will take hold of its fruits; and your breasts shall be like clusters of the vine; and the fragrance of your mouth like apples."

13. He spoke truly, and ascended: because just as before the ages he determined to die for our death, so at the end of the world, merciful and faithful, he fulfilled it. Therefore he ascended the palm tree and took hold of its fruits: because, suspended on the cross, he found fruit, took hold of it, and bestowed it upon us. Whence what follows was fulfilled: 'And your breasts shall be like clusters of the vine.' Truly through the cross the breasts of the bride become like clusters of the vine; because in the death of Christ the senses of the soul received the two precepts of charity, by which the soul, being fed, may become intoxicated, and being intoxicated, may forget the things behind and stretch forward to the things ahead. With these breasts she also nourishes all her neighbors, and leads those who have been strengthened along with her to those things which she desires. Whence it is written: 'Let him who hears say: Come.' There follows: 'And the fragrance of your mouth is like apples' (Apoc. XXVIII, 17). Pomegranates, about which so much has been said above, are recalled here, to whose fragrance the fragrance of the bride's mouth is quite fittingly compared. We said above (Chapter 4) that by pomegranates the martyrs are signified. But by the mouth of the bride here we think her preaching should be understood. For while she preaches the virtues of the martyrs, while she stirs the hearts of her hearers to their likeness, while in the preaching of the one faith she reveals that there are many virtues, what else does she carry in her mouth but the fragrance of pomegranates? Because what she preaches both displays the redness of the rind in martyrdom, and demonstrates in the virtues a multitude of seeds under the same faith as if under the same rind. Concerning which it is also added: (Verse 9.) 'Your throat is like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and teeth to ruminate upon.'

14. For the voice is in the throat. Through the throat, therefore, preaching itself is again signified, which is said to be like the finest wine, because it intoxicates the minds of men so that they forget the things behind, as has been said, and running forward to what lies ahead, they do not grow weary. Of this wine the bride, receiving the word from the mouth of the Bridegroom, adds: 'Worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and teeth to chew upon.' Such is the bride's wine that it is worthy for the beloved to drink, because when holy Church preaches the true faith, when she stirs her hearers to holy works, when she demonstrates by words and deeds that to love Christ alone, to imitate Him, to embrace Him, is good — what else does she do but make her wine worthy to be savored in the mouth of the Bridegroom? And rightly is Christ said to drink it, because it is lovingly drunk by His body, that is, by the faithful peoples. Concerning this it should be noted that all drink, but the lips alone and the teeth alone chew, because when the Church preaches through her saints, all indeed hear, but not all discern how great is the power of the sayings that are spoken. But the lips and teeth chew, because when the more perfect recall the words to memory after hearing them, when they ponder whatever they have heard through constant practice — as if bringing back to the mouth what they have taken in — they perceive how great is the power of the food they eat. For this reason it is written in the Law that an animal which does not chew the cud is held to be unclean (Lev. 11), because whoever does not meditate again on the good things he hears or reads, being empty of holy thoughts, necessarily thinks impure ones. The bride continues and says: (Verse 10.) 'I am my beloved's, and his turning is toward me.'

15. As if she were saying: since by faith and love I cling to Christ alone, follow Him alone, desire to see Him alone as one God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, I joyfully experience the sweetness of His regard, the kindness of His visitation, the delight of His turning toward me, and experiencing this I proclaim: (Verses 11, 12.) "Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us lodge in the villages; let us rise early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has flourished, if the blossoms are bearing fruit, if the pomegranates have bloomed: there I will give you my breasts."

16. While the bride, having experienced the sweetness of the Bridegroom, refreshes herself, she also thinks of her neighbor, whom she loves as herself by the Bridegroom's own command; and because she understands the Bridegroom's precepts, she desires that others may understand them as well, saying: 'Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field.' For the field, as Truth itself attests, is this world (Matt. 13). The Bridegroom goes forth into the field with the bride when the Word of God, having taken on flesh, is shown to the world in the bridal chamber of the Virgin. He dwells in the villages when He visits the nations through faith, which He generously bestows upon those who receive it. He rises early to the vineyards, because after His resurrection, sitting in the glory of the Father, He also defends the churches He has built. He looks to see whether the vineyard has blossomed, because He weighs every advance of the Church with strict examination. He sees whether the blossoms are bringing forth fruit, because He discerns to what degree of progress the tender and imperfect ones are growing. He also sees whether the pomegranates have bloomed, because He regards each of the perfect and recognizes what usefulness they have among their neighbors, as if perceiving fruit in blossoms — about which there rightly follows: 'There I will give you my breasts.' In the pomegranates the bride gives her breasts to the Bridegroom, because in the perfect there lives a twofold love, by which, while they nourish the weak members in the Church, they nurse Christ, as it were, whom they recognize to be present in the least of His own. About which it is rightly added: (Verse 13) 'The mandrakes have given forth their fragrance at our gates.'

17. What is understood by the mandrake, namely a medicinal and fragrant herb, if not the virtue of the perfect? By this virtue, whenever the perfect heal the infirmities of the imperfect, they are proven to be true physicians in the faith which they preach, that is, at the gates of the Church. When they bestow examples of good works all around through holy fame, they sprinkle, as it were, a fragrance by which the sick may be healed. There follows: (Verse 13.) "All fruits, new and old, my beloved, I have kept for you."

18. Here by "fruits," the meanings of the Holy Scriptures are understood; which, as they come down to us from the holy Fathers and are believed, rise up like fruits from trees, by which souls are delighted. Therefore the Bride keeps all fruits, new and old, for her Beloved; because the catholic Church so receives the New Testament that she does not reject the Old: she so venerates the Old that she always understands the New spiritually within those carnal sacrifices themselves; rejoicing, that is, that Christ has come in the New, while in the Old always expecting him who was to come, and saying:

CHAPTER VIII. (Cap. VIII.--Verse 1.) Who will give you to me as my brother, nursing at the breasts of my mother, that I may find you alone outside, and kiss you, and now no one may despise me?

1. Placed under the old Law, she awaited Christ, and ardently desired him who remained in the secret of the Father to come forth through the flesh to human eyes. Whence David too, in his longing, said: 'Arise, and do not reject us forever' (Ps. 43:23). And elsewhere: 'Bow your heavens and descend' (Ps. 144:5). And Isaiah, greatly desiring to see him, said: 'O that you would rend the heavens and come down' (Isa. 64:1). The Bride therefore wishes to find the Bridegroom outside and to kiss him, because, placed under the Law, she longs for him to appear in the flesh—so that she might serve him through love, whom previously, not having received grace, she served more through fear than through love. After his kiss she is now despised by no one, because after Christ came and poured the spirit of liberty into his faithful ones, the Church is honored even by the angels themselves. Hence it is that Joshua worshipped the angel (Josh. 5); but to John, who wished to worship him, he said: 'See that you do not do it, for I am your fellow servant and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus' (Rev. 22:9). But because the Church received him when he came, while the Synagogue rejected him—she who will receive and love him again at the end of the world—therefore the Church follows after and says: (Verse 2) 'I will take hold of you and lead you into the house of my mother and into the chamber of her who bore me. There you will teach me, and there I will give you a cup of spiced wine and the juice of my pomegranates.'

2. She leads the one she has seized into the house of her mother, because the Synagogue at the end of the world will preach Christ, in whom she believes; and when he has been received through the preaching of the Church, there he will teach the Church: because she will rejoice to be taught, when she sees the Synagogue, now made the same body, being instructed together with her. The Church will give a cup seasoned with wine, because she will preach to the Synagogue itself the New Testament together with the Old; and she will season the cup, as it were, with wine, because she will surround the sweetness of the Gospel with the testimonies of the Law, which is harsh, so that it may be held more firmly. She will offer the juice of her pomegranates, because she will set forth the examples of brave men who maintained the unity of the Church even in martyrdom, so that the Synagogue may be set ablaze in their likeness, and, strengthened by the examples of preceding martyrs, may not succumb to the persecutions of the Antichrist. For when she has heard the victories of brave fighters, she will not hesitate to enter the fight in imitation of them. Which she openly reveals when she adds: (Verse 3.) His left hand is under my head, and his right hand will embrace me.

3. The left hand of Christ is held to be the present life, while the right hand is the blessed life. Moreover, our head is spiritually understood to be the mind. Therefore the Synagogue, now converted by the preaching of the Church, strengthened by examples, and uplifted by imitation, says: 'His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.' As if she were saying: since now at last I hold the faith of Christ, I experience his ineffable and desirable grace, and I feel a sweetness I did not know how to desire; now I set aside all earthly things, I even despise the very life of the flesh for love of him, and I long with all my desires to see his blessedness. For indeed, when something embraces a thing, it is understood to hold the thing it embraces entirely within itself. Therefore the left hand is under the head and the right hand embraces, when the holy soul places beneath the mind those things it sees, and with every effort and all its thoughts seeks after those things it does not see. For there are indeed now some who pursue heavenly things with such desire that they count all visible things as nothing; they occupy their mind with heavenly pursuits without ceasing, so that they desire to do nothing else; the soul disdains whatever lies outside spiritual activity, loves this alone, despises the rest, unless perhaps it recognizes those things to be necessary. These truly have the left hand under the head, because with their mind raised up to the blessedness of Christ, they see the present life beneath them. And the right hand of Christ embraces them, because heavenly love, holding them within itself on every side, protects them. Such men indeed delight in holy leisure, in which they enjoyably partake of the love of the blessed life through contemplation. In this contemplation they cleanse the eye of the heart, so that, even while still placed in this flesh, they may see God insofar as it is granted to human weakness — by whose vision they illuminate themselves and refresh themselves with his sweetness. These already experience to some degree that blessedness about which it is said by the voice of Truth in the Gospel: 'Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God' (Matt. 5:8). For what is future already begins to be fulfilled in them, because even though they still live in the flesh in this world, yet through that which is greater in them, they are already beyond the flesh. By these is fulfilled what is commanded by the divine voice through the Psalmist: 'Be still and see that I am God' (Ps. 46:11). For inasmuch as they live without the tumult of the world, they fix their mind on the vision of God through desire and contemplation. And since many such people from the Synagogue will come through conversion at the end of the world, as we believe, it is rightly understood as spoken of such people: 'His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.' Of whom and for whom the Bridegroom consequently speaks: (Verse 4) 'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up or awaken the beloved, until she herself wills.' But since we have explained this above (at verse 7 of chapter 2, etc.), we decline to explain it again. But concerning this same Synagogue now made into the Church, the daughters of Jerusalem, wondering, ask and say: (Verse 5) 'Who is this who comes up from the desert, abounding in delights, leaning upon her beloved?'

4. Holy Church, or any holy soul, ascends from the desert, because being placed in the exile of this pilgrimage, she reaches toward heavenly joys with her mind and thoughts. Whence Paul also said: Our conversation is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). She abounds in delights, because devoting herself to the meditations of Holy Scripture, she continually feeds her mind on heavenly nourishment. She leans upon her beloved, because trusting in the help of Christ alone, and by his generosity, she is transferred from exile to her homeland. For the Truth himself says to all the faithful: Without me you can do nothing (John 15:5). But whence she received the ability to ascend from the lowest things to the highest, from the desert to the kingdom, the beloved reveals when he adds: (Verse 5.) Under the apple tree I raised you up; there your mother was corrupted, there she who bore you was violated.

5. What is designated by the evil tree, if not the holy cross? Which bore that apple, of which the same Bride says in the preceding passages: 'As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons' (Song 2:3). But Christ roused his bride under the apple tree, because when placed on the cross, he called the Church, subject to him, to life; so that she might rise from the sleep of death, and crucifying herself with him, hasten toward the new resurrection. Whence the Apostle also says to any soul that is dead: 'Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light' (Eph. 5:14). And to certain ones who had already risen, he says elsewhere: 'If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above' (Col. 3:1). But because the unbelief of the Synagogue crucified Christ, there follows: 'There your mother was corrupted.' The mother of the Church is said to have been corrupted under the apple tree, because when she fixed her Savior to the wood, she corrupted herself by an abominable crime. He drives home the magnitude of this crime when he repeats the same thing, saying: 'There your mother was violated.' But since blindness has come upon Israel in part, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter in (Rom. 11), therefore it is said to the entering Church: (Verse 6) 'Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm.'

6. In the heart are thoughts, and in the arm are works. Upon the heart therefore and upon the arm of the Bride, the beloved is placed as a seal; because in the holy soul how much he is loved by her is shown both in will and in action. For the holy mind bears Christ as a sign both inwardly and outwardly; because while she labors constantly in meditations upon him, she does not cease to imitate him in outward action, so that there should be no doubt that she is his beloved. Concerning this sign the Bridegroom himself said to his disciples: "By this all will know that you are truly my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). Concerning this love it is soon added: (Verse 6.) "For love is strong as death; jealousy is hard as hell; its lamps are lamps of fire and flames."

7. Rightly, without doubt, love is declared to be strong as death; because when we are put to death to vices through love, what death accomplishes in the senses of the body, love accomplishes in the desires of the mind. For there are some who so love God that they disregard all visible things, and while they reach toward eternal things with their mind, they become nearly insensible to all temporal things. In these persons, surely, love stands forth as strong as death, because just as death slays the outer senses of the body from every proper and natural appetite, so love in such men compels the mind, otherwise occupied, to despise all earthly desires. To those dead and yet living of this kind, the Apostle was speaking: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). These without doubt hide their life with Christ, because while they set aside all things that we see, they truly and secretly live in those things that we do not see—namely, in the blessedness of Christ. For because they despise the false life that visibly appears, they hide themselves in the true life, which presents itself as manifest only to invisible eyes. It can also be understood, however, that Christ says this of Himself, declaring: "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death." As if He were saying: It is fitting that you bear me with you as a sign of my love in your mind and in your action, because in the strength of my love for you I underwent death, so that you, who were dead in unbelief, rising with me, might live spiritually in the newness of faith.

8. But because he would never have been hung on the cross unless the heart of the Synagogue had burned with great envy, therefore it is added: "Jealousy is cruel as hell." For jealousy is taken both in a good and in a bad sense. It is taken in a good sense, as is said through the Apostle: "Be zealous for the better gifts" (1 Cor. 13:11). But it is taken in a bad sense where it is said to Saul through Samuel: "The kingdom shall be taken from you and given to your rival" (1 Kings 17). For David is called his rival, whom Saul is known to have envied. Jealousy is therefore cruel as hell; because while the Synagogue thought it could send Christ down to the underworld, it envied him even unto death with a merciless heart. Jealousy stood forth as cruel as hell; because just as hell tortures without mercy those whom it holds, so the Jewish people, seizing Christ, dragged him to death without any regard for piety. Of which it is well added: "Its lamps are lamps of fire and flames." For just as fire consumes what it ignites, so envy destroyed the Jews from all the virtue of faith; of whom it is well said elsewhere: "And now fire consumes the adversaries." As if it were said: Before they come to the eternal fire, they are consumed in the present, because they carry within themselves the fire of envy, which is not carried without the burning of the one who carries it. This fire of envy brought forth flames when, through the examples by which it was kindled, it grew even among the Gentiles throughout the whole world, even to the point of martyrdoms of Christians. But because on the one hand the fire of envy, and on the other hand the fire of charity rose up, therefore it is added: (Verse 7.) "Many waters cannot extinguish charity, nor will rivers overwhelm it."

9. For the holy martyrs burned vigorously with charity, because they blazed wondrously in the love of God and neighbor. Many waters could not extinguish this charity, because however great the tribulations that befell them, they were unable to change them to hatred. This indeed would be to extinguish charity: if through the tribulations they inflicted, they could have brought them low into hatred of God or neighbor. But since waters have been mentioned, what again is understood by rivers, if not the increase and vigor of the waters themselves? For we know that rivers are usually called living waters. Therefore we take rivers as the greatest tribulations, which, while they boiled over upon the martyrs throughout the whole world, rushed together with great force to extinguish the fire of charity. But because charity lives so powerfully amid the rivers that it would rather consume the rivers than allow itself to be extinguished by them, therefore many even of the persecutors converted themselves to that same charity, so that they gave up whatever they possessed in the world and gave themselves over to the death which they had previously cruelly inflicted upon those who suffered. Whence it is also added: (Verse 7) If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he will despise it as nothing.

10. God is not loved when there is desire for earthly substance, because earthly love soils the eye of the heart, so that the divine brightness cannot be seen. Against this it is said in the Gospel: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). And the apostle John says: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15). Nor is it surprising, for how can one love him whom one does not know? Or how can one know him, when one closes the eye of the heart to knowing him? But a man gives all the substance of his house for love when he distributes whatever he possesses in the world for Christ's sake; so that, casting aside what hinders, he may love God, and with the dust of anxieties wiped away, may open his eyes to see. And when he has given all his substance, he regards it as though it were nothing, because after he has wiped clean the eye and beheld God, in the vision of him he counts whatever he had possessed as nothing. The apostles did this, who abandoned not only what they possessed but even what they desired, in order to follow Christ. To them Christ himself, for whom they had left all things, said: When you have done all the things that are commanded you, say: We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do (Luke 17:10). But since, once earthly substance has been cast aside, one does not immediately ascend to perfection—because after possessions have been renounced, there still remains the labor of denying one's very self—so that one may advance by degrees and at some point, made perfect, draw not only oneself but also others along to life, therefore concerning the new and still tender Church, or each individual soul, it is said next: (Verse 8.) Our sister is little, and has no breasts.

11. Christ calls the Church His sister, because He said of the apostles themselves: "Go, tell My brothers" (Matt. 28:10). But the little sister did not have breasts when the Church existed only in the apostles, in whom she could not nourish herself or others with the milk of preaching (Matt. 26). For what would Peter preach to others, when he denied being a disciple of Christ with cursing and swearing at the voice of a single servant girl (John 20)? The Church, therefore, being small, did not have breasts, because after the resurrection, shut up in one house (Acts 1), she feared not only to preach among her persecutors, but even to be seen. Consequently, therefore, it is said: (Verse 7.) "What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?" Christ spoke to His sister when He sent the Holy Spirit upon the apostles (Acts 2), and speaking to them inwardly, He taught them all the languages of the world through a manifold distribution. But from whom should He be understood to ask this—He who knows all things—if not from the holy fathers, whom He stirred up to inquire by the Holy Spirit? To them, by the same Spirit by which He led them into the question, He immediately responds fittingly and says: (Verse 9.) "If she is a wall, let us build upon her silver battlements."

12. When the Holy Spirit is given, the holy Church becomes a wall, because she who was previously timid, being instructed by the same almighty Spirit, is impenetrably strengthened to resist adversaries. This is shown by the same Peter, timid before a servant girl, soon firm against the rulers, to whom he said: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). And again: "Whether it is right to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves; for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19). And concerning the other disciples it is written: "The disciples went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus" (Acts 5:41). Behold what kind of wall the Church has become, which just now was most tender and could not bear the step of anyone walking upon it without injury to itself, but now, having received the Holy Spirit as a wonderful craftsman, despises unharmed the insults of an entire assaulting army. Upon which battlements are built, because so that she might not only defend herself but also overthrow her attackers by resisting them, she is granted the power to perform miracles, which when the enemies see them, they are terrified, fearing the weapons of her assault. These battlements are rightly said to be of silver, because the miracles themselves are given together with the preaching of the word. And because silver is a very resonant metal, the battlements are of silver, because through miracles it came about that their words grew strong throughout the whole world and spread the preaching of the faith inflexibly in every direction: which the Psalmist shows, saying: "Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world" (Psalm 18:5). There follows: (Verse 9.) "If she is a door, let us enclose her with boards of cedar."

13. We also say that the Church is rightly the door, which we know received from Christ himself the power of opening and closing. The door undoubtedly exists in its preachers, because through them the entrance to life opens itself to us. Whence it is also said to the first pastor of the Church: Whatever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt. 16:19). Or the door exists in its own head, because he himself says truthfully of himself: I am the door (John 10:7). Now the door is fastened together with cedar boards, because the holy Church, preaching the faith, is adorned with multitudes of peoples; and when peoples are sprinkled with various virtues — so that, namely, one person gives necessities to the needy from the things he possesses; another, renouncing all things, abstains even from lawful marriage; yet another advances so far that he becomes a preacher to others as well — just as a painting is beautified by many colors, so the Church is honored by many forms of devotion, and growing strong in the Holy Spirit, she joyfully responds, saying: (Verse 10.) I am a wall, and my breasts are like a tower, since I have become in his presence as one finding peace.

14. She had her breasts like a tower, from the time she found peace before the Bridegroom; because after she received the spirit of peace under him, she nourished preachers lofty in contemplation and unbending in strength. But what does it mean that he does not say peace, but as it were finding peace; unless it is because while we are in this world, we do not entirely cease from sin, and as long as we live with sin, we do not have perfect peace with him who lived in the flesh without sin? But since the little peace that we have, we hold through the Mediator himself of God and men, therefore it is added (Verse 11): The peaceful one had a vineyard, in that which has peoples; he delivered it to keepers; a man brings for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

15. He himself is said to be our Peaceful One, because through him all the human race is reconciled to God. This Peaceful One had a vineyard, because in the labor of carnal precepts he planted the Synagogue, of which it is said: "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel" (Isaiah 5:7). This vineyard existed in that which has peoples, because it was established in the Law, which gathered many peoples under itself. Of which peoples it is said: "The peoples have meditated on vain things" (Psalm 2:1). He handed this vineyard over to keepers, because he entrusted the Synagogue to Moses and the other fathers to be guarded. Of which it is well added: "A man brings for its fruit a thousand silver pieces." This vineyard brought forth fruit, because from the Synagogue that great cluster of grapes which was brought from the land of promise—namely Christ Jesus—came forth through his humanity. Of which fruit the Father said to David: "Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne" (Psalm 132:11). Whence the Apostle also writes: "Whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ" (Romans 9:5). By "silver pieces" in this place we understand all earthly substance, of which Peter said to the lame man asking for alms: "Silver and gold I do not have" (Acts 3:6). Therefore a man brings a thousand silver pieces for the fruit of the vineyard, because whoever conducts himself manfully in the faith which he has received willingly and perfectly relinquishes all earthly things, so that he may truly possess Christ. For a thousand is a perfect number, and therefore through it the perfection of any thing is demonstrated. These silver pieces, then, were offered by those in the early Church, of whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: "As many as were possessors of fields or houses sold them, and bringing the proceeds laid them at the feet of the apostles" (Acts 4:34). These, gathered together, built from themselves another vineyard, namely the holy Church, and as good farmers propagated it with their blood and extended it by their preaching to the ends of the earth, so that it now fills nearly the whole world and, entrusted to farmers, returns pleasing fruit in its proper seasons. Whence it is said in the Gospel: "He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard to other farmers, who will render him the fruit in their seasons" (Matthew 21:41). Of which vineyard, now entrusted to good men, the Peaceful One himself says: (Verse 12) "My vineyard is before me." His vineyard stands before him, because, the wicked farmers having been destroyed, he instructs the holy Church through good teachers with a benign regard. To which he says: (Verse 12) "A thousand are for you, O Peaceful One, and two hundred for those who keep its fruit."

16. Who are these peaceful ones who are said to be a thousand and two hundred, unless those aforementioned silver coins, which when we perfectly let go of them, we acquire peace for ourselves with the saints through their distribution? Hence also in the Gospel the Lord says: "Make friends for yourselves from the mammon of iniquity, so that when you fail, they may receive you into eternal tabernacles" (Luke 16:9). But what do we understand by two hundred, unless the double recompense which we acquire when we perfectly despise them in this world for Christ's sake? Therefore a thousand and two hundred silver coins belong to the Church, because when all the faithful completely relinquish everything they possess, they both make peace for themselves with the saints and receive the reward of the present life together with the heavenly one. And this is what the Lord says in the Gospel: "Amen, amen, I say to you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or children, or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time — houses, and brothers, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and fields, with persecutions — and in the age to come, eternal life" (Mark 10:29–30). But for whom is this reward so doubled, unless for those who guard its fruits? And who are those who guard the fruits of the vineyard, unless those who persevere in the holy work they have begun? For a work that is begun with holy desire, if it is not held by steadfastness of mind all the way to the end, is rendered without fruit, because it is prematurely emptied of that from which it had proceeded. And therefore the Lord says in the Gospel: "He who perseveres to the end, he will be saved" (Matthew 10:22). The Bridegroom follows and says: (Verse 13.) "You who dwell in the gardens, friends are listening; make me hear your voice."

17. The bride dwells in the gardens, because the holy Church, or any holy soul, turns its mind to the fruitfulness of virtues. The bridegroom desires to hear her voice, because it pleases Christ above all that every perfect man should admonish the weak with the word of holy preaching. For the friends listen, because the faithful in the Church await with pious desire that the friend of the bridegroom may speak. And it should be noted that it is a friend who listens; because he who loves God with an undivided mind gladly hears one preaching what he loves. Whence it is said in the Gospel: "He who is of God hears the words of God" (John 8:47). But because while the Church preaches the truth, many do not understand, and many who do perceive it distort it with a perverse understanding; therefore the bride, in response to the one urging her to preach, answers and says: (Verse 14.) "Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag upon the mountains of spices."

18. The beloved flees, because he hides himself from reprobate hearts so that he may not be understood by them. For when reprobate minds approach the hearing or reading of God's words with perverse intention, by a just judgment they do not find the truth which they do not seek with a worthy desire. Hence the very Wisdom of God says: "The wicked shall seek me and shall not find me" (John 7:34). But the beloved, fleeing the reprobate, goes to the mountains of spices; because, leaving the perverse behind, he does not cease to visit holy souls, who are made lofty through contemplation and bear fragrant ointments through the compounding of virtues. Upon these mountains the beloved is likened to a roe and to a young hart of the deer; because in the hearts of holy men it is made manifest that he assumed humanity for us out of loving charity. When he was born from the ancient fathers, he came as a fawn from the deer, as was said above. Though he was rich, he made himself poor so that we might be enriched; and though he was exalted above all things, he took up our lowliness with ineffable condescension. Let us render him immense thanks as long as we live; to him who was handed over to death for us and who rose again into immortality, we owe ourselves—both spirit and body (2 Cor. 8). He who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, through infinite ages of ages. Amen.