Commentary on the Song of Songs (Commentarium in Canticum Canticorum)

VERSE 1. WHO WILL GIVE ME THEE, MY BROTHER, SUCKING THE BREASTS OF MY MOTHER, THAT I MAY FIND THEE WITHOUT, AND KISS THEE, AND NOW LET NO ONE DESPISE ME? — WHO WILL GIVE ME THEE, MY BROTHER, SUCKING THE BREASTS OF MY MOTHER, THAT I MAY FIND THEE WITHOUT (the Scholiast, is appo, that is, in the field; others, is appoa, that is, in foreli; the Hebrew, who will give thee to me as a brother? so Aquila; the Arabic, who will grant thee, O son of my brother, that thou mayest suck the breasts of my mother? when I shall have found thee outside, I will kiss thee; the Syriac, who will give me to thee, as to a brother? suverusi the breasts of my lamb: I will praise thee.

This depends on what immediately precedes, for the bride continues to speak, and to display her ardent love toward the bridegroom: for just as a little before she wished to go with the bridegroom to the fields and villas, that there she might—

...or be separated from thee even for a moment, but through all eternity might most happily enjoy thee; where no Jew, pagan, or wicked man could any longer despise, reproach, or vex me! Would that from these earthly fields and villas it were permitted to ascend to the heavenly and supernal mountains of divine aromatics! And shortly it will be granted, but I would wish it to happen this moment, in this very instant of time: for to one who loves and burns with love every delay is argara, tedious and troublesome. Thus three Anonymous writers in Theodoret attribute these words to the Church and the holy soul desiring the second coming of Christ, and addressing him thus: « Since thy first coming prepared me to enjoy thee, who will grant me thee, at thy second coming, drinking the new cup with us in the heavenly Jerusalem, which is our mother — the cup which flows from her into us through grace without any intermediary, as milk from a mother's breasts, into her children? For thus finding thee outside I will kiss thee; for knowing thee, not as now through faith, but through sight, outside in our own substance, granting to us incorruption and unchangeableness in the common resurrection, we shall enjoy thee; and no one indeed will despise me, although now I am scorned by the wise of the world, because for love of thee I despise all perishable things. » So also Delrio and others. To this pertains the exposition of St. Ambrose, Aponius, Honorius, Rupert, Anselm, and Hortolanus, who understand this of the conversion of the Jews at the end of the world: for after this will soon follow the day of judgment and the glory of the saints.

The words of St. Anselm I will recite presently. Indeed, the ancient rabbis too, on the testimony of Galatinus, book III, chapter XXVIII, judge that here is signified the desire for the coming of the Messiah — not the first coming (for this has already taken place through the incarnation, as was said in chapter I and following), but the second, for judgment and the glorification of the saints.

Symbolically, first, St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Theodoret, Bede, Philo, St. Athanasius in the Synopsis, and others attribute these words to the Synagogue, that is, to the patriarchs desiring the incarnation of Christ: for through this Christ came forth from the bosom of the Father outward into flesh, and became our brother, that it might be permitted to kiss him, through whom the Church is now no longer despised, but is honored even by the angels themselves. « For who, says William, will be able to despise men in God made man? who will judge man vile, when the price of thy blood has been given for man? » Hence St. Ambrose, On the Institution of a Virgin, chapter I: « He who was within, » he says, « was made without. See him within, when you read that he is in the bosom of the Father; know him without, when he seeks us to redeem us. He was made without for thee, that he might be within for me, and become our physician. Let us therefore be there, where Christ the physician is rooted and fixed in our hearts. »

St. Chrysostom, however, in homily 12 on various passages of St. Matthew, refers these words to Herod, who persecuted the infant Christ: for he reads it thus, who will give thee my brother sucking the breasts of my mother? that is to say, no one will give thee the infant Christ, that thou mayest kill him, for thou wilt have no power at all against him who is the prince of all powers — which is a novel exposition, and not sufficiently consonant with the literal sense.

Secondly, Philo refers these words to the Passion of Christ: « For then, » he says, « the bridegroom was found outside and kissed by the bride, when, clothed with humanity, and crucified outside Jerusalem, he redeemed her from everlasting death through ineffable charity, and, every debt being paid, most lovingly reconciled her to himself and to the Father. » Moreover Philo takes the mother to mean eternal wisdom; Theodoret, however, takes it to mean the Holy Spirit, whose breasts Christ is said to have sucked, since he taught and showed in the Gospel that the faithful must suck them through study and prayer, that they may draw from them the milk of doctrine and of all grace: so too Rupert. The authors cited put forward these senses as though literal; but they really seem to be symbolic: for Solomon treated of the incarnation and passion of Christ literally in Canticles, chapter I; and from there he proceeded to the beginnings of the Church, its progress and its perfection, which here he concludes with heavenly glory: for there will be the end, the consummation and the crowning of the triumphant Church, which here fights under the cross of Christ: for this the sequence and order of the drama requires.

SECOND PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

First, the pious soul desires to receive Christ in the venerable sacrament, in which Christ becomes, as it were, our brother, feeding us with his body, and there we kiss him, when we receive him with the mouth of the body, and much more with that of the mind: so Aponius and Gislerius at length. For the Eucharist is a pledge of future glory, for through it we shall rise again unto life everlasting, as Christ teaches, John 6:55. For this reason Christ, appearing in the form of a little child to St. Francis, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Edmund, bishop of Canterbury, and similar saints, offered himself to them to be kissed and fondly caressed. That he himself in fact experienced this Rupert, abbot of Deutz, asserts, writing on Matthew chapter 26, book XII, page 562: for he relates that when he was bidden to take up the priesthood, and judged himself unworthy of so great a rank, he saw Christ crucified on the altar looking at him and inviting him to an embrace. Wherefore « the altar, » he says, « opened itself through the middle, and received me running in at the entrance. When I had hastily entered, I laid hold of him whom my soul loves, I held him, I embraced him, I kissed him for a long time. I felt how deeply he admitted this gesture of love, since in the midst of the kiss he himself opened his mouth, that I might kiss more deeply. Plainly this was being done, this was being prepared with that meaning, that there might come to pass that which the beloved, longing, says in the Canticle, chapter VIII, verse 1: Who will give me thee my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now let no one despise me? » From this vision Rupert perceived that the desire for the priesthood was being instilled in him, so that, sacrificing daily, he might be fondly kissed together with Christ in the Eucharist, and might embrace and kiss him in eating him.

Secondly, the soul desires that Christ become a brother to her, and to kiss him outside, when she herself desires to be stripped of the affections of the flesh and of the world, so that, going forth as it were outside herself, she may put on spiritual manners and loves, and thus begin to receive the kiss of peace from Christ, which will be perfected in heaven: for in this way she becomes, as it were, a sister of the brother Christ: so St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter VIII: « The soul is good, » he says, « which is without, that the Word may be within; that soul is outside the body, that the Word may dwell in us. » so too Rupert: « Moreover, to find Christ without, » he says, « is to go out to him outside the camp, who, just as he suffered outside the gate, so was made a stranger to his brothers and to the sons of his mother. But to kiss him is to venerate his reproach, and to know intimately the mysteries of his piety: for in the measure that we know and love these, in that measure, loving him, do we kiss him as one worthy of love, » etc.

Honorius adds that the brothers of Christ are properly called the apostles and apostolic men, who are intent on winning souls: for these are like Christ, and, as it were, his brothers: for this was the office of Christ; whoever, therefore, strives to entice another to the state of religion and perfection, let him say: Who will give me thee, my brother, that in religion and charity thou mayest be most closely joined to me as a brother, that is, almost another self, sucking the breasts of my mother (the discipline and institutes of my religion), that I may find thee without (separated from the world in the cloister), and kiss thee, that is, that I may be joined to thee in the highest degree in all the offices and exercises of religion, and now let no one despise me, who have borne such a brother, nay son, to religion? So Honorius.

Finally, St. Anselm, St. Ambrose, Rupert, Aponius, Honorius, and Hortolanus refer these words to the conversion of the Jews: hear St. Anselm: « Would that someone would announce to me Christ my brother, born of my flesh, brought up in the teaching of the Synagogue; and turning to him himself she adds: « That I may find thee without, that I may acknowledge thee as man, in whom I shamefully erred; and kiss thee, that is, and delight in thy acknowledged humanity; and now let no one deem me despicable! » To this pertains the version of the Chaldee: « At that time, » it says, « the king Messiah will appear to the Synagogue of Israel, and the children of Israel will say to him: Come now, be with us in place of a father, and we will go up to Jerusalem, and we will suck with thee the meanings of the law, just as an infant sucks the breasts of its mother. For even in all that time in which I was a wanderer, and an exile from my own country, while I remembered the name of the great God and gave up my soul for his divinity, the foreign peoples did not despise me. »

THIRD PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

Rupert says that this is the voice of the Church, which applauds, exulting and admiring, her mother, that is, the Blessed Virgin (for she is the mother of Christ, and consequently of the Church, that is, of all Christians), and her own happiness through her, because by bearing Christ she made him our brother; and he says that this voice is like that of St. Elizabeth to the Blessed Virgin visiting her, Luke 1:43: « And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? »

More fittingly, according to the literal sense, you would attribute these words to the Blessed Virgin in this life, aspiring to the Son reigning in the heavens, as if to say: Who will grant me, O Son, that just as formerly, taking flesh from me, thou didst deign to become my brother and the brother of all men, and to suck my breasts as those of thy mother, and the mystical breasts of the Synagogue, which is mother alike to me and to thee, and there I most sweetly kissed thee: so likewise thou wouldst now bring it about that I may behold thee, my brother, nay my son, triumphant in the heavens in that glorious humanity which thou didst take from me, and there I may kiss thee, and with thee, in the highest and eternal joys, be continually caressed and delighted.

Hailgrinus adds: « She desires to find him alone, namely in the divine nature, in which he is alone, and has no human companionship. She desires to find him, not only that she may know him in the prison of the flesh, but that she may find the immensity of the deity, which is bounded by no limit, and contains and encloses all things, and thus she desires to find him, that she may kiss him, that is, seeing him present as it were face to face, she may delight in his love. »

VERSE 2. I WILL TAKE HOLD OF THEE, AND BRING INTO MY MOTHER'S HOUSE: THERE THOU SHALT TEACH ME, AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CUP OF SPICED WINE, AND THE NEW WINE OF MY POMEGRANATES.

I WILL TAKE HOLD OF (Septuagint, I will take up) THEE, AND I WILL BRING THEE INTO THE HOUSE OF MY MOTHER (Septuagint, of her who conceived me): THERE THOU SHALT TEACH ME, AND I WILL GIVE THEE A CUP OF SPICED WINE, AND THE NEW WINE (Syriac, sweetness) OF MY POMEGRANATES. — Instead of "spiced" the Septuagint have "of the perfumer"; the Hebrew, "I will give thee to drink spiced wine," namely such as apothecaries are wont to compound and spice in their shops with sugar, honey, cinnamon, and other spices, which bring a sweet and pleasing taste even to children — such as the bridegroom is here wished to be; whence the Arabic translates, "I will give thee to drink sweet wine"; St. Jerome, on chapter 9 of Zechariah: "thou shalt give me to drink of the wine of the perfumer, of the streams of thy pomegranates"; but in chapter 12 he reads: "thou shalt give me to drink of the wine of the perfumer (the apothecary), of the wine of apples," and judges these to be the words of the Church to Christ.

The bride is imagined to desire to kiss the bridegroom, whom she wished to be a little child, and to take him up and carry him away into the house of her mother, that is, her own house, that there she may be taught by the bridegroom, and enjoy him continually, and that she will therefore feed him with her own delicacies, namely with aromatic wine, and the new wine of pomegranates. For although wine is not given to infants and nurslings, but milk, yet wine mixed with honey or sugar is sometimes given; for this is like milk. Again, although in verse 1 the bride wished the bridegroom to be a little infant, yet she knew that in reality he was not an infant, but a perfect man, and therefore she intends to offer him, as to such a one, spiced wine and the new wine of pomegranates.

These words depend upon the preceding verse, for it is a wish, as if to say: Who would grant me, that is, would that it were permitted me to take hold of thee and lead thee into the house of my mother, that there thou mightest teach me, and I in turn might give thee to drink wine and new wine; that is, would that, O bridegroom, thou wouldst take hold of me thy bride, and lead me into thy house, that there our marriage might be consummated! for to this end the bridegroom was wont to lead the bride into his own house. It is a hypallage: beggars use a similar art and manner of speech, that they may wring alms from the rich; and children, that they may obtain from their mother the cakes or fruits which they see. For the crafty say: "Behold, O mother, what beautiful fruits! Would that I had money, that I might buy them, and give them to thee!" By which they mean to signify, as if to say: "O mother, buy such beautiful fruits, and give them to me, because I greatly desire them, but I dare not express this, and therefore I cover my desire with the veil of love; for I love thee, as thou lovest me; show me, therefore, a mother's love, that I may show thee a child's."

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

Love makes the bride bold and courageous, wherefore she attributes to herself that which belonged to the bridegroom, namely, to lead the bride into the house of his mother, that is, his own house; but these are the bride's wishes of love, not effects of power. These words depend upon what precedes, as if to say: Would that I could kiss thee, O bridegroom, as my little infant and little brother, take hold of thee and lead thee into the house of my mother! By which, through metalepsis, or rather hypallage, the bride signifies that she desires to be led by the bridegroom into his house, that there she may accomplish and consummate the marriage, as if to say: Would that thou, O bridegroom, wouldst take hold of me, already wearied of this toilsome and wretched life amid earthly farms and gardens, and lead me into the house of thy mother, that is, thy own house, namely into the heavenly Jerusalem, that there thou mightest teach me, indeed show me thy divinity, and bless me with it, that I might see and taste what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, and what God hath prepared for them that love him! There, then, we shall vie with each other in mutual offices: thou shalt teach me these things, and I in turn will give thee to drink wine spiced with praise and thanksgiving, and adorned in every kind of way; and the juice of my pomegranates, namely the blood and doxology of my martyrs. So Cassiodorus, Bede, Honorius, Alcuin, Angelomus here, and St. Ambrose, book 5, epistle 39, to Irenaeus.

Hear Cassiodorus: "Adhering to thee," he says, "through faith and love, I will follow thee as thou returnest to heaven after the accomplished mystery of thine incarnation and passion. For when the Lord ascended into the heavens, the apostles followed him with their eyes, and pursued him with a devoted gaze, until a cloud received him; when thou shalt have been received into heaven, and shalt have taken me up also into heaven, there thou shalt teach me and lead me into all truth, and show me thy divinity face to face, and I will show with how most fervent a love I love thee, giving thee to drink the spiced wine of love with the good works of the other virtues; and I will give thee the new wine of my pomegranates, showing in the sufferings of the holy martyrs with how great a love thou art loved: for the love of the martyrs is the new wine of pomegranates."

To this belongs the exposition of those who refer these words to the conversion of the Jews at the end of the world, whom I shall soon cite: for after that, once the number of the elect is completed, the day of judgment will soon follow, and the glorification of the saints in heaven.

Symbolically, Theodoret, Bede, and others, who had expounded the preceding verse of the incarnation or passion of Christ, also expound this one of the same; but Philo expounds it of the death, burial, and descent of Christ to the lower regions: for thus he reads, "I will take hold of thee, and bring thee into the house of my mother, and into the storehouse of her who gathers me": for our house and storehouse, which once gathered the fathers as well as Christ, is death, the tomb, and hell, as if to say: Christ descended into death and hell, that from it he might free the fathers. The same author, by the spiced wine, understands the passion and blood of Christ, by which the Church professes herself to have been washed, with thanksgiving.

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Holy Soul.

The holy soul, first, through prayer and meditation leads Christ the bridegroom into the house of her mother, that is, into her own mind, which is as it were the mother of all thoughts and actions; there she is taught by him how she can and ought to perfect herself in love, religion, and every virtue; there in turn she offers him wine and the new wine of the pomegranates of sharp compunction, mortification, and martyrdom: so the three Anonymous authors in Theodoret. Second, Rupert, by the spiced wine, understands the sacrifice of the Eucharistic chalice; by the new wine of pomegranates, the sacrifice of the holy martyrs. So too Philo, who, third, by the house of the mother, understands the Holy Scriptures, whose mysteries and secrets are, as it were, a storeroom and storehouse, in which the faithful soul refreshes herself. Fourth, Honorius understands the house of the mother as religion, or the monastery: There, he says, she takes hold of Christ as it were by the hand, and leads him into the house of her mother, when she leads good works into the cloister, the house of the community, as it were the mother of converts, and into the understanding of the rule of her cloistered nurse, in teaching it to be understood; there in the cloister it is taught what is promised to converts in heaven; there a cup of spiced wine will be given to her, that is, "doctrine composed from the scriptures of the wise, and the new wine of pomegranates, that is, the examples of the just."

Furthermore, St. Gregory, Aponius, Anselm, and Hortolanus refer these words to the conversion of the Synagogue, that is, of the Jews at the end of the world. Hear St. Gregory: "She leads him, once taken hold of, into the house of her mother, because at the end of the world she will preach Christ, in whom she believes, to the Synagogue; 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 herself. The Church will give a cup of spiced wine, because she will preach to the Synagogue itself the New Testament together with the Old, and will spice the cup as it were with wine, because she will gird the sweetness of the Gospel with the testimony of the Law, which is harsh, that it may be held the more firmly. But she will bestow the new wine of her pomegranates, because she will set forth the examples of strong men, who held to the unity of the Church even unto martyrdom, that the Synagogue may be kindled to their likeness, and, strengthened by the examples of the martyrs who went before, may not succumb to the persecutions of Antichrist. For when she has heard of the victories of strong fighters, she will not hesitate to undergo the fight in imitation of them." To this belongs the version of the Chaldean: "I will lead thee, O King Messiah, and I will bring thee into the house of my sanctuary, and thou shalt teach me to fear from before the face of the Lord, and to walk in his ways, and there we shall eat a meal, and we shall drink old wine which has been stored up in its grapes from the day on which the world was created, and of the pomegranates which are prepared for the just in the paradise of delight."

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin, having brought forth Christ as an infant, led him into the house of her mother, that is, her own house, in Nazareth, which was translated by angels to Loreto, where today it is venerated by the concourse of the whole world. There she was taught by him concerning the mystery of the passion, the cross, the resurrection, etc., and of the redemption of mankind, and concerning the leading of an angelic, perfect, and divine life, and this more by example than by word. Again, there she gave Christ, now growing up, to drink spiced wine and the new wine of pomegranates, both literal and mystical, namely the wine of burning love, and the new wine of compunction and tears.

Again, and more fittingly according to the letter, the Blessed Virgin takes hold of Christ, that is, she asked to be taken hold of by Christ (it is a hypallage), and to be led into the house of the mother, namely the heavenly Jerusalem, and there to be taught by him, through the beatific vision, concerning the whole holy Godhead and Trinity; and there she in turn offered him the spiced wine of exultation and thanksgiving, and the new wine of burning love and charity.

VERSE 3. HIS LEFT HAND IS UNDER MY HEAD, AND HIS RIGHT HAND SHALL EMBRACE ME.

The bride, from the vehemence of her love and her desire to enjoy Christ in heaven, which she expressed in verses 1 and 2, falls into a swoon of soul, a sleep, and an ecstasy; whence, as it were collapsing and sinking down, she invokes the help of the bridegroom, that with his left hand he may support her head, with his right her body, and so she may rest in his bosom — by which is signified to the letter that the Church, at the end of the world, partly from the ardor of love toward Christ, partly from the multitude of persecutions and tribulations, will sigh toward heaven, that there the bridegroom Christ may embrace her with his left and right hand, and unite and bind her to himself face to face most closely; but meanwhile, while this union is deferred, she will ask that the bridegroom protect her with his left and right hand, strengthen and lead her, that she may bear bravely his delays and the persecutions of enemies, until the day of blessed eternity breathe forth, and the shadows of wretched mortality decline.

Hear Honorius: "The left hand of the bridegroom shall be under the head of the bride, because she will see all the glory of the world under the power of Christ, who is her head; and his right hand shall embrace her, because the angelic society and the unanimity of the saints, which will be at the right hand of Christ in the judgment, will associate her to itself; in this right hand she will rest from every disturbance, and no one shall rouse her from this rest, because no one shall take her joy from her." Now we have heard this maxim at chapter 2, verse 6, where I explained it; wherefore here I shall add no more, except that there it was attributed to the bride as an infant, but here to her as grown and perfect.

Finally, the Chaldean, in Jewish fashion, refers these words to the frontlets of the Jews: "The assembly of Israel said, he says: I am chosen above all peoples, because I bind frontlets to my left hand and to my head, and a little scroll is fixed to the right side of my door, a third part of which faces my bedchamber, so that the demons may not have license to harm me."

VERSE 4. I ADJURE YOU, DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM, THAT YOU STIR NOT UP, NOR MAKE THE BELOVED TO AWAKE, UNTIL SHE HERSELF WISHES.

I ADJURE YOU, DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM, THAT YOU STIR NOT UP, NOR MAKE THE BELOVED TO AWAKE (the Hebrew and the Septuagint: charity or love, that is, the one supremely beloved), UNTIL SHE HERSELF WISHES. — These are the words of the bridegroom, who, seeing that the bride has fallen into a sleep and ecstasy of love, forbids that anyone should wake her from it, inasmuch as it is most sweet, most holy, and most pleasing to himself, but let her sleep peacefully in it. This saying we have already heard for the third time, for in chapter 2, verse 7, it is attributed to the bride as an infant, and in chapter 3, verse 5, to the bride as an adolescent; but here it is attributed to the bride now perfect and aged: see what was said there. The bridegroom repeats it a third time, to show how much the lot of Magdalen pleases him above that of Martha, that is, the leisure of contemplation above the business of action.

The Chaldean, judaizing, refers this to Gog and Magog, who represent Antichrist and his followers: « He said, it says, the King Messiah: I adjure you, my people of the house of Israel, why do you contend against the peoples of the lands, that you may go forth from captivity, and why do you wish to rebel against the army of Gog and Magog? Endure a little while, until the peoples who have gone up to wage war against Jerusalem are consumed, and afterward the ruler of the age will remember for you the mercies of the just, and there will be a will from his face, that he may free you. »

The Voice of the People Meeting Her.

Verse 5. Who Is She Who Ascends from the Desert, Flowing with Delights, Leaning upon Her Beloved?

The Septuagint and the Arabic, reading מובר mubar for מדבר midbar, that is, "desert," translate "whitened": for בר bar or barar means to cleanse, to purify, to whiten — though the Complutensian text of the Septuagint reads "from the wilderness."

For "flowing with delights, leaning," the Hebrew has a single word מתרפקת mithrappeket, which Vatablus, Pagninus, and others translate as "leaning"; R. David, "adhering"; R. Salomon and Aben-Ezra, "associated"; the Septuagint, imbrapicomeva, that is, "propped up, leaning"; Philo, "confirmed in her brother," that is, she who has Christ as the unmoving foundation of her beauty and comeliness. Though Origen, Homily 1, as translated by St. Jerome, and St. Ambrose, book De Isaac, chapter VIII, read imbronnousie, that is, "reclining upon his breast": as St. John reclined on the bosom of Jesus, says St. Ambrose. From this some hold that the bride here is seen sleeping in the bosom of the bridegroom, since he was embracing her with left hand and right, as he said in verse 3; but the word "ascends" is against this: for one in a bosom does not ascend, but rather is carried in the hands of the bridegroom. Again, that the bride was now not sleeping but, awakened, was walking, is clear from what the bridegroom says to her in the following verse: "Under the apple tree I raised thee up," etc.

Therefore the bride, who had before been sleeping in the bosom of the bridegroom, now awaking and made bolder by the ecstasy of love, having cast off all fear of shame and of mocking words, clasped with her arms the neck, or rather the shoulders, of the bridegroom, and thus leaning upon them, appeared to those passing by and meeting her, for the delight of love, to ascend from the desert, that is, from the suburban field, toward Jerusalem; and the men meeting her, seeing her, admiring her beauty as much as her love and freedom, exclaim: "Who is she," etc., that is, "how blessed is she, says Honorius, who ascends from the world to heaven? and the angels will bring her into their fellowship, where she will flow with the delights of paradise, because she will rejoice in the goods of the Lord, when she will see face to face that very God whom the angels desire to look upon, where she will hear the harmony of the angels and the instruments of the saints, and will perceive the very odor of sweetness; where she will be inebriated with the abundance of the house of the Lord, and will be satisfied, when the glory of God shall have appeared. There she will be leaning upon her beloved, because she will always be established in the joy of the Lord." This voice, then, is not that of the companions of the bridegroom or the bride, but of the meeting crowd.

Hence Theodoret notes that the bride is called by the Septuagint "whitened," but the bridegroom "white," because he is such by nature, whereas the bride was formerly blackened and darkened, because the sun had looked upon her; but now she has been whitened by the bridegroom and made a partaker of his brightness, who, being himself light, both made and called her bright, and being himself holy, both made and named her holy; and since he is the resurrection, he willed her to be worthy of resurrection; thus he communicated his own whiteness to her: thus St. Augustine. St. Ambrose, however, in Sermon 14 on Psalm CXVIII, reads "candida" [white] instead of "dealbata" [whitened], and this, in Book IV, De Sacramentis, chapter II, he refers to baptismal whiteness, which the angels admire: moreover this whiteness and purity of conscience exhibit to the soul the delights of paradise. It alludes to the ascent of the Hebrews from the desert into the promised land, under the leadership of Joshua, says Honorius.

First Sense, the Full Sense: Concerning Christ and the Church.

The angels and the heavenly ones, seeing the Church at the end of the world, the Jews and the Gentiles now converted, perfected with all her saints and elect, and therefore hastening toward heaven, that she might obtain the reward and triumph of her warfare and victory, as it were admiring her form, strength, and beauty, will cry out: Who is this heroine, adorned with the crowns and trophies of so many virgins, martyrs, confessors, apostles, and other heroes, who from the desert, that is, from the untilled field of this world, or rather from the bramble-patch and thicket of thorns of sins and of all evils, ascends so gloriously into heaven, leaning, for the tenderness and delights of love, upon Christ her beloved? So Honorius, Cassiodorus, St. Gregory, St. Ambrose, on Psalm CXVIII, Sermon 14, verse 5.

Second Sense, the Partial Sense: Concerning Christ and the Holy Soul.

Cassiodorus, Bede, Anselm, and others understand this of the ascent, that is, the progress of the soul, that it may go from virtue to virtue: "The faithful soul," says Honorius, "ascends from the desert, when she forsakes the evil life; and she ascends to spiritual conversation through the degrees of the virtues. She flows with delights, while she feeds herself delightfully on the oracles of the Scriptures; she is leaning upon her beloved, because she is fixed by love on Christ alone." The three Fathers in Theodoret: "Who is this," they say, "who, teaching so skillfully, advances from hidden things to things more hidden and recondite, purged from every stain of sins?" Elegantly Alan: "She descends," he says, "into the desert through birth; she ascends through the desert by advancing from virtue to virtue; she ascends above the desert, despising all the loftiness of worldly things; she ascends from the desert into eternal blessedness."

To this agrees the Chaldee: "Solomon the prophet said," it says, "When the dead shall live again, it will come to pass that the Mount of Olives shall be split, and all the dead of Israel shall go forth from it, and even the just who died in captivity shall come by a way of thorns under the earth, and shall go forth from the Mount of Olives. But it will come to pass that the wicked, who died and were buried in the land of Israel, shall be cast down like a stone which a man throws upon the ground. Then all the inhabitants of the earth will say: What is the merit of this people, that ascends from the earth in a thousand thousands, as on the day when it ascended from the desert into the land of Israel, and flows with delights on account of the mercies of its Lord; as on the day when it was seen under Mount Sinai, to receive the law?"

Tò "innixa super dilectum suum" signifies that the Church ascends into heaven not by her own strength, but by the grace of Christ: "for no one ascends into heaven, except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven," and whom he has deigned to lead with himself into heaven, John chapter III, 13: see St. Augustine on Psalm CIII, and the book De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, chapter VI.

Rupert presses upon "innixa super dilectum suum": "Namely," he says, "that she may not fear the fear of men, that she may not fail in the tribulations which have found her, or are about to find her, and in the persecutions of enemies visible and invisible, of pagans, Jews, heretics, and evil spirits. For how could she stand amid all these, unless she were leaning upon her beloved? Should she be leaning upon herself, or upon anyone else? Then indeed she would fall, she could not stand. But now she says, Psalm XXVI, 1: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? If armies should stand together against me, my heart shall not fear. If a battle should rise up against me, in this will I be confident. To say and do this is, indeed, to be leaning upon the beloved." Hence the symbol of hope and love is ivy, so called from clinging, because, since it cannot stand by itself, it fastens itself to a tree and so clings that it cannot be torn away: thus the holy soul, distrusting her own strength, and wholly trusting in Christ, so clings to him that she cannot be separated from him. Whence this is the motto of this ivy: "I shall never be torn away." The example is in St. Magdalene.

Do you wish, then, to flow with delights? lean upon your Jesus, who is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, jubilation in the heart, says St. Bernard, and follow his life: concerning these delights, see Isaiah, chapter LXVI, verse 11 and following.

Hear St. Gregory: "The holy soul ascends from the desert, because, placed in the exile of this pilgrimage, she strains toward heavenly joys with mind and thoughts; whence Paul also said: Our conversation is in heaven, Philippians III, 20. She flows with delights, because, attending to the meditations of Holy Scripture, she continually feeds her mind with heavenly food. She leans upon her beloved, because, trusting in the help of Christ alone, she is, by his bounty, carried over from exile to her homeland." And St. Ambrose on Psalm CXVIII, Sermon 14, verse 5: "The soul," he says, "ascends by whitening merits, out of that desert of this life, as most understand it, to that place of eternal gladness which ever flowers; those powers wonder that, out of this rugged and rocky desert, any soul can ascend without the stain of great vices, and therefore they rejoice to find one who has not polluted the garments of natural innocence with the ink of worldly folly, but rather has cleansed them with the whiteness of spiritual wisdom and grace." St. Bernard, in his Sentences, describes a threefold mystical desert, out of which the soul ascends.

Third Sense, the Principal Sense: Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

Honorius represents the Church, converted from the Jews at the end of the world, as thus admiring the glory of the Blessed Virgin: "Who is she, that is, how worthy of praise, how virtuous, who ascends from the desert, the Lebanon of the world, flowing with the delights of heaven, leaning upon her beloved, exalted by him above the choirs of angels?" More fully Hailgrin: "The Blessed Virgin," he says, "ascends through the progress of merits; she ascends through the degrees of dignities, she who rises as the dawn, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun; she ascends from the exile of the present life, taken up above the choirs of angels. But she ascends from the desert, namely from the world, which she so forsook, and reckoned as a desert, in that she turned away from it all her affection. Moreover she is said to flow with the delights of graces and virtues, leaning upon her beloved: for lest she should lose the flowing delights, she leaned not upon her own merits, but upon his grace, who bestows grace, and superadds the merited reward."

Moreover St. Bernard, Sermon 4, On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, attributes these words to the angels admiring the beauty and glory of the Blessed Virgin, when she was taken up by Christ into heaven, and says that they cried out: "Who is she, who ascends from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?"

The Voice of the Bridegroom.

Under the Apple Tree I Raised Thee Up: There Thy Mother Was Corrupted, There She That Bore Thee Was Violated.

Under the Apple Tree I Raised Thee Up (the Arabic, "lifted thee up") There Thy Mother Was Corrupted, There She That Bore Thee Was Violated. — The Septuagint: "under the apple tree I raised thee up; there thy mother brought thee forth with pain, there she that bore thee brought thee forth with pain"; the Syriac: "there thy mother corrupted thee, there she that bore thee violated thee"; the Arabic: "she suffered the pains of childbirth in thee": for the Hebrew חבל chibbel, and the Greek ὠδίνασε, as the Septuagint translate it, signifies to bring forth and to travail with pain; whence you should properly translate, "there with great pain thy mother brought thee forth." Besides this, chibbel also signifies "to corrupt," "to break apart," as our text translates it.

Some think these are the words of the bride concerning the bridegroom, because the Rabbis substituted the masculine point for "thee" and "thy," and this lest the mother of the bridegroom, that is, their Synagogue, should be said to be corrupted and violated, which seems to them a disgrace. The heretics and some Catholics follow the Rabbis, such as Luysius Legionensis, Agathias, Nannius, Genebrardus; but they explain it in various ways.

...and the rest that follow: for that these are the words of the bridegroom, all agree in teaching — St. Gregory, Theodoret, Cassiodorus, Philo, Aponius, Bede, Justus, Anselm, Rupert, Angelomus, Haymo, Alcuin, St. Thomas, and all the rest of the Fathers, Greek as well as Latin. Here, then, the bride is figured as gathering under the apple tree the fruits bitten by the serpent, and in peril of life, healed by the bridegroom, and as it were raised up to life: for thus Christ recalled to life, through the cross, Eve and her children, who had been bitten and mortally wounded by the serpent, the devil, in the forbidden fruit.

First Sense, the Full Sense: Concerning Christ and the Church.

Some explain it thus, as if to say: Under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and destroyed herself and her posterity; but I, Christ, under the tree of the cross, which was situated in the same place, Calvary, called her back from death, or rather, through the cross, which is the antitype of the tree of the apple, I raised up the dead bride: so St. Gregory and many others.

But I say that these are the words of the bridegroom, not of the bride, and accordingly that in the Hebrew the points must be substituted which signify feminine pronouns instead of masculine, so that for עוררתיך orarticha you should read orartich, for אמך immecha, אמך immech; for חבלתך chibbelatech, and so for the rest that follow: for that these are the words of the bridegroom, all teach with unanimous consent — St. Gregory, Theodoret, Cassiodorus, Philo, Aponius, Bede, Justus, Anselm, Rupert, Angelomus, Haymo, Alcuin, St. Thomas, and all the rest of the Fathers.

The sense, then, is as if to say: O bride, O Church, in this thy glory be mindful that I, dying on the wood of the cross, raised thee up from death, because on the wood that answers to the forbidden fruit, by eating and disobedience, thy mother Eve was corrupted by the serpent — she who, when she bore thee, transmitted into thee this original sin as it were by natural propagation: for Eve, by consenting to the serpent, that is, the devil, prostituted herself to him to be, as it were, violated and corrupted; there also thy mother the Synagogue was violated (for she is the mother of the Church, because the Church came forth from her), when she crucified me, her Messiah and King, Priest and Lawgiver, with monstrous parricide and sacrilege, indeed with deicide: "for when she fixed her Savior on the wood, there she corrupted herself by a nefarious crime," says St. Gregory. "He then marked the wood, that he might undo the harm of the wood," as the Church sings in the hymn of the Holy Cross.

For God willed, by a decree fitting to his justice and wisdom, that Christ should be killed not by the sword, not by fire, not by any other torment, but by the wood of the cross, so that the sin committed on the wood by Adam and Eve might be expiated by the wood of the cross, so that the devil, "who conquered by the wood, might also be conquered by the wood," as the Church sings; "and whence death arose, thence life might rise again." For this reason the cross of Christ will appear in the sky, when Christ shall come to judgment, Matthew XXIV, 30, and, as many hold, will endure in heaven forever, so that it may make the blessed always mindful of and grateful for so great a benefit. So St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Bede, Justus, Anselm, Rupert.

Hear William: "For thou wast dead in sins; I gave thee life under the wood of the cross. From my body hanging on the wood, the blood of redemption trickled upon thee in five streams, and thus under that tree I raised thee up. What is 'under that tree'? Looking up at that tree, looking up at the bronze serpent, that is, believing in Jesus Christ and him crucified." Alluding to this, Ezekiel, chapter XVI, verse 5 and following, sets before the Synagogue her former vileness and filth, from which she was raised up by God, purified, and taken as a bride, to be pondered: "No eye," he says, "spared thee to do any of these things for thee, having pity on thee: but thou wast cast out upon the face of the earth, in the abjection of thy soul, in the day that thou wast born. And passing by thee, I saw thee trodden down in thy blood, and I said to thee when thou wast in thy blood: Live, I said, I say to thee: live in thy blood."

Furthermore, what the Septuagint, the Arabic, and others translate from the Hebrew, "there with great pain or anguish thy mother brought thee forth," Titelmann fittingly explains thus, as if to say: On the cross of Christ, motherly piety and mercy, like a mother in childbirth, brought thee forth with immense anguish; and he adds that the latter clause can be translated, "there thy begetting labored," or "thy birth," that is, there it became clear at how great a price thy regeneration cost, with how great difficulty thy redemption from death could be accomplished, since it could be perfected only through the death of the only-begotten Son of God.

St. Ambrose, book De Isaac, chapter VIII: "There," he says, "thy mother brought thee forth, etc.; now those are brought forth in whom the image of Christ is formed; whence, since Christ had been formed in the bride, he says, Canticle VIII, 6: Set me as a seal upon thy arm."

Second Sense, the Partial Sense: Concerning Christ and the Holy Soul.

Under the apple tree, that is, under the cross, by frequent meditation and contemplation of it, the soul is stirred to love and fervor, so that she loves in return him who loves her, and repays love for love, blood for blood, death for death, because there she who conceived thee brought thee forth in pain, as the Septuagint translate it, that is, the flesh of Christ, says Philo, suffering in the torment of the cross, brought forth for itself a bride redeemed by blood, and washed by the water of baptism, which flowed from the side of Christ. "Behold," says St. Augustine, book De Virginitate, "the wounds of him hanging, the blood of him dying, the price of him redeeming, the scars of him rising again: he has his head bowed for kissing, his heart open for loving, his arms extended for embracing, his whole body exposed for redeeming. Consider how great these things are, weigh them in the balance of your heart, that he who was wholly fixed for us upon the cross may be wholly fixed for you in your heart."

A well-worn saying of St. Gregory: "Nothing is grievous for the sake of God that is not borne with equanimity, if the passion of Christ is brought back to memory: for we bear small things, if we recall how harsh the words, harsher the blows, most harsh the punishments, that he suffered for us, who bore upon his head a crown, upon his eyes a veil, in his ears revilings, in his mouth gall and vinegar, on his face spittle and blows, on his cheeks pluckings, on his shoulders the cross, in his heart sorrow, in his inward parts a shaking, on his body scourges, in his limbs a stretching, in his hands and feet a piercing; finally, from the head to the soles of the feet, he sustained innumerable wounds and sorrows."

Philo adds that the fruit, or apple, of this tree is the Eucharist, in which the flesh of Christ, roasted and toasted on the cross more by love of us than by pain, is offered to us to be eaten, that he may breathe into us his love, life, and spirit.

Again, the three Anonymous writers in Theodoret say that the soul, infected with concupiscence from the forbidden tree, whose fruit Eve ate, is healed by the tree of the cross, from which she learns to conquer pleasure by the cross and mortification: hear them: "Under these created things, which, like a sweet apple, delight all the senses, thee (O soul), sluggish through indolence in embracing the good, and lulled asleep by zeal for perishing things, I roused, driving thee by the words and reasonings of providence and judgment to love and desire of me: for there, in affection for fleeting things, thy first mother Eve conceived thee, begetting with pleasure, and bringing forth with pain. By these affections, through desire for fragile things, thou didst labor, following pleasure and fleeing pain, striving so toward the end of pleasure that thou wouldst wish to be separated from pain, which indeed can by no means be done. Accordingly, if thou desirest to be free from these disturbances," set me as a seal, etc., which follow.

Anagogically Honorius: "Christ," he says, "will raise up the soul under the apple tree; because after this life he will give life, through the victory of the cross, to every kind that underwent death through the tree of transgression. Then the Church will be received into that glory, where her mother was corrupted through pride, namely the angelic dignity, and where her mother that bore her was violated, namely the number of the elect diminished, which she herself will restore, when she shall possess incorruption, and shall fill up the number of the elect; then she will set Christ as a seal upon her heart," etc.

Third Sense, the Principal Sense: Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

First, under the apple tree, that is, under the cross, Christ raised up Eve and Adam (whence also Adam was buried on Mount Calvary, on which Christ was crucified, so that, the blood from Christ trickling down upon Adam buried there, he himself might be raised up from death, as the Fathers commonly teach; just as the pelican is said to give life to its lifeless young by blood drawn from its own breast); and all their posterity, among whom is the Blessed Virgin; but since she had already been decreed by God to be the Mother of Christ, she was for this reason preserved by God from the fall and from original sin; yet she is here said to have been raised up from the fall and sin, not because she actually incurred it, but because she would have had to incur it from the common propagation of Adam and Eve, had she not been exempted by a special privilege of God.

St. Augustine explains this with beautiful comparisons, on the verse Psalm CXXXV, 13: Thou hast delivered my soul from the lower hell. The first is: "Just as," he says, "if a physician should see an illness threatening thee, perhaps from some exertion, and should say: Spare thyself, treat thyself thus, rest, use these foods, for if thou dost not, thou wilt fall ill; but if thou dost, thou shalt be well; thou rightly sayest to the physician: Thou hast freed me from the illness, not one in which I already was, but one in which I was going to be. The second: someone, I know not who, having a troublesome case, was about to be sent to prison: another came, defended him; giving thanks, what does he say? Thou hast delivered my soul from prison. The third: a debtor was about to be hanged, it was paid for him, he is said to be freed from hanging. In all these cases they were not, but because they were being driven by such deserts that, unless help had been given, they would have been there, they are rightly said to be freed from that to which, by their deliverers, they were not permitted to be brought."

Secondly, Christ raised up the Blessed Virgin under the cross to an increase and fervor of charity, so that, seeing so great a love of Christ toward herself and toward all men, even unto death, and the death of the cross, she might in turn be roused by this example, and be kindled as it were by the flaming fire of charity, so much so that she would wish to be crucified for Christ and with Christ, and to offer herself to God for every kind of torment, as a holocaust and victim for sin, for the salvation of men.

Thirdly, the Blessed Virgin, standing by Christ crucified, and offering him to God as a holocaust for the reconciliation of the world, says to the Church and the holy soul: Under the apple tree, that is, under the cross, through the death of my Son, whom I offered to God in sacrifice for thee, I raised thee up from sin, death, and hell: she does the same daily, while, through the cross of her Son, she intercedes with God for sinners, and obtains for them pardon, grace, and salvation.

VERSE 6. PLACE ME AS A SEAL UPON THY HEART, AS A SEAL UPON THY ARM: FOR LOVE IS STRONG AS DEATH, JEALOUSY IS HARD AS HELL: THE LAMPS THEREOF ARE LAMPS OF FIRE AND OF FLAMES.

PLACE ME AS A SEAL UPON THY HEART, AS A SEAL UPON THY ARM. — The Chaldean, the Arabic, the rabbis, and the Catholics who judge that the preceding verse is the voice of the bride assign this one likewise to her, as though she herself were asking that the bridegroom seal his heart and arm with the continual remembrance and love of a bride so wretched and corrupted by sin, as with a seal; and indeed these words can be attributed to the bride, because she herself imitates the affection of the bridegroom, and shapes herself and her own mind toward him: for the affection and love of bridegroom and bride are correlative. Hence the Chaldean translates: the children of Israel will say in that day to their Lord: I beseech thee, place us as the engraving of a ring upon thy arm, that we may no longer continue to be exiles. Finally, the Hebrew text signifies that these are the words of the bride, not of the bridegroom: for it has, in the masculine, שימני simeni, that is, place me, O man, O bridegroom. For if they were the words of the bridegroom, it would have had to be said in the feminine, שימיני simini, that is, place me, O woman, O bride; unless one should say that simeni is an infinitive, which is put for an imperative: for the infinitive is as much feminine as masculine — so some hold.

For that these are the words of the bridegroom to the bride seems to be gathered from what was said in the preceding verse. This maxim therefore depends upon the preceding one as effect upon cause, and as thanksgiving upon a benefit received, as if to say: Because I, the bridegroom, raised thee up, O bride, mortally wounded by the blow and by death, beneath the apple tree of the forbidden fruit which thy mother Eve ate, by the apple tree and wood of my cross — hence thou, in turn, mindful of so great a benefit, "place me as a seal upon thy heart." The first sense is plain; the second more obscure and more moral — hence I shall pursue it: for the Fathers agree that these are the words of the bridegroom, not of the bride.

FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

The bridegroom, in order the more to rouse the bride to a continual love, reverence, and thanksgiving toward himself, inserted into the preceding verse mention of the cross and of the death he had undergone for the bride, the Church; hence here he demands by his own right that she bear him and his cross continually in her heart and mind, and in her arm and action, and seal her heart and arm with him as with a seal. For "seal," the Hebrew is חותם chotam, which properly signifies a seal and a signet ring, by which letters and other things are sealed and stamped: for the root חתם chatam signifies to close up, to seal, to confirm with a seal.

First, then, "seal" here signifies a signet, as if the bridegroom said: Seal, O bride, with the remembrance and love of me, thy heart and thy arm, that thou mayst preserve the continual form and likeness of me, as an image expressed and impressed from me in thy mind and action: so Cassiodorus, Bede, Justus, and others; hence William says: "Place me as a seal — that is," he says, "impress me within, by thinking of me continually; impress me without, by working strenuously for my sake, so that the pious inward thought of the heart may flow forth into the outward action of the arm." Again, as if to say: Impress my ways and my life so upon thy heart and thy arm, that thou mayst express their likeness in thee, that is, in thy thoughts and actions, so that whoever sees thee a Christian may think he sees Christ, just as one who sees an image impressed in wax reckons that he sees the very seal and pattern itself — and this both in acting and in suffering, according to that saying of Paul, 2 Corinthians 4:18: "Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies:" so St. Anselm and St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter 8, and Theodoret.

"The Savior wills," says Theodoret, "that we hold him as a seal in our contemplations and in our actions, and that we impress his mark both in words and in deeds: for thus we shall be like royal coins, not counterfeit, but bearing the royal image:" so too the three Anonymous. Hear St. Ambrose: "Christ is a seal on the forehead, a seal in the heart, a seal in the arm: on the forehead, that we may always confess him; in the heart, that we may always love him; in the arm, that we may always work for him. Let his image, then, shine in our confession, let it shine in our love, let it shine in our works and deeds; so that, if it can be done, his whole likeness may be expressed in us. Let him be our head, because Christ is the head of the man; let him be our eye, that through him we may see the Father; let him be our voice, through which we may speak to the Father; let him be our right hand, through which we may offer our sacrifice to God the Father: let him also be our seal, which is the mark of perfection and of charity, with which the loving Father sealed the Son, as we read, John 6:27: Whom the Father, God, hath sealed."

Second, "seal" is the same as the mark and brand which a master imprints upon his servants, soldiers, sheep, oxen, and goods, so that it may be clear from them that those things belong to him: thus, Apocalypse 7:2, all the elect are sealed with the sign of the cross. Christ, then, here imprints upon the bride his mark of the cross, so that it may be clear from it that she is the servant of the crucified Christ; just as Antichrist will imprint his mark and character upon his followers in the hand or forehead, Apocalypse 13:16: so Aponius.

On the other hand, God says of Jechonias, Jeremiah 22:24: "As I live, saith the Lord: though Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Judah were a ring on my right hand, I would pluck him thence." And from this all the harms of the Church are born, namely, that many set not Christ but the world and the idol of the world as the seal of their heart; that is, that they court worldly honors, riches, and delights, and not the love and glory of Christ. Hear Cardinal Hugh, who embraces this and more: "Place me as a seal, etc. — as if to say: I will that thou keep the memory of me crucified for thee, that through thee nothing harmful may enter or go forth (for what we wish to be hidden, we also secure with a seal), that thou open the secret of thy heart to me alone; that the likeness of my form may show forth in thee; that the mark of my love may distinguish thee from every stranger; that in thy stronghold my banner may always appear;" and after some remarks: "The jewel of the breast is the seal of the heart, lest an unworthy affection steal in; the bracelet of the arm is the seal of fortitude in outward action, that we too may bear about in our body the marks of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Finally, St. Ambrose, book On Isaac and the Soul, chapter 8: "Christ," he says, "is a seal on the forehead, that we may always confess; in the heart, that we may always love; in the arm, that we may always work, so that, if it can be done, his whole likeness may be expressed in us. He himself is our seal, whom the Father, God, hath sealed," John 6:27, etc. The same, on Psalm 118, sermon 15, at the words of verse 120: "Pierce my flesh with nails from thy fear: Fix," he says, "this seal of the crucified upon thy heart: fasten it also to thy arm, that thy works may be dead to sin. Perhaps nails not only of fear but also of charity fasten this image, because love is mighty as death: jealousy is hard as the powers below, Canticle 8:6. By these nails of charity may our soul and our flesh be pierced, that it too may say: I am wounded with love."

Further, William teaches that this image of Christ is impressed on the heart by the seal of charity, when he says: "Impress me upon thyself as with a seal, by clinging to me strongly through love, that thou mayst receive form from me as from a seal, that thou mayst draw likeness from my subtle expression: as great as the impression of love shall be, so great shall be the expression of likeness; the more strongly thou cleavest to me through love, the more like me thou shalt be. The more strongly thou impressest thyself upon me, the more expressly shall I, Christ, be formed in thee, and the more remarkably shalt thou be reformed and transformed into me." And further below: "Charity transforms a man who is conformed to the world, because, like a seal, it changes the form too, so that he who was worldly becomes deified and divine.

SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

Christ crucified commands the pious soul to bear his likeness continually in heart and arm, that is, in mind and action, so that she may see, think, love, and do nothing but Christ crucified; but that she exclude from mind and affection all other persons and things, however precious; and he tacitly promises her that, if she does this, he will in turn seal his own heart, and likewise his arm, with the memory and love of her, so that he may think of her unceasingly, and care for her, direct her, defend her, and prosper her: so the three Anonymous, in Theodoret. Thus God says to Zorobabel, who was a type of Christ: "I will take thee, O Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, my servant, saith the Lord: and I will make thee as a signet, because I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts," Haggai 2:24, where I have said much on this matter.

So St. Paul was sealed to Christ, when he said, Galatians 6:17: "From henceforth let no man be troublesome to me; for I bear the marks of the Lord Jesus in my body;" and St. Francis received the same marks impressed on his body by Christ; and St. Clare of Montefalco in Italy still shows, so many years after her death, to those who behold it, the cross, nails, scourges, and crown of thorns of Christ impressed upon her heart, and this Bozius relates, book 1, On the Signs of the Church, chapter 18.

Thus St. Agnes, the bride of Christ, said of her bridegroom: "He has girded my right hand and my neck with precious stones, he has given to my ears priceless pearls: he has set a sign upon my face, that I may admit no lover besides him," as the Church sings of her from St. Ambrose. Further, let the faithful one be so much a seal and signet of Christ, that he strives to impress Christ's likeness and manners upon others as with a seal, as Paul did when he said, 1 Corinthians 15:47: "The first man was of the earth, earthly: the second man, from heaven, heavenly. Such as is the earthly, such also are they that are earthly: and such as is the heavenly, such also are they that are heavenly. Therefore, as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly;" and in the same place, chapter 6, verse 20: "For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body."

...and in action, so that she may see, think, love, do nothing but Christ crucified... to have formed her, and to have said to her: "As I am the figure of the substance of the Father in the deity, so thou shalt be the figure of my substance in the humanity, because she will receive in her soul, as it were, deifying gifts sent to thee from my divinity, in the manner in which the air receives the brightness of the sun, so that, penetrated inwardly to the marrow by this ray, thou mayst become fit and able to enter into familiar union with me." And chapter 7 and following: "When," she says, "on the feast of the Purification I had received the sacred communion, my mind intent on God and on myself, I perceived and felt my soul, like wax, melted by the divine fire, and made such by a distilling from the breast of Christ; for from it I received treasures of graces impressed upon me; in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and from then on I stood forth nobly marked with the character of the resplendent and ever-tranquil Trinity, so that thereafter with the whole eagerness of my mind I might pant after the highest good in himself, which thou art, O Lord, in the truth of thy eternity, which is an abyss of charity, from which it is granted to draw immense floods of love, and of all grace and virtue."

And book 1, chapter 4: Christ showed to a certain person a splendid and wonderfully adorned jewel, which he wore placed upon his heart: this jewel was a triangle in the shape of a trefoil; and he added: "As a sign of the love with which I pursue my bride Gertrude, I will continually wear this jewel." And book 5, chapter 3: with the death of St. Gertrude imminent, Christ consoled her with this honey-sweet promise: "Behold, now at last, through my kiss full of the most efficacious sweetness, I will win thee to myself, and through the closest embraces of my divine heart I will offer thee to my heavenly Father," as if to say: Until now I have allowed thee to be held on earth for the sake of thy greater merit: but now, since the fervor of tender love cannot bear further delays of thy absence, I will loose thee from the bond of the flesh, and set thee before thy Creator, that thereafter I may refresh in thee the greatness of my most ardent love, according to the sweetest delights of my delectations.

Now the revelations of St. Gertrude, as also of Bridget, Martin Delrio, treating of prophecy in his Magic, and many other learned and critical men who are cited at the beginning of the revelations of St. Bridget, praise and venerate as sound and pious, even though they contain many symbolic things — and are therefore to be interpreted symbolically: for they were dictated by women outstandingly holy, wherefore to say that they are fabricated would be an act of great rashness and impudence. I would not, however, assert that all the things written in them are properly to be called revelations and oracles of God, especially since even the prophets themselves are sometimes deceived, and think themselves moved by the Spirit of God when they are moved by their own spirit, pious though it be — as happened to the prophet Nathan, 2 Kings 7:3 and verse 4. For this reason I sometimes cite these revelations, but sparingly, and with a grain of salt, where the matter requires it.

Anagogically, Honorius takes this of the Church triumphant in the heavens: "Then," he says, "she will place Christ as a seal upon her heart, because she will see him, who is the image of God, in herself, as an image expressed in wax: she will place him as a seal upon her arm, because she will receive him as the reward for the labor of her works. There love is strong as death, because as death drew all the reprobate to destruction, so the love of God will draw all the elect to joy. There jealousy is hard as hell, because as hell receives all the followers of the devil, so heaven will receive all the imitators of God, of Christ. There all the elect will be lamps of charity, when, with lamps lit, they will go to meet the bridegroom and bride, who, always in the love of God, will burn like fire: because in the kingdom of their Father they will shine like the sun."

THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin placed Christ as a seal upon her heart, not only ethically, through a love more than maternal, but also physically, when she conceived him, carried him nine months in the womb, nourished, and bore him; and upon her arm, when, once he was born, she carried him in her arms and on her arm; wherefore not an image or likeness of Christ, but Christ himself was to her a seal of heart and arm. Hear Alan: "The Virgin Mary placed Christ upon her heart as a seal, because she was conformed to him by imitation, and sealed with his grace. This, however, was unknown to the devil, and known to the angel: upon thy arm, that is, in all thy works thou shalt be mindful of me. Upon the heart of the virgin, and upon her arm, the beloved is placed as a seal, because in the thoughts, which are marked by the heart, and in the actions, which are marked by the arm, the virgin imitates her son."

FOR LOVE IS STRONG AS DEATH, JEALOUSY IS HARD AS HELL.

For "strong," Symmachus translates "unconquerable"; for "jealousy," the Hebrew is קנאה kina; the Septuagint has ζῆλος, that is, zeal, jealousy, by which the bridegroom loves the bride so ardently that he exposes himself to dangers, combats, and death itself for her sake: so that he suffers no rival, but wills to possess the bride alone: and if anyone should wish to snatch her from him, he rises up fiercely against him, injures and kills him; hence the Syriac and the Arabic translate: jealousy, cruel as hell. These are the words of the bridegroom, as is clear from what precedes; less correctly the Chaldean refers the jealousy to enemies and persecutors: "For," he says, "the love of thy deity is strong as death, and the jealousy of the peoples who are jealous of us is mighty as Gehenna."

At first sight the comparison of love with death and hell seems discordant and horrible; but in this place it is fitting and apt, because the love of the bridegroom, through the cross, freed the bride from death and hell, to which she had been bound on account of sin. In like manner the Apostle, Romans 10:15, teaches that the grace of Christ is more powerful than was the sin of Adam, which brought death into the whole world, because the grace of Christ destroyed both. Love, then, and the strength of the love of Christ, is the close and end of the Canticle; hence John Gerson, Chancellor of Paris, when, sick, he had finished his exposition of the Canticle, repeating again and again these words, "Love is strong as death," died engrossed in this love and in these words, as I said at the beginning, among the interpreters.

FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

"For" gives the cause of what precedes, why the bridegroom raised up the bride beneath the apple tree of the cross, and therefore demands of her that she place him as a seal upon her heart and arm: for the cause was true and unmixed love, as if to say: Therefore I, Christ, exposed myself to the cross and to death for thee, O Church, to raise thee from death, because I loved thee as my bride with a pure and unmixed love and zeal. For love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell — first, because as death subdues all things and subjects them to itself, so that no living thing can escape its force and dominion; and as hell, before Christ, swallowed up all the souls of the dying, nor could any soul escape its hands without descending into it: so likewise the love of Christ overcame all scourges, nails, thorns, the cross, sorrows, reproaches, hunger, thirst, nakedness, and all things hard and adverse, which he bore bravely, that he might redeem the Church, his bride, from death. As, therefore, nothing resists death and hell, so all things yielded and succumbed to the strong and hard love of Christ.

Cassiodorus and Bede add: As hell knows not how to have mercy, nor to be softened from its torments, so Christ cannot cease from loving men, however grave their wickedness may be. Second, the love of Christ was strong as death and hell, because love compelled him to die and to descend into hell; but the love of Christ was stronger than death and hell, because it snatched the souls of the Fathers from death and hell, and freed them from it, according to that saying, Hosea 13:14: "I will be thy death, O death; I will be thy bite, O hell:" so St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter 8, Cassiodorus, Philo, Justus, Bede, and Gregory. Love, therefore, is so strong that it conquered God himself, and led him into flesh and onto the cross as a victim, as it were, of charity: wherefore, just as Jacob, prevailing over the angel who stood in God's place in the wrestling, was called by him Israel, that is, one who rules over God, so much more may love be called Israel, because "love alone triumphs over God."

Third, because love causes the lover, if the thing loved is injured, or snatched from him, to be exceedingly anguished and tormented, and to seem to undergo the very agony of death and hell, according to that saying, Psalm 17:5 and 114:3: "The sorrows of death surrounded me, the perils of hell found me."

Fourth, because Christ drives to death and hell all heretics and impious men who strive to violate or defile his bride the Church, just as a husband kills an adulterer, according to that saying, Proverbs 6:34: "The zeal and fury of the husband will not spare in the day of revenge, nor will he yield to any man's prayers, nor will he accept for satisfaction ever so many gifts." This zeal Moses had, when he killed 23,000 Israelites who were worshipping the golden calf, Exodus 32:34.

Further, Christ as bridegroom sets before the bride Church this extraordinary love of his for her, that he may in turn demand a like love from her, as if to say: I have said: Place me, O bride, as a seal upon thy heart, a seal, I say, of love, which shall strongly exclude from thy heart all other things: because, as my love for thee was strong as death, and my jealousy hard as hell, so I wish likewise that thine be: for love wills to be loved in return; as, therefore, I love thee with the most ardent charity, so I wish that thou love me with the same, and admit no other lover: for my love is jealousy, than which nothing is more vehement, and nothing more easily provoked even by slight offenses. And once provoked, it begets the gravest sorrows and angers, so that in comparison with them death and hell are to be reckoned as little, says Luysius: wherefore I wish that thy love be strong and hard as death and hell, as mine was — namely, that, like hell, it yield to no thing or adversity, but subdue all things and subject them to itself, and so overcome death and hell themselves, and lay them beneath its feet.

SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The soul wounded by the love of Christ says what she feels in herself, namely: "Love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell" — first, because love induces death: for it makes her die to all desires and temporal things, that she may live for Christ alone: so Theodoret, Cassiodorus, Bede, Anselm, and St. Gregory, whom hear: "What death does in the senses of the body, love does in the desires of the mind: for there are some who so love God that they neglect all visible things; and while with their mind they stretch out toward things eternal, they become almost insensible to all temporal things. In these, love indeed exists strong as death, because as death kills the outward senses of the body to every proper and natural appetite, so love in such men compels the mind, otherwise intent on other things, to despise all earthly desires. To such dead and living the Apostle said, Colossians 3:3: For you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."

And St. Ambrose, on Psalm 118, sermon 15, verse 8: "Charity is mighty as death: for charity mortifies guilt and all sins: charity kills like the stroke of death. In short, we die to disgraceful deeds and to sin, while we love the commandments of the Lord. Charity is God, charity is the Word of God, which is mighty and sharper than every sharpest sword, penetrating even to the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints, and the inmost parts of the marrow."

Love, then, is strong as death, because as death is never broken, never rests, until it has subdued to itself the lives of all mortals, so love does not cease, until it has subjugated to itself all passions and vices: for, as St. Chrysostom says, homily 1 on Philippians: "So violent is love, and, so to speak, tyrannical, that it yields to no occasion, but continually clings to the soul of the lover, nor allows any affliction or any sorrow to overcome the soul," nor does it spare any expense or labor.

Second, because love makes the pious soul desire death for Christ, as the martyrs desired: so Bede, Philo, and St. Ambrose on Psalm 118, sermon 19, and Theodoret. Thus St. Agatha went most joyfully and gloriously to prison, and, as though invited to a banquet, commended her agony to the Lord. Likewise the saints Marcus and Marcellianus, whose anniversary is kept on the 18th of June, when they were bound to the stake, with nails driven through their feet, said: "Never have we feasted so pleasantly as we willingly endure these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whose love we have now begun to be fixed; would that he would allow us to suffer these things for as long as we shall be clothed with this corruptible body," as their Life has it, and the Acts of St. Sebastian.

St. Eulalia, virgin and martyr, when she was being torn with hooks, exulted: "These," she said, "are the marks by which Christ is inscribed and impressed upon my flesh, and still more upon my heart," whence Prudentius, in his third hymn, μεροπαρθένων, asserts that she said: Behold, thou art written upon me, O Lord: how it delights me to read these letters, which mark thy trophies, O Christ!

Wherefore, surrounded by fire, drinking in the flame with eager mouth, the martyr flew to heaven in the form of a dove; whence Prudentius sings of her: The virgin, desiring a swift death, longs for and drinks with her mouth the funeral pyre. Thence a dove suddenly flashes forth, seen to leave the martyr's mouth, whiter than snow, and to follow the stars: this was the spirit of Eulalia, milk-white, swift, innocent.

And of St. Lawrence, roasted on the gridiron, St. Leo says, sermon 1 on him: "The flame of the charity of Christ could not be overcome by the flames of savage cruelty: slower was the fire that burned without than that which was kindled within." And St. Gregory, homily 3 on the Gospels, speaking of St. Felicity, mother of the seven martyrs: "Nor," he says, "could she see without grief her sons, whom she knew to be her own flesh, dying; but there was within her a power of love which conquered the grief of the flesh."

Third, because as nothing resists death and hell, so neither does anything resist charity; as, therefore, no one can prevent death from coming and killing, so neither can anyone prevent charity from saving, says Anselm. Again, as hell, says Cassiodorus, never releases those it has once received, so also solid love and jealousy does not abandon the soul it possesses; whence Paul, Romans 8:35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or famine? or nakedness? or danger? or persecution? or the sword? (as it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long: we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth (neither heaven, nor hell, nor the beings above, nor the beings below), nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

St. Augustine gives these three reasons, epistle 39 to St. Jerome: "Rightly," he says, "charity has been called like death, whether because no one conquers it, as no one conquers death; or because in this life the measure of charity extends even to death, as the Lord says, John 15:13: Greater love than this no man hath, than that a man lay down his life for his friends; or rather, because, as death tears the soul away from the senses of the flesh, so charity tears it away from the carnal concupiscences."

Fourth, as hell does not spare its own, whom it holds in its bosom, so neither does the one who truly loves spare his own wealth, his children, and himself: so St. Ambrose, sermon 15 on Psalm 118. Finally, charity compelled many of the saints to desire for themselves death and hell, that they might free souls from it: so St. Paul, Romans 9:1-2, desires to be made an anathema for Christ for the sake of the Jews; and Moses, to be blotted out of the book of life, Exodus 32:32. St. Christina underwent wondrous pains of hell, namely of purgatory, that she might snatch souls from it — wherefore she threw herself into icy waters, upon wheels, into burning furnaces, and tormented herself, as Cardinal Vitry relates in her Life, and Surius after him.

St. Agnes, out of charity, raised up from death and hell the son of the prefect of Rome: others did the same; indeed, many hold that St. Gregory freed the soul of the emperor Trajan from hell. St. Catherine of Siena desired with her own body to block up the mouth of hell, that no soul might any longer enter into it. Our own Alphonsus Rodriguez of Majorca, out of enkindled charity, offered himself to God as a victim, to suffer all the torments of hell for the whole of eternity, for the salvation of the soul of any Ethiopian, Indian, or barbarian whatsoever: wherefore he merited to see in ecstasy all the men and women of the whole world, and to hear that, by so ardent a desire of love, he had merited as much as if he had converted that whole multitude.

Blessed Jacopone, in the time of Pope Boniface VIII, a great despiser of himself and of the world and a lover of God, made from a noble lawyer into a Friar Minor, and indeed a lay brother, desired to undergo all the punishments of all the damned, if it should please God, that he might free them by these sufferings, and save them all — in such a way that he himself would be the least of all in heaven, and none of them would give him thanks for so great a benefit: so his Life, celebrated in Italy, has it.

Further, Christ demands of the soul a charity that is strong as death and hell, not only for her own sake, but also for the saving of others, as if to say: As I, dying of love for thee, O soul betrothed to me, conquered death and hell, and freed thee from them, so likewise do thou also bring it about that neither death nor hell prevail over thy love for me and for my faithful ones, or snatch its prey from thee; but rather do thou conquer both, and wrest souls like spoil from their jaws.

Hence St. Anselm: "Jealousy," he says, "is hard as hell, because hell is insatiable;" whence that saying: Hell opens its hollow throat insatiably; and thence hell is called in Hebrew שאול scheol, that is, demanding, because it always demands souls, and is never filled, nor ever says, "It is enough," Proverbs 30:16: so likewise charity is insatiable: for the more it loves Christ, the more and the more ardently it desires to love; and when it has won many souls for him, the more and more it strives to win. Again, as death and hell make the body and the soul waste away, so also does the jealousy of the saints, when they see God, their beloved, offended and violated by the impious.

David is a witness, Psalm 118:139: "My zeal hath made me pine away, because my enemies forgot thy words," and again, verse 158: "I beheld the transgressors, and I pined away;" and Elijah, 3 Kings 19:10: "With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant." A witness, in our own age, is Blessed our Father Ignatius, who used to say that he did not so much dread the torments of Gehenna, as the blasphemies which were hurled against God by the damned amid the stings of their torments: so Sanchez.

Whence R. Solomon, Agathius, and Sotomayor expound it thus, as if to say: The jealousy and zeal of souls burns just as fire, and the flames of hell. Further, St. Gregory, Cassiodorus, Bede, Aponius, and the Chaldean understand by "jealousy" envy, and hold that it is here opposed to love and charity, because charity is strong as death, while envy is hard and cruel as hell: for envy is itself a vice, as well as a universal and diabolical torment, which our own Jerónimo Prado, on Ezekiel chapter 8, verse 2, beautifully represents through many antitheses.

I subjoin them here: [Table of antitheses between DILECTIO and ÆMULATIO] Strong as death, because Death slays. / Hard as hell, because Hell tortures. / Effective in killing, lest it torment. / Slow to torment, lest it kill. / If it kills, it kills once. / It laughs at the punishments of the innocent. / It kills nobly. / It torments basely. / It is a glory to love. / It is a disgrace not to be loved in return. / It brings labors to an end. / It doubles sorrows. / It takes away both from the one who loves. / Aseram gives the soul. / The destruction of the body, the life of the soul. / It is a torment of body and of mind. / It obtains the victory. / It strips away the spoils. / It sins against the living. / It rages against the dead. / It kills justly. / It wounds unjustly. / It is a golden dart. / It is a fiery torment. / Utat him whom it pierces through. / It despoils him whom it burns.

Less genuinely, St. Gregory understands by "jealousy" the envy of the Jews against Christ: "Jealousy," he says, "is hard as hell — it proved hard, because as hell tortures without mercy those it holds, so the Jewish people, seizing Christ, dragged him to death without regard for piety;" and Aponius, who understands the jealousy of heretics: "This," he says, "is hard as hell, because, proudly rivaling the Church and Catholics, it is in every way made equal to the devil, who is called by the name of hell, because, like hell, it can be softened neither by prayers nor by tears, and is so hard that it cannot be softened from its hardness."

Mystically, St. Anselm understands by "death" the devil, the author of death, as if to say: As the devil invincibly brings about damnation, so the love of God brings about salvation.

THE LAMPS THEREOF (of love, or rather of the zeal of jealousy) ARE LAMPS OF FIRE AND OF FLAMES. — Cassiodorus, Anselm, and others here take "lamps" properly so called, which shine by the oil poured into them, and by them understand the hearts of the saints, in which, as in vessels, love dwells, and which are said to be of fire, because they burn within through love, and of flames, because they shine without through action. Justus of Urgell, however, says that the chaste are the lamps, that is, vessels of charity, and are called of fire and of flames, because they are always splendid, and fervent with the fire of the Holy Spirit.

But "lamp" here and elsewhere is often the same as torch, firebrand, coal, burning link, as is clear, Judges 7:16: for instead of "lamps" the Hebrew has רשפים rescaphim, a word which signifies everything that, in flying, scorches, kindles, and inflames; for it alludes, by metathesis, to seraphim, that is, the burning ones, the kindling ones: whence it signifies fire and lightning, which, like birds, run about most swiftly and scorch, as is clear from Psalm 77:48; likewise torches and fiery arrows, which fly through the air and set houses and cities on fire, as is clear from Psalm 75:4.

From the Hebrew, then, word for word, Hortolanus translates this passage thus: its coals, or its torches, are coals of fire, which are from the flame of God — as if to say: The torches and coals of charity and zeal are like fiery torches and the most burning and greatest flames: for what belongs to God is highest and greatest: thus the mountains of God and the cedars of God are so called, that is, the highest and the greatest. Hence the Septuagint here translates rescaphim as megimrega, that is, flying things, that is, flying darts, or wings round about — as if to say: Charity is surrounded round about with fiery wings, or with winged and fiery arrows; hence Christ crucified, appearing to St. Francis as it were a winged seraph, impressed upon him the five wounds, as five brands of the fire of charity.

Symmachus translates: its onrush, an onrush of fire; the Syriac: its rays; the Arabic: the spreading of its wings like wings of fire; Pagninus: its coals, coals of the most burning fiery flame; the sixth edition: its sparks, sparks of fire; others: sparkling coals — for sparks fly, and by flying scorch what they touch. Of these wings of charity St. Ambrose writes thus, book On Isaac, chapter 8: "Good charity, having burning wings of fire, which flits through the breasts and hearts of the saints, and burns up whatever is material and earthly; but whatever is sincere, it proves, and whatever it touches, it improves with its fire. This fire Jesus sent into the earth, and faith shone forth, devotion was kindled, charity was illuminated, justice shone resplendent. With this fire...

THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

All that has now been said applies before all others to the Blessed Virgin, especially in that she, out of a strong love of God, devoted herself and her own Christ to death upon the cross for the salvation of men, and offered him as an expiatory victim. Again, in that she herself, out of love of Christ, was dead to herself, and lived for Christ alone; whence it is also held by theologians that she was rendered lifeless and died, not by sickness, but by love — namely from a continual and ardent desire of enjoying Christ and God: for so great was the union and conjunction of the Blessed Virgin with Christ, that she herself revealed to St. Bridget, book 1 of the Revelations, chapter 35: "When," she says, "he (Christ) was born of me, I felt that, as it were, half of my heart was born and went forth from me; and when he suffered, I felt that, as it were, my heart was suffering: for just as that which is half outside and half inside — if that which is outside is pierced, that which is inside equally feels the pain — so I, when my Son was scourged and pierced, felt as it were my own heart scourged and pierced."

THE LAMPS THEREOF ARE LAMPS OF FIRE AND OF FLAMES... The charity, then, and the zeal of Christ and of his followers is like the flames of fire, first, because, like them, it never rests, but always burns, licks, scorches, and sets everything ablaze; whence he himself says, Luke 12:49: "I am come to cast fire on the earth; and what will I, but that it be kindled?" Second, because, as fire torments the body, so zeal torments the mind, especially if it should see the bride loved by another, or loving another. Third, as gunpowder placed beneath walls and houses, if it is set alight, scatters them by the force of the fire — indeed hurls houses and walls on high with a horrible force and crash — so also does zeal scatter and drive off all obstacles, however great.

There exists an emblem of Alciato, in which Love sits upon a chariot, drawn by four lions; and another, in which Cupid is painted with wings, bow, and arrows; from the sky round about fall fiery arrows, but broken, by which it is signified that love conquers even God, and sets the whole world ablaze; whence the motto: The winged god has broken the winged thunderbolt with fire, while he shows, as he is, that love is a stronger fire.

As many labors, then, as Christ endured for us, as many adversities too, as many scourgings, bruises, and sorrows as he bore for our sake, with so many burning arrows of love has he pierced our heart: for so great was the fire of Christ's love, and with such fiery wings did our Seraph, stretched out on the cross and wholly kindled, fly above all things, that he conquered everything; for he both bore death bravely, that by dying he might overcome it, and broke hell, however hardest it might be, that he might snatch away, hard and mightily, those whom it held hard bound.

Hence, of the cherubim, the attendants of Christ, Ezekiel says, chapter 1, verse 13: "And their appearance was like that of burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps;" and verse 12: "Wherever the impulse of the spirit was, thither they went, nor did they turn back when they walked." Hence too Christ, at Pentecost, sent the Holy Spirit in the appearance of tongues of fire, that by them the apostles might set the whole world ablaze, Acts 2:3; whence Aponius here, taking "lamps" as the flames of the Holy Spirit: "The liveliness," he says, "of the Word of the Godhead, and of the illumination of minds by flames, shone forth from the lamp of the Holy Spirit." More clearly, St. Anselm: "The burnings," he says, "are of the love of the Holy Spirit, who is fire, and are such that they also shine, because they make those who love shine, that they may illuminate by word and example; but still more, that they may kindle — such, above all, was the Blessed Virgin; whence St. Cyril, homily Against Nestorius, calls her an inextinguishable lamp."

Thus St. Paul was so filled with and encompassed by charity, that he seemed to be charity itself; wherefore, with the fiery wings of charity, he flew over and set ablaze the world like lightning. The same did St. Francis Xavier, Gaspar Barzaeus, and other apostolic men in this age, in Europe and in India, and still do. Hear St. Chrysostom, homily 2 on Acts, comparing Paul to the angels, indeed preferring him to them: "For, as though winged, he flew over the whole world by teaching, and, as though incorporeal, he despised all labors and dangers; and, as though already possessing heaven, he looked down upon all earthly things utterly; and as though he already dwelt among the incorporeal beings themselves, he watched with unceasing attention of mind: and to the angels indeed the care of the various nations was often entrusted, but none of them so governed the people entrusted to him, as Paul governed the whole world."

And soon after: "To Michael was entrusted one nation, that of the Jews; but to Paul, the earth and the seas and the dwelling of the whole world." And homily 3: "Though he stood exalted on the summit of every virtue, yet he surpassed every flame with the especial ardor of charity: for as iron thrust into fire becomes wholly fire, so Paul, set on fire with charity, became wholly charity — who, as though he were the common father of the whole world, so in his love for all imitated their very parents; indeed he surpassed in solicitude and piety all fathers, not only the carnal but also the spiritual, spending money, words, body, and soul for those whom he loved."

And homily 16 on the Epistle to the Romans, explaining that saying of chapter 9, "I wished myself to be anathema": "For indeed," he says, "this love was wider than every sea, more vehement than every flame, and no speech will express it according to its worth: but he alone will know it, whoever shall have been exactly endowed with the same."

Hear Lawrence Justinian, book On the Chaste Marriage of the Word and the Soul, at the end: "Fiery love always meditates new things, and composes unaccustomed ones: for, being impatient, it does not cease to think how it may love more ardently, be loved more sweetly, hold more strongly, converse more intimately. It wishes nothing to be loved along with itself, and alone desires to possess the sovereignty of the heart; hence jealousy, hence complaints, hence the murmur of love, the redoubling of words, and the intolerance of absence. Neither does the voice cease from crying out, nor the groan from the heart, nor the anxious care from searching, nor the ardor of desire from the inmost parts, except through the presence of the beloved: for he who loves more fervently is wearied more vehemently, although the very immensity of love does not allow him to consider the labor.

Then he recounts the wondrous joys and fruits of this love: "From the law, then, of the love of holy wedlock, how great the joys, and how great the blaze of charity, can be proved. From the same, too, the excellence of the bride, and the sublimity of her gifts — the opulence of delights, the breadth of heart, the magnanimity of mind, the sweetness of spirit, the confidence of love, the delight of devotion, the knowledge of truth, the purity of conscience, the perfection of the virtues, the bond of charity, the dance of exultation, the joy of jubilation, the ardor of desire, the abundance of peace, the taste of contemplation, the constancy of rectitude, the probity of character, the fruitfulness of wisdom, the delight of light, the exercise of humility, the compassion of fraternal love, the whiteness of innocence, the beauty of purity, the pleasantness of holiness, the praise of the divine greatness — and in a word, its own saving attachment is sufficiently made known."

Now the Chaldean, St. Gregory, and others who take "jealousy" in the bad sense, for envy and hatred, assign to it likewise these lamps, that is, these coals and torches; whence the Chaldean translates: and the enmity which they keep in store for us is like the coals of Gehenna, which God created, that the worshippers of idolatry might be burned in it. St. Gregory explains it thus, of the envy of the Jews against Christ: "The lamps thereof are lamps of fire and of flames: for as fire consumes what it burns, so envy destroyed the Jews from every virtue of the 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 in 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 in which it was kindled, it grew throughout the whole world, even among the Gentiles, all the way to the martyrdoms of Christians: but because on the one hand the fire of envy, and on the other the fire of charity lifted itself up, therefore it is added: Many waters cannot quench charity, neither shall the floods drown it."

Anagogically, the blessed in heaven will be like lamps of fire and of flames, because they will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father, as Christ says, and will burn equally. There will be there a full conflagration of charity, by which Christ as bridegroom, and the Church his bride — namely all the elect — will love one another most ardently for all eternity. Whence the Arabic forcefully adds to this verse: nor is there any measure to the conflagration of love. This sense is not so much anagogical as literal, for here the discourse concerns the bride sighing toward heaven, where there will be the consummation of the spiritual marriage, and likewise of charity: wherefore this mutual glow of love, which is described here, will never be found elsewhere properly and fully, except in heaven.

Whence St. Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter 8, reading, instead of "lamps of fire," from the Septuagint, "wings of fire": "With these wings," he says, "Enoch flew, caught up to heaven: with these wings Elijah flew away in a fiery course, and was carried to the heights with fiery horses: with these wings the Lord God led the people of the fathers through a pillar of fire: these wings the Seraph had, when he took coals of fire from the altar, and touched the mouth of the prophet, and took away his iniquities, and purged his sins."

VERSE 7. MANY WATERS COULD NOT QUENCH CHARITY, NOR SHALL THE FLOODS OVERWHELM IT: IF A MAN SHOULD GIVE ALL THE SUBSTANCE OF HIS HOUSE FOR LOVE, HE SHALL DESPISE IT AS NOTHING.

MANY WATERS COULD NOT (so reads the Roman edition; some read "shall be able," for so the Hebrew has it; but the Syriac and the Arabic have "are able," because the Hebrews signify, by one tense — namely the future — the other two, namely the past and the present; whence our translator presently renders in the future, "shall overwhelm": for here is signified the constancy and force of the charity of Christ and the Church, which no adversities could, can, or shall be able to quench) QUENCH CHARITY, NOR SHALL THE FLOODS OVERWHELM IT: IF A MAN SHOULD GIVE ALL THE SUBSTANCE (the Septuagint: all life, that is, all the sustenance by which life is maintained) OF HIS HOUSE FOR LOVE (the Septuagint: in love), HE SHALL DESPISE IT AS NOTHING — not charity, but substance, as is clear from the Hebrew.

The Septuagint: "with contempt they shall despise him," namely βίον, that is, his sustenance — although the rabbis refer it to the man; whence Vatablus renders: "if anyone should give all the wealth of his house for love, all utterly despise him," as an unjust and ridiculous buyer, inasmuch as he would wish to buy charity, a most precious thing, with the vilest wealth — as if to say: Charity surpasses every price, all gold, all riches and precious things. So Theodoret and the rest. Symmachus: "for charity's sake, having been despised, he shall be despised."

For "obruent illam" [shall overwhelm it], the Hebrew is מים ישטפוה, that is, "they shall inundate," and with a great abundance of waters, as much as with force, they shall submerge and overwhelm it. Pagninus: "they shall plunge it into the deep." The Arabic: "and the floods cannot wash away its footprints: if a man should exchange all his lifetime for love, they will not despise him" — namely, love, or the man.

The Chaldee paraphrast, referring these things after his custom to the Jews, renders thus: « The Lord of the world said to his people, the house of Israel: Although all peoples should be gathered together, who are compared to the waters of the sea, which are many, they shall not be able to quench my mercies from you; and if all the kings of the earth should be gathered together, who are compared to the waters of a river which flows down with force, they shall not be able to uproot you from the world: and if a man should give all the money of his house, that he might possess wisdom in captivity, I will render to him double in the world to come, and all the spoil which he shall take from the camps of Gog shall be his. »

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

So strong was the love and zeal of Christ toward his bride the Church, whom he raised up under the apple tree, that is, under the cross, that no waters — torrents or floods of persecutions, torments, sorrows, hardships, contradictions, ingratitudes, contempts, blasphemies of the treacherous Jews or of the Gentiles — could quench it, or lull it to sleep, but rather for those very ones he wore himself out in the greatest labors of preaching, and underwent sorrows, and at last poured out his life on the most cruel cross, even though on the cross he was mocked and blasphemed by them, and was visited with every infamy and disgrace as though he were a thief; nay rather, by these very waters...

constant, so that it could be overcome by no torments, no gifts or riches; wherefore let the Church and the pious soul learn by his example so to seal their heart and arm with the love of Christ, that they suffer the seal branded upon the heart to be burned out, erased, or blotted out by no punishments, no rewards, especially in the persecution of Antichrist, which, as it will be the last, so also will be the fiercest; for the overcoming of which Christ here arms his own with inflamed charity. So Saint Gregory, Cassiodorus, Bede, Anselm, Rupert, and Saint Jerome, book 14 on Ezekiel, chapter 47, where he reads thus: "many waters shall not be able to quench charity, and floods shall not drown it." Hear Saint Ambrose, book On Isaac, chapter 8: "Deservedly did the Hebrew children in the burning furnace not feel the burnings of the fire, because the flame of charity refreshed them. Much water will not be able to quench charity. Charity is stronger than adamant, and an indissoluble bond. No floods of the passions can shut out charity, no rivers of bitterness can flood over it: for as the ark, in that flood of the world, was borne unharmed through the expanses of the whole earth, so too do you stand unmoved against the waves of every temptation." Wherefore less fitting and suitable is the sense which Philo, Justus, and Aponius bring forward, as if to say: If a man should give all the substance of his house to the poor for love, that is, for the sake of loving — namely, if he should have preferred outward almsgiving to inward charity, choosing rather to lack the latter and to have the former — Christ the judge, and his angels, will despise him as if he had given nothing: for, as the Apostle teaches, 1 Corinthians 13:3, without charity nothing profits unto salvation, neither almsgiving, nor knowledge, nor martyrdom.

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

Christ, for the salvation of the soul, allowed himself to be overcome by no labors or sorrows, but willed to die and be crucified for her; let the soul, therefore, return the like to Christ, so that she permit herself to be drawn away from his love not a hair's breadth by any temptations, any terrors, any promises, any torments, any pleasures, but let her come forth strong — nay, stronger and more constant in all things — after the manner of asphalt, which is not burned by fire but fed by it, according to the saying:

The wave feeds the flames, and the more it is checked,
the more the fire burns.

Let the flesh tickle, then, let the world flatter, let the demon lie in wait — let the true lover of Christ stand unbroken, and let him allow himself to be deceived by no flatteries, nor cast down by any threats, but with Paul, Philippians 3:8, let him "account all things as dung," and despise them, nay, shudder at them. Peter fell, tempted by the maidservant and by the Jews, and out of fear denied Christ, because he did not yet have perfect charity; but when he received it from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he afterward feared no threats or punishments, but rather Christ

Moreover, Christ, as bridegroom, requires from the bride a like love — nay, the exchange of a strong love, by which he may be loved in return by her: for brides are wont to be solicited by suitors to adultery, either by fear of punishments, or by hope of gifts; the bridegroom here includes both, and so requires a strong love from the bride, and

And this most frigid ice of human hearts, and every contrariety, having been overcome, as though by antiperistasis the love of Christ blazed forth more vehemently, thundered, flashed with lightning, and burst forth in the likeness of flashing lightning, Ezekiel 1:14. Whence, about to go to his passion, he instituted the Eucharist as a pledge of unmoving and eternal love, according to that word, John 13:1: "When he had loved his own who were in the world, unto the end (both of life and of love, that is, with a final and highest love), he loved them." Indeed, even on the cross itself he prayed with most ardent charity and with tears for his crucifiers; whence many of them, at Pentecost, having heard the preaching of Saint Peter, repented, and having embraced the faith of Christ, were baptized, Acts 2:41. Christ's life, therefore, was extinguished in death, but not his charity: for this could not die, but remained alive in death. He subjoins the reason: "If a man should give all the substance (the Septuagint: life) of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing," as if to say: Christ, for the charity of God and of men, poured out all that was his, because charity is a most precious thing, transcendent and divine, which surpasses every price, both of gold and of labors and sorrows, for which all riches, all strength, all toils, and life itself are to be expended: for, as Saint John says, 1st Epistle 4:16: "God is charity: and he who abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him."

Alciatus, in his Emblemata, depicts Love breaking the strength of Jove, and setting the whole world on fire: again he depicts him naked as to the shoulders, winged, holding in his right hand a fish, in his left a bundle of flowers — symbols which he explains in these verses:

Naked Love — do you see how he laughs, and looks on gently,
he has neither torches, nor aught wherewith to bend the horns [of a bow].
But one of his hands bears flowers, the other a fish,
namely, that he may give laws to the earth, and to the sea.
Naked Love therefore smiles with charming little eyes,
he bears no bow, nor now fiery darts.
Nor does he handle the flower and the dolphin in his hands rashly:
for by the one he holds sway over the lands, by the other, he himself, over the sea.

THE VOICE OF THE ELDER BRIDE concerning the younger, that is, of the Church concerning the Synagogue.

VERSE 8. OUR SISTER IS LITTLE, AND SHE HAS NO BREASTS. WHAT SHALL WE DO FOR OUR SISTER IN THE DAY WHEN SHE IS TO BE ADDRESSED?

THIRD PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

The Blessed Virgin suffered more than the martyrs and the rest of mortals, indeed in some way more than Christ: for after the death of Christ, in which the passion of Christ was finished, she herself, even up to his resurrection, was in continual and most bitter sorrows; revolving these sorrows of Christ through her whole life, and moved by them, she was wondrously tormented. Besides this, she endured many things from the Jews out of hatred for Christ; indeed she, as a mother, felt by compassion, deep within, all the afflictions, persecutions, and falls of Christians, saying with Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:28: "Besides those things—"

...trae, of the little one, already a bride, with wool, or other stuffing, that they may seem to project, and thus she herself may be reckoned mature for a husband, and worthy of a bridegroom; so St. Ambrose and Honorius: thus are elder sisters, already married, wont to be solicitous for their younger sisters, that they too may be given in marriage honorably and in due season.

Cassiodorus, St. Gregory, and others judge these to be the words of the bridegroom: better, the Hebrews and Greeks, as Theodoret, three Anonymous authors, Philo, and others, judge them to be the words of the elder bride, namely of the Church concerning the new bride, namely the Synagogue of the Jews to be converted to Christ at the end of the world, as Aponius, Honorius, the Chaldee, Hortolanus, Delrio, and others expressly teach. Hear the Chaldee: "At that time the angels of heaven will say to one another: There is for us one nation on earth, and its merits are slight, and it has no kings and rulers, that it might go out to fight against the army of Gog: What shall we do for our sister in the day when the nations shall have spoken, that they may go up against her to war?" For Gog will be the army of Antichrist, as I said at Ezekiel 37:3, and 39:11.

By the day when she is to be addressed, Honorius understands the time of the preaching of Enoch and Elijah; but Aponius takes it as the day on which the Christian people are to be addressed by Antichrist, or his ministers: whether it should choose, having denied Christ, to bend its neck to him, or to succumb to the most atrocious death. Better, you may take it as the day of judgment, when Christ the Judge will examine her concerning faith, merit, and reward, and will address her, and will pronounce the sentence of blessed eternity, that she may be joined to him in heaven, and inserted into the company of angels. The sense, then, is as if the Church of the Gentiles were saying to Christ: What will become of my little sister — who, according to the flesh assumed by you, is equally yours too — namely of the Synagogue, that is, of the Jews recently converted to you through Elijah, who are few in number, and still unlearned in the Christian faith, and weak in virtue, in the day when she shall be given to the husband, that is, on the last day of judgment, when, according to the rule of charity that each one shall have possessed, all things shall be exacted? As if to say: It is fitting that we now take pains, that we may instruct her with a fitting bulwark of the doctrine of the faith and of the works of charity, lest the husband then, as unripe for the heavenly marriage, spurn her, repudiated. This is your part, you who are able and willing to look upon her from on high, and to make her, in due time, such as you then wished her to be for yourself. Do you wish her adorned? Adorn her. Do you wish her groomed? Groom her. Do you wish her rich? Enrich her. From your providence and beneficence, therefore, I ask that you grant her this very thing, for now the day of judgment is imminent, and the time of the marriage in heaven draws near: so Honorius, Anselm, Aponius, and, from them, Delrio.

SECOND PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

THIRD PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

THE VOICE OF THE COMPANIONS of the Bridegroom, that is, of the disciples and followers of Elijah.

VERSE 9. IF IT IS A WALL, LET US BUILD UPON IT BULWARKS OF SILVER: IF IT IS A DOOR, LET US ENCLOSE IT WITH BOARDS OF CEDAR.

IF IT IS A WALL, LET US BUILD (Vatablus: we shall build) UPON IT BULWARKS OF SILVER: IF IT IS A DOOR, LET US ENCLOSE IT WITH BOARDS OF CEDAR. — The Septuagint, diagrapsōmen ep' autan sanida kidrinen, that is, let us describe or carve upon it a board of cedar; Symmachus, perisphinxōmen, that is, let us bind together, let us tighten, and this properly signifies the Hebrew natsur. For "wall" the Arabic translates "walls"; for "bulwarks of silver," the same translates "boards or plankings of silver"; in Hebrew it is "bulwark of silver" and "board of cedar," in the singular: the passage is very obscure, whence there are here almost as many explanations as interpreters.

First, some hold these to be the words of suitors plotting against the chastity of the younger bride, as if to say: If the bride is constant in chastity like a wall, let us build against it bulwarks of silver, that is, let us storm her with gold and silver money; but if she is like a door, which is easily turned and opened, let us promise her boards of cedar, that is, trifling ornaments of garments or bracelets, by which we shall open for ourselves an approach to her: for women are fond of adornment, and many, that they may adorn the body with elegant garments, prostitute their modesty.

Second, Theodoret holds these words to be [those] of the chorus of young maidens, teaching what are the duties of a good wife in governing the household, namely that, like a wall and a closed door, she should watch over, guard, and shut up the things that are in the house, and that therefore there are to be given to her the ornaments of walls, or bulwarks of silver, and the adornments of a door, namely boards of cedar.

Third, Luysius Legionensis holds these to be the words of the Bridegroom, as if to say: It is decreed by me that, at the time when the little sister herself is to be addressed, her natural defects be corrected by art, and that what is lacking to her by nature be supplied by clothing and some exquisite kind of ornament: just as if someone, repairing the ancient walls of a city, should add to it towers and battlements overlaid with gold, or adorned with some excellent painting, or if someone should clothe the doors of a gate with boards of cedar.

THE FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

All these things look to the strength of charity, of which I spoke at verse 6: "Love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell": for it is charity which opens heaven to the bride and to the followers, and in it the Bridegroom will assign to each a place and a reward according to the degree and intention of the charity which he has. Since, then, the grown bride, namely the Church of the Gentiles, had objected to the companions of the Bridegroom concerning the younger sister, namely the Synagogue of the Jews to be converted at the end of the world: "Our sister is little, and has no breasts," that is, the people of the Jews, recently converted, is still small in faith and charity, and has not the breasts of doctrine and of teachers by which to suckle others, and accordingly is not yet fit for the marriage with Christ the Bridegroom to be celebrated in the heavens; the companions of the Bridegroom, that is, the disciples of Elijah and the preachers of Christ, answer: "If it is a wall," that is, granted that it be small and lacking breasts, if nevertheless it has, like a wall, a breast and mind firm and resolved to believe in Christ and to cling to him, "let us build (in Hebrew, we shall build) upon it bulwarks of silver," that is, we shall equip it with the sayings of sacred Scripture and of doctrine, and of Christian piety (for "the words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by fire, tested of the earth, purified seven times," Psalm 11:7): and with these we shall arm it as with bulwarks against all the assaults of Antichrist and of the Jews remaining in Judaism, and with these same we shall adorn it as with breasts, that it may be able to suckle, teach, and instruct others in Christianity, and thus it will make itself and its companions grow up in faith and charity, so that, now grown and mature, they may soon be ready to enter and consummate the marriage of Christ in heaven. Now among these bulwarks of silver of the sayings of holy Scripture, the chief are those which speak of the future greatness of glory in the heavens: for, as Sanchez rightly says, the bulwarks of walls are their crown. It signifies, therefore, that the faith and constancy of the bride is to be crowned in heaven with a silver crown, that is, white and splendid, such as the blessed now wear in heaven: for the hope and sight of this crown rouses the bride to the increase of virtues, and to heroic acts of charity and of martyrdom.

But if the younger bride, that is, the Jewish people converted to Christ, is a door, not a wall, that is, if she has, like a door, a breast and mind slight, movable, and changeable, so that she opens her ears and an approach to those who judaize, "let us enclose it with boards of cedar," that is, let us hedge and fortify her with the examples and manner of life of pious Christians, who may guard her from those who judaize, and shut off their approach to her, and by pious admonitions, as well as by manner of life, confirm her in the Christian faith and charity, so that, if she does not rise to the perfection and dignity of the bride, she may nevertheless deserve to be numbered among the young maidens, who together with the bride will enter upon the celebration of the heavenly marriage with Christ.

He notes the fickle disposition of neophytes, especially of the Jews, who, once converted to Christ, easily slip back into Judaism, to which they have been accustomed from childhood: wherefore, like a door, they are to be enclosed and strengthened by the examples of the saints as by boards of cedar, that is, incorruptible ones, according to that word, Psalm 91:13: "The just shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall be multiplied like the cedar of Lebanon": so [say] Philo, Honorius, and others.

Hear St. Gregory: "The Church is said to be enclosed with boards of cedar like a door, because, preaching the faith, she is adorned by multitudes of peoples, and while the peoples are sprinkled with various virtues, as a painting with many colors, so the Church is made honorable by many distinctions." The same St. Gregory understands by the bulwarks of silver the miracles by which preachers establish and defend their faith. And St. Ambrose, Sermon 22 on Psalm 118, verse 8: "Let us build," he says, "upon it boards of cedar,

Further, that it is here a question of the Jews to be converted at the end of the world is clear from the sequence of the drama, of which this is the last act, indeed the last scene; and this Honorius expressly teaches, and others cited at the beginning of the chapter. To this may be added the version of the Chaldee: "Michael (for he is the prince of the Church and of the Synagogue) the prince of Israel will say: If she herself shall have stood like a foundation among the peoples, and shall have given silver, that she may possess the truth of the name of the Ruler of the age, I and you together with their scribes will be surrounding her like ranks of silver, and the peoples will not have power to rule over her, just as the worm has no power to rule over silver; and although she be poor in precepts, we will seek mercy on her behalf before the Lord, and he will remember her for the merit of the law, in which the children labor, which is written on the tablets of the heart, and she stands against the nations like a cedar."

Solomon, therefore, here makes the Synagogue twofold, that is, he divided the Jews to be converted at the end of the world into two classes: one, of those who will excel in greater gifts of nature and of grace, and especially in strength and constancy, and will therefore be fit to become teachers, preachers, catechists, since they will have been more learned in holy Scripture: these he signifies by the name of a wall, upon which bulwarks of silver are built. The other, of those who will have lesser gifts and strength, but who, nevertheless, strengthened by others through word and example, will open the way to heaven for their companions: these he signifies by the name of a door clothed and adorned with cedar.

THE SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

What has been said of the Synagogue, apply to the soul, with the name changed. Hear Honorius: "If that soul is sound, if it wishes to be steadfast in the congregation, let us build upon it bulwarks of silver, let us instruct it with the sentences of holy Scripture, clear in eloquence, by which it may fortify itself against temptations, and teach others to abstain from vices; if it is a door to others unto conversion by word and example, let us enclose it with boards of cedar, that is, let us adorn it with many examples of the Fathers, that through it an entrance to life may lie open to many." Moreover Theodoret expounds thus concerning the holy soul, as if to say: "Since she is to be joined to a great King, and is to be, as it were, a wall of his house, so that she may care for and guard the things that are within, and as a door preserve the things that have been stored away, let us indeed build, as it were upon a wall, bulwarks of silver, that is, sayings shining with reason. Psalm 11:7: For the words of the Lord are pure words: silver tried by fire, tested of the earth, that, standing firm in them, she may assail her enemies with arrows, and pursue those laying snares. But upon her, as upon a door, let us set boards, and cedar ones, which cannot admit the corruption of sin: for the cedar is without rot."

He adds an amplification, in that the Septuagint, for "let us enclose," translate "let us describe" or "let us carve upon it," namely the door, a board of cedar: for the door of the heart ought to be inscribed and carved by the faithful with the image of Christ, so that his deeds and sufferings may be cut into it, as it were into boards of cedar, that is, incorruptibly and indelibly, so that in thoughts, words, and deeds it may everywhere refer to and represent them, according to that word, verse 6: "Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm." By a similar expression, images and writings to be consigned to eternity are called worthy of cedar; whence that [saying]:

THE THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

All that has now been said befits, above all others, the Blessed Virgin alone: whence it will be easy for anyone to apply those things to her: for she herself had a breast manly and strong, like a wall, upon which she daily built bulwarks of silver, of the sayings of holy Scripture and of the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, that she might abound in the breasts and milk of doctrine, and might suckle the apostles and the rest of the faithful. She too is the door, through which we enter to Christ in heaven, compacted of boards of cedar, that is, of the various incorruptible gifts of grace and of glory; hence she herself in the Litanies vo-

THE VOICE OF THE YOUNGER BRIDE, namely the Synagogue.

VERSE 10. I AM A WALL: AND MY BREASTS ARE LIKE A TOWER, SINCE I BECAME IN HIS PRESENCE AS ONE FINDING PEACE.

I AM A WALL: AND MY BREASTS ARE LIKE A TOWER (in Hebrew, towers, in the plural), since I became in his presence as one FINDING PEACE. — For "since" in Hebrew there is באז az, that is, "then"; whence Aquila translates, "then I was in his presence finding peace"; so too the Septuagint, except that the Vatican codex has "in their eyes," in the plural; the Complutensian, the Regia, and others, however, read,

"in his sight," in the singular, as the Hebrew, the Vulgate, Pagninus, Vatablus, and the Syriac have it: "Then," it says, "I was in his eyes as one finding salvation": the Arabic, "the one of peace, the one of salvation": Our version understood implicitly the preposition "ex," so that "tunc" is taken for "ex tunc," that is, "ex quo" [since], which is familiar to the Hebrews.

FIRST, ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

The Synagogue of the Jews, at the end of the world, hearing Elijah and Enoch preaching about Christ with such strength and spirit, and confirming their preaching by holiness of life and by astonishing miracles, will straightway believe in Christ, and will be joined to him with such faith and love that she will surpass many gentiles, and will produce many preachers, who will preach Christ powerfully and ardently after the manner of St. Paul. She will therefore then say to her grown sister, namely to the bishops and prelates of the Church of the gentiles: There is no reason for you to be anxious about me, nor to doubt my faith in Christ: for I, acknowledging my long error, and condemning it, and knowing with certainty that this is the Messiah or Christ, who was unworthily crucified by my fathers, believe in him, and give myself wholly to him, and in this faith I am firm like a wall, so that it would be easier to tear down a wall than to break the faith and constancy of my heart; nay rather, in it I have, standing out like towers, the breasts of doctrine and of doctors, who can defend the faith like towers, and can nurse the younger and weaker like breasts: wherefore they will soon so grow up in Christian doctrine and life, that they will be worthy of the heavenly nuptials of Christ. For at the end of the world the Jews, through the preaching of Elijah and Enoch, and through the effective grace of Christ, will change their hatred of Christ into zeal, so that they will preach and defend Christ as ardently as they before obstinately opposed him, as St. Paul did: wherefore the elders and doctors among them will so instruct and perfect the lesser and ruder ones, that they too will preach Christ; and then "all Israel shall be saved," as the Apostle says, Rom. XI, 26.

Moreover I have these things, that is, I shall have them, says the Synagogue, not of myself, but from the grace of Christ, "since," namely, "I became in his presence as one finding peace:" for since I was reconciled to Christ my most beloved bridegroom, and obtained peace from him, I have him with me forever, omnipotent and an all-knowing teacher, from whom I obtain the greatest powers, by which I can repel principalities and powers, and the rulers of this darkness, and finally all enemies both visible and invisible, and can keep

my citizens safe, not shut up within walls, as a most fortified city: for if God made the one prophet Jeremiah, chap. I, 18, like an iron pillar and a bronze wall, how much more has he made me, who am now the Church and bride of Christ, to whom he himself promised a mouth and wisdom so great, that no adversaries could resist it, Matth. X, 19: "for the name of the Lord is a most strong tower: the just runs to it, and shall be exalted," Prov. XVIII, 10; and this is what God promised me, Zach. II, 5: "And I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about: and I will be in glory in the midst of her," see what is said there: so Honorius, three Anonymous [writers] in Theodoret, Cosmas Damianus, Delrio and others. To this agrees the Chaldean: "The assembly of Israel," it says, "will answer and say: I am strong in the words of the law like a wall, and my sons are strong like towers. And at that time the assembly of Israel will find mercy in the eyes of its Lord, and all the inhabitants of the earth will salute him." To this may also be referred Cassiodorus, St. Gregory, Bede, Justus, Anselm, Rupert and others, who take this of the Church, which is called a wall on account of its firmness: for it is founded upon the rock, that is, upon Christ, and is built of living and chosen stones; for the Synagogue, to be converted at the end of the world, will become the Church of Christ.

Moreover, for "peace" in Hebrew there is שלום shalom, from which word the bridegroom is called Solomon, that is, peaceable, and the bride, the Synagogue, is called Sulamitess, that is, peaceable, as if to say: Since the true Solomon, that is, Christ, who brought peace from heaven between God and men, deigned by grace to call me, the Synagogue — who clung tenaciously to Moses and the old law and was his sworn enemy — to himself, and to reconcile me to himself, nay, to make me a Sulamitess, that is, his own Church, his bride, I have straightway grown to such strength and height of faith and charity, that as a bride to a bridegroom, if not equal, I certainly seem nearly equal. Whence the Arabic translates, "the one of peace, the one of salvation": wherefore "as" here, as elsewhere, denotes not likeness but truth, as if to say: I became, "as it were," that is, truly finding peace, or I became like her who will find peace: so Theodoret: "When he foreknew and predestined me," he says, "that I should seek peace and pursue it, and pursuing should attain it, then he called me peaceable, then Sunamitess, and made me an impregnable wall, formidable to enemies, and raised my breasts, that is, moral and theological doctrine, on high, and established them as it were a tower, that fighting from it I might drive off the bridegroom's enemies."

Anagogically, Honorius: "The Church," he says, "seeing herself built of living stones like a wall for a dwelling of the true God, and the angelic tower of the heavenly Jerusalem being restored through herself, sings exultantly, Cant. VIII, 10: I am a wall, and my breasts are like a tower, as if to say: I am built by the craftsman Christ, of chosen men, a wall of stones around the circuit of the heavenly Jerusalem, as a wall around the circuit of a city; and my breasts, that is, the doctors who provided me the milk of doctrine, are raised up like towers in place of the angels who fell from there, and thus she began to be built like a city by learned craftsmen, the apostles, and their successors, from that time, since I became in his presence as one finding peace," since, namely, I believed in Christ, who is true peace.

Symbolically Aponius takes the wall for the humanity of Christ; the breasts and towers for the apostles: "Because," he says, "just as through them he nourishes, so through them he defends the Church, the city; who, as a tower [adorns] a wall, so are proved to adorn the doctrine of Christ; secure therefore he stands, surrounded in these towers by the arms of divine knowledge, who remains immovable in their faith: for just as a tower is borne up by walls and

arms are placed within towers, so the apostles are sustained by faith from Christ, and through the apostles the host of the faithful, in whom the arms of life and right faith are stored, which whoever holds unceasingly, conquers; whoever lets go, is conquered."

until, the bite of the hostile siege being loosed, it acquires for its vigorous youth peace and the protection of maternal virtue; whence also the Prophet says, Ps. CXXI, 7: "Let peace be in thy strength, and abundance in thy towers." Moreover at the end of the world there will be 144 thousand virgins, who will set themselves against the impiety and lust of Antichrist even unto death, as is clear from Apoc. XIV, 1 and following.

Finally, Honorius applies these things to religious: "The soul," he says, "built up by the teachings of prelates as by the stones of craftsmen, and adorned by the examples of the Fathers, cries out to seculars: You who labor in the affairs of the world, enter by that example, as through a door, into the rest of the spiritual life; for I, formerly like you, slipping in sins, have become as a wall, stable in spiritual things, and my breasts, that is, the doctrine of my life, as an impregnable tower, since I became in his presence as one finding peace, that is, since I betook myself from the tumult of the world to the quiet of the cloister: for he who labors amid the adversities of the world and the enticements of the flesh sweats as it were in the din of wars, but he as it were finds peace before God while he rests in the spiritual life; and he will have that peace in full when, feeling no battle between flesh and spirit, he will rejoice in eternal peace."

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The holy soul is a wall through firmness of virtue, and a tower through the height of prayer, in which she attains mystical breasts, and draws from God the milk of doctrine and of the spirit, which she pours out upon others; there finally she attains full peace and joy of conscience: so Philo, bishop of the Carpathians: "I," he says, "am now fortified with faith and filled with charity, and my breasts — mine, I say (for they are given to me, and to all who do these things) — that is, the two Testaments and the two precepts of charity, likewise the twofold kind of life (namely the active, and that which is proper to contemplation) approved by the offices of justice; these indeed, under the guidance of divine grace, raised me up like a tower to the highest degree of uprightness; and there I began now to be wholly foreign to all anxiety, disturbance and care about human affairs, and rested. Whence it follows: I sat in his eyes as one who has found peace: rightly now she rejoices to sit and rest in the eyes of the bride, after she received the hands of divine grace, and peace, the bridegroom saying, John XIV, 27: My peace I give you. Peace I leave you, not as the world gives, do I give unto you."

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

What I said concerning the Blessed Virgin at the preceding verse, repeat here: for she herself, like a wall, will strengthen the Jews converted to Christ at the end of the world, and will nurse them with the breasts of her grace and of the doctrine of the preachers whom she will send to them, and like a tower she will defend them, as her own people, once beloved of God in the fathers, from whom both she herself and Christ took flesh, and this she does because she herself will have obtained for them peace, that is, pardon and grace with her Son, and will have reconciled them to him as the true Sunamitess, and mediatrix and peacemaker of God and the Synagogue; for whom she herself will bear to God, the same she will strive to nourish, cherish, advance and perfect: for maternal love toward her children demands this. How the Blessed Virgin is a tower I said, chap. IV, vers. 4; concerning her breasts of piety I said chap. I, vers. 1, and chap. IV, vers. 5.

Moreover William thus introduces the Blessed Virgin speaking sweetly and piously: "Finally, as soon as the Word was made flesh of my flesh, I found and felt that I had in my womb of the Holy Spirit, and I found in my womb, as it were, peace — not indeed yet peace, but now as it were peace, that is, a victim of peace, whose immolation as a victim is full peace, etc. Moreover, from the time I felt that I had in my womb of the Holy Spirit, without doubt I became of such excellence, such power, and such clemency, that to all who flee to me I am not only a wall for defense, but also a mother for nourishment."

and so great a mother, whose breasts are like a tower, that is, whose maternal piety not only nourishes little ones, but also, while they are still being nursed and less fit for battle, makes them inaccessible to enemies, so that when they have grown, going forth confidently into the field, they will provoke to battle not only flesh and blood, but also the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places."

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE, now grown, that is, of the Church.

VERSES 11 and 12. A VINEYARD BELONGED TO THE PEACEABLE ONE, IN THAT WHICH HAS PEOPLES: HE DELIVERED IT TO KEEPERS; A MAN BRINGS FOR ITS FRUIT A THOUSAND PIECES OF SILVER. MY VINEYARD IS BEFORE ME. THY THOUSAND ARE THE PEACEABLE ONE'S, AND TWO HUNDRED TO THOSE WHO KEEP ITS FRUITS.

A VINEYARD BELONGED TO THE PEACEABLE ONE, IN THAT WHICH HAS PEOPLES: HE DELIVERED IT TO KEEPERS; A MAN BRINGS FOR ITS FRUIT A THOUSAND PIECES OF SILVER. — In the Hebrew: there was a vineyard for Solomon in Baal Hamon. "Hamon" is the proper name of a city situated in the tribe of Naphtali between the Sea of Galilee and the sea of Phoenicia, which was given to the Levites, 1 Paralipomenon 6:75, called thus from the throng of its people and citizens: for "Baal Hamon" in Hebrew is the same as having or possessing a people; whence our version translates it, in that which has peoples; Symmachus, in the retention of a crowd; Aquila, in the having of a multitude; the Septuagint, however, retain it as a proper name, saying that the vineyard was made for Solomon in Beelamon; but the Syriac refers it to a multitude, not of people, but of fruits: There was, it says, a vineyard for Solomon, and its fruit was abundant: for Baalamon was a fertile place. It is strange that the Arabic translates, Solomon was made a vineyard in Baalamon, unless you explain it thus, as if to say: Solomon had such abundant vineyards, and was so constant and frequent in cultivating them, that he himself could be said to have been, as it were, transformed into them. It appears, then, that Solomon truly had an abundant vineyard in Baal Hamon.

Furthermore, many names of places and cities have the name Baal prefixed for the sake of ornament, as Baal Pharasim, Baal Meon, Baal Salisa, Baal Hasor, Baal Sephon, etc., either because Baal, that is, Bel or Belus, was once worshipped there as household god and tutelary deity; or because Baal is the same as having, possessing; or for other reasons. Our Sanchez asserts that Baal Hamon is Engaddi, abounding in palms and balsams, but proves this by no authority.

The Chaldee, in his own manner, refers these things to the Jews: whence by the vineyard he understands Jerusalem and Judea, whose king was Solomon, and after him the king of Judah was Rehoboam, and the king of the ten tribes was Jeroboam: "One nation," he says, "waited on the lot of the Ruler of the age, with whom is peace, which is compared to a vineyard. He placed it in Jerusalem, and delivered it into the hand of the kings of the house of David, that they should keep it, as a farmer keeps his vineyard. But after Solomon, king of Israel, died, it remained in the hand of Rehoboam his son, and Jeroboam the son of Nebat came, and divided the kingdom with him, and took from his hand ten tribes, according to the word of the mouth of Ahijah the Shilonite, who was a great man. When Solomon, king of Israel, heard the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, he sought to kill him, and Ahijah fled from the face of Solomon, and went away into Egypt: and at that time it was said in prophecy to Solomon the king, that he would rule the ten tribes all his days, and after his death Jeroboam the son of Nebat would rule over them: and over two tribes, namely Judah and Benjamin, Rehoboam the son of Solomon would rule."

Mention of vineyards is frequent in the Canticle, because the Canticle is written in a bucolic style; whence Solomon is here presented as a vinedresser, shepherd, and farmer: wherefore it begins with vineyards, and likewise ends with vineyards; for in chapter 1, the bride, but then still younger, inexperienced and weak, says at once: "They made me the keeper in the vineyards; my vineyard I have not kept;" but here, now grown, wise and strong, she says: "A vineyard belonged to the Peaceable One, in that which has peoples."

This is the voice of the grown bride, namely the Church of the Gentiles, who, having heard the voice of her younger sister the bride, namely the Synagogue of the Jews, asserting that she is a wall, and has breasts like towers, concludes by the parable of a most fruitful and most excellent vineyard, concerning both herself and her sister, that the number of the faithful and elect, both of the Gentiles and of the Jews, is now abundant and complete, and that therefore it is time that the marriage with Christ in heaven be consummated, which each of them alone desires, and tacitly asks for. That the vineyard is the Church, both of the Gentiles and of the Jews, is clear from the parable of Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 1: "A vineyard, he says, was made for my beloved on a horn, a son of oil;" and of Christ, Matthew chapter 21, verse 33: "There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard," etc.; therefore the vineyard in this place is both the Synagogue of the Jews, to be converted at the end of the world, and the Church of the Gentiles, already converted long ago, but at the end of the world wondrously flourishing both in peoples and in virtues, and complete and perfect in every respect, and therefore the name of the vineyard is repeated twice: whence some very fittingly understand by the first vineyard, verse 11, the Synagogue, and by the second, verse 12, the Church: for each vineyard will be of equal or similar fruitfulness, and will bring forth very many saints to Christ, but the Church, as being much greater, will give a more copious and more numerous multitude of saints: wherefore by the vineyard here Saint Gregory, Aponius, and the Chaldee understand the Synagogue; but Cassiodorus, Philo, Justus, Bede, Anselm, and Saint Ambrose, Psalm 118, sermon 22, verse 8, understand the Church, who by keepers understand pastors and teachers, or even guardian angels, as Cassiodorus and Bede judge, and they are called keepers, not tenant-farmers, because the tenant-farmer properly is Christ.

Let each point, then, be applied first to the Synagogue, then to the Church. The sense is, as if to say: As of old there was for King Solomon a notable vineyard in Baal Hamon, both literal, yielding him indeed a thousand pieces of silver; and mystical, namely the Synagogue of the old law, bringing forth an abundant fruit of piety and worship of God, of great price: so for Christ, who is the true Solomon, that is, peaceable, and making peace between God and men, at the end of the world there will be a vineyard in Baal Hamon, that is, in Judea, which will then abound in peoples and virtues of the faithful, and will be perfect in a great number of saints and elect; whence Saint John saw, out of each of the tribes of Israel, twelve thousand sealed, Apocalypse 7:4; then, therefore, the Shulamite, that is, the Synagogue, will be worthy to be joined to the bridegroom Solomon in heaven, and to be made drunk with the wine of glory, which she herself brought forth as a vineyard. This vineyard Solomon, that is, Christ, delivered, that is, will deliver, to keepers, that is, to prelates, teachers, and preachers, who cultivate and guard it in faith and piety. A man, that is, each of the keepers, who indeed yearly guards it, namely a pontiff, for its fruit brings an annual payment of a thousand pieces of silver, that is, the greatest and fullest (for the number a thousand is a symbol of the highest greatness and perfection) number of virtues and saints, and will offer the price to Christ, namely the many great and heroic works of the holy martyrs, virgins, religious, clerics, prelates, and married persons.

In like manner, the vineyard of Christ is the Church of the Gentiles in Baal Hamon, that is, in the multitude of peoples; for it embraces all the nations that are under heaven, and at the end of the world will abound in very many holy and elect martyrs, virgins, and confessors, and will be perfected by them, both in the number of the faithful and of the saints, and in the abundance and perfection of charity, and of all virtues, good works, and merits, so that they may then be altogether worthy to be brought, like ripe grapes and the wine pressed out from them, into the heavenly banquet of the marriage of Christ. This is what John says, Apocalypse 7:9: "After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in the sight of the lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands: and they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the lamb." So William, who also gives the reason: because, he says, the Church of the Gentiles has many peoples, while the Synagogue has only one, namely the Jewish; and because Christ came down from heaven, and underwent death and the cross, rather for the Church, as being so numerous, than for the Synagogue; and because the Church has brought forth and brings forth to Christ a far greater fruit and number of saints, martyrs, virgins, and confessors than the Synagogue, which, having been repudiated by Christ for so many ages on account of its perfidy, will only at the end of the world be associated with him again: so Saint Ambrose in the place already cited.

The same authors and others add that the Church became the vineyard of Christ in Baal Hamon, that is, in the multitude of peoples, at Pentecost, when the Parthians, Medes, Elamites, etc., heard the apostles speaking in their own tongues the mighty works of God. But then the Church only began, and being afterward propagated through all peoples, will be fully perfected at the end of the world; whence Lyranus understands by the man the emperor Constantine, who, he says, for the propagating of the Church, and for gathering its abundant fruit, expended a thousand pieces of silver, that is, made countless expenses: for other emperors, like children who despise a thousand gold pieces for the sake of one trinket, poured out immense wealth for buying their own pleasures; but Constantine, like a man who weighs out a great price only for great wares, liberally supplied the immense treasures of his empire for procuring the treasure of the heavenly kingdom: so Lyranus.

Fittingly he adds that this vineyard is in Baal Hamon, because Hamon was a priestly city: for it was given to the Aaronic priests to dwell in, who went about the other cities at intervals, that they might everywhere teach the people of God the law and worship. As if to say: In like manner the Synagogue at the end of the world will give many holy and learned priests to Christ, who will instruct and perfect the people in the Christian faith and piety; these indeed will be the breasts, of which she herself, in verse 10, said: "My breasts are like a tower." Then the Church adds concerning herself:

MY VINEYARD IS BEFORE ME. THY THOUSAND ARE THE PEACEABLE ONE'S, AND TWO HUNDRED TO THOSE WHO KEEP ITS FRUITS.

MY VINEYARD IS BEFORE ME — that is, as Vatablus, my vineyard, which belongs to me, is my care, as if she should say: You, O Synagogue my sister, have your vineyard, Judea, but I have for my vineyard the whole rest of the world, namely all the nations, which I continually cultivate in the Christian faith and virtue through my prelates, pastors, and preachers: wherefore it is necessary,

that I always keep so vast a vineyard before my eyes, and with great diligence and labor dig, prune, and gather the vintage of it, etc., as I have done, and do: wherefore that vineyard, now cultivated by me for so many years and ages, every year, out of its fruits, renders to Solomon its lord (namely Christ) a thousand pieces of silver, that is, the greatest price; but to the keepers who cultivate it, moreover, for their labor, it renders two hundred pieces of silver: by "piece of silver" is understood a shekel, which contains four silver drachmas, that is, four Italian giulios, or four Spanish reales, that is, a Brabant florin, or Belgian one.

Furthermore, Philo, Cassiodorus, Rupertus, Saint Gregory, and Saint Ambrose judge that these words: My vineyard is before me, etc., are the words of the bridegroom Christ, who answers the bride, as Cassiodorus says: "You say that I have delivered the Church, my vineyard, to keepers; nevertheless I always have care of it. Do not be in doubt concerning the eternal reward, since the fruit of eternal recompense is prepared for you: for your thousand, that is, all those things which you have left for my sake, are peaceable (in the nominative), that is, profitable to you: moreover, to those who keep the fruits of my vineyard, two hundred are prepared, likewise peaceable, that is, a doubled fruit is rendered profitable, inasmuch as, according to the saying of the Apostle, 1 Timothy 5:15, priests are worthy of double honor, especially those who preside and labor in the word." This opinion and exposition is probable, but the former is more probable, namely, that these are the words of the bride, according to the sense recounted a little before; for it follows: "Thy thousand are the Peaceable One's;" in the Hebrew it is, O Solomon, that is, O Christ, which no one doubts to be the words of the bride to the bridegroom.

THY THOUSAND ARE THE PEACEABLE ONE'S, AND TWO HUNDRED TO THOSE WHO KEEP ITS FRUITS.

In place of "pacifici," in the Hebrew it is, O Solomon; whence the Complutensians read pacifice, in the vocative; thy pacifici, therefore, is the same as thine, O peaceable one, O Solomon; whence the Arabic translates, many thousands of Solomon; the Septuagint, a thousand to Solomon; hence it is clear that the word "pacifici" is not a nominative plural, as Honorius, Cassiodorus, William, Rupertus, and others judge, but is a genitive singular, and denotes Solomon, and his antitype Christ. The sense is, as if to say: As thy vineyard of the Jews, O Synagogue, offers to Solomon, that is, to Christ the bridegroom, a thousand pieces of silver, that is, the greatest, and of the greatest price, fruit of charity, virtues, and good works: so my vineyard of the Gentiles does exactly the same; for although the Gentiles, being far more numerous than the Jews, bring forth far more fruits of heroic virtues than the Jews, and a greater number of holy martyrs, virgins, and confessors; nevertheless, to avoid the rivalry and jealousy of her sister the Synagogue, she is said to bring just as much as the Synagogue itself, namely a thousand pieces of silver, that is, fruit of the greatest price; but proportionally according to the number of each; for the Church of the Gentiles, being more numerous, does indeed give — and will give at the end of the world — a more numerous yield of saints than the Synagogue of the Jews.

She says, then, thy thousand, O peaceable one, that is, a thousand pieces of silver to thee, O peaceable one, O Solomon, that is, O Christ, which I have gathered from the fruit of the vineyard, I offer and render, because to Christ belongs the charity, virtue, perfection, blessedness, and glory of the whole Church, namely of the faithful and the saints: for all these things flow from the grace of Christ, as a stream from a spring, a ray from the sun, heat from fire; to Christ, therefore, are owed the thousand, that is, the far greater and highest dignity, merit, and reward of good works; but to the Church and the saints are owed, and given, the two hundred, that is, the holiness of soul and body, or the charity of God and neighbor, to which, as a reward in heaven, corresponds the glory of soul and body, through the observance of the ten commandments of the decalogue in heart and deed a hundred times doubled, that is, multiplied and perfected in every way, for a hundred doubled makes two hundred: so Honorius, and from him Delrio, Philo, and others.

Again, thy thousand, O peaceable one, as if to say: Behold, Christ our bridegroom, both the Synagogue and the Church, each thy bride, brings thee the number a thousand, that is, the totality and fullness of all the saints, as it were the fruits which she has gathered through thy grace from the Gentiles equally as from the Jews: wherefore the number of the saints and the elect is now complete. Come, then, put an end to this labor and warfare of ours, lead us with thee from earth to heaven, from warfare to triumph, from the contest to the prize, that we may be joined to thee, as to a bridegroom, in the heavenly bridal chamber in most blessed nuptials: wherefore transplant both these vineyards of thine from the soil into heaven, join holy men to the angels, and make thy bride, who has so long fought nobly in this arena, triumphant.

Note that a thousand is the cube and square of ten, for ten, multiplied into and by itself, that is, ten times ten makes a hundred, ten times a hundred makes a thousand: wherefore a thousand denotes the totality and fullness of a thing, here namely of the saints, says Saint Augustine, Book 2, On the City of God, chapter 7, and others everywhere. Again, a thousand is a symbol of virginity, for the symbol and cause of virginity is unity, whether simple or composite, as it is composed in 10, 100, and 1000, which is a thousand; but the symbol of marriage is duality, according to that saying, Ephesians 5:31: "The two shall be in one flesh," whether simple or composite, as it is composed in 20 and 200. Because, therefore, the Church, the bride of Christ, is both virgin and spouse, therefore her pieces of silver are a thousand, because she is a virgin; and two hundred, because she is a spouse, says Peter Bongus, On the Mysteries of Numbers, at 200, which he himself borrowed from Rupertus in this place, who also adds another reason: "Unity," he says, "is called a virgin, because, multiplied by itself, it creates nothing, for once one is only one: which happens to no other number, for twice two is four, three times three is nine, and so on. The hundredfold two (two hundred) designates marriage, because by this she is most happily joined to her beloved by an indissoluble bond."

Furthermore, the number a thousand properly belongs to Christ, says Bongus, at 100, according to that saying: "Thy thousand, O peaceable one," to Christ, I say, who is peace to himself, and who, as Saint Paul testifies, Colossians 1, made peace with all things in heaven and on earth, and whose office it is to lead to this end in which is the fullest and most blessed peace; the most perfect number, a thousand, is assigned to him: for this number, by the best right, in that it is the end and the last of the last consummated number, truly belongs to Christ alone, who is first according to his divinity, before whom there is none, but last according to his humanity, according to that saying, 1 Corinthians 15:45: "The first man Adam was made into a living soul, the last Adam into a life-giving spirit:" for a thousand is the period of all numbers, that is, the beginning and the end, for we begin to count from unity and end at a thousand: so Christ, God and man, is the fount, origin, and first beginning, as well as the last end of all good things, according to what he himself says of himself: Apocalypse 21:6: "I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last." So Theodoret.

Finally, a thousand is a symbol of the consummation of the world, according to that saying: "The world is six thousand," of the resurrection and the eternal glory of the blessed in the heavens, Apocalypse 20:5: for there the saints of the Church will drink the wine of eternal happiness, and will enjoy peace, that is, the abundance of all good things: so Saint Gregory, Cassiodorus, Justus, and others everywhere.

These pieces of silver, in the primitive Church, were brought by those of whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, verse 34: "For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought and laid the prices of the things they sold at the feet of the apostles." The reward of these is two hundred pieces of silver, because such will receive a hundredfold in this life, and much more a hundredfold in the life to come, according to that promise of Christ, Matthew 19:29: "Everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life."

SECOND PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

The soul, says Philo Carpathius, which finds the peace of the Lord, and rest from sins, becomes as it were a fruitful vineyard for the heavenly Solomon, who blesses all things in heaven and on earth, and grants and preserves all things quiet, blessed, and peaceable, provided they are subject to him, and conduct themselves accordingly: for there is no peace for the impious, no rest for the wicked, no tranquility for the proud, but only for the meek and the upright of heart. These, if they strive to please the bridegroom, not the world, not man, are set as keepers over their own soul as over a vineyard; the Prophet proves this, when he says, Psalm 118:5: "My portion, O Lord, I have said, is to keep thy law." Such a one receives as a reward a thousand pieces of silver, that is, he carries with him into his homeland the whole saving fullness of the law and the commandments; and there, destined to live without end, he eats of the fruit of his own hands. Nothing is more acceptable to God than to do good, and to teach others well by the example of the bridegroom himself, who said of such, John 17:25: "Where I am, there also may my servant be." The soul, therefore, which strives after perfection, continually says: "My vineyard is before me," that it may continually inspect, examine, correct, and perfect itself, as a vinedresser does his vineyard.

Furthermore, Honorius, Cassiodorus, and Saint Gregory apply these things to religious, who despise all earthly goods, that they may unite and betroth themselves to Christ. Hear Saint Gregory: "For the fruit of the vineyard, a man brings a thousand pieces of silver, because whoever conducts himself manfully in the faith which he has received, with a willing mind and

perfectly lets go of all earthly things, that he may truly possess Christ: for a thousand is a perfect number; therefore by it the perfection of any thing is shown. These pieces of silver, in the primitive Church, were brought by those of whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 4, verse 34: "For as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, and brought and laid the prices of the things they sold at the feet of the apostles." The reward of these is two hundred pieces of silver, because such will receive a hundredfold in this life, and much more a hundredfold in the life to come, according to that promise of Christ, Matthew 19:29: "Everyone who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life."

Symbolically, William understands by the thousand and the two hundred the holy angels, who are the peaceable and intimate ones of the heavenly bridegroom, and cooperate with him in the care of the Church: for indeed they are peaceable, who seek and continually ask for the things that are for the peace of Jerusalem: for a thousand and two hundred make twelve hundred: "And it is to be noted," he says, "that twelve is composed of four threes, and is in a certain way squared by them; but it is the property of squares, into whatever direction they are inclined, to stand firm. And so the twelve of the angels intimates their stable firmness in the love of the creating Trinity. But a hundred, in the sacred writings, by a solemn reasoning signifies perfection. When, therefore, the holy angels are said to be twelve hundred, they are shown to be, in the love of their Creator, not only firm, but also perfect, namely because they cling so firmly

that at no time, in no circumstance, are they able to waver in his love, and so perfectly and completely, that they are able to love nothing along with him which they do not love in him and on account of him." These are his words, not entirely fitting to the letter, both because the thousand is here given to Christ, not to the angels, but the two hundred to the keepers of the vineyard; and because the word "pacifici" here is not a nominative plural, but a genitive singular, and denotes Solomon himself, that is, Christ, as is clear from the Hebrew, the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic, and others.

THIRD PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM.

VERSE 13. YOU WHO DWELL IN THE GARDENS, THE FRIENDS ARE LISTENING: MAKE ME HEAR YOUR VOICE.

YOU WHO DWELL IN THE GARDENS (Honorius wrongly reads "in the gates," namely of life and death, as he himself says) THE FRIENDS ARE LISTENING: MAKE ME HEAR YOUR VOICE. - The Septuagint: you who sat (Symmachus: you (plural) who sit) in the gardens, the friends are attending to my voice: make your voice known to me; the Syriac: the guardians (of whom mention was made before) who dwell in the gardens (are present) and listen to your voice; the Arabic: to him sitting (masculine) in the garden, others listen. It appears that the Septuagint, and the Syriac and Arabic which follow it, read, in place of ישבת ioscebet, feminine, that is, "you who sit or dwell," ישבת iascabta, masculine, that is, "you who sat," that is, "you who sit." This is the voice of the bridegroom to the bride, whom he denotes in bucolic fashion as you who dwell in the gardens, as though a rustic girl, and a nymph who inhabits the woods and mountains, such as are called by the poets Dryads and Oreads, concerning whom Virgil, Aeneid I:

FIRST SENSE, THE ADEQUATE ONE. Concerning Christ and the Church.

Christ has up to this point listened to the dialogue and conversation of the Synagogue and the Church, and it pleased him: wherefore, now that the two have been united in the Christian faith and religion and made into one Church, he asks that she set forth her final wishes and requests: for he desires to grant and satisfy them; as if to say - the Gardener speaks: O my sweetest Catholic Church, who art thyself also a garden most pleasing to me, and who dost busy thyself with all my Churches, and with each of the elect, as with my gardens, behold, called by you for so long and so very often, I come: with me are present all the angels my companions, and our common friends. Speak now, come, what do you want of me: what is it, that I continually hear you and your spirit crying out: Come, come, come, Lord Jesus: behold, I have now come, as I once promised, and my reward is with me, that I may render to each according to his works. I am present, whom you call: ask what you will. Only speak: for you know that I am wonderfully delighted by your speech: and all these our friends are delighted by it too, and for that reason they long to hear you speaking. These have hitherto listened to your prayers and vows with the greatest delight, and have faithfully reported them to me, being accustomed always to commend you favorably to me and to my Father, and in this (as I once admonished) continually beholding the face of my heavenly Father. Furthermore, the Church dwells fixedly in the gardens, that is, she is constantly occupied in the pleasantness of the Scriptures, in cultivating the paradises of virtues ever green, beautifully flowering, and sweetly fragrant: so Rupert, Honorius and others. The friends are the angels: so Cassiodorus, Theodoret, Bede, Aponius, Anselm, Haymo, Rupert and others. To this may be added the Chaldee version: "Solomon said at the end of his prophecy: The Ruler of the world is about to say to the assembly of Israel at the end of days: You, congregation of Israel, who are compared to a garden least among the nations, and dwell in the house of doctrine with the companions of the Council, and the rest of the peoples, who listen to the voice of the head of the school, and learn from his mouth his words, make the law heard, the voice of your words, at the time when you sit to justify and to condemn, and I assent to all."

SECOND SENSE, THE PARTIAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the holy soul.

Three Anonymous writers in Theodoret, reading with the Septuagint, "you who dwell in the gardens," etc., judge these words to be the bride's to the bridegroom, whom she says sits in the gardens: "The gardens," they say, "are the divine temples, the monuments of the martyrs, the communities of those who have embraced the solitary life. In these, to those offering a thousand pieces of silver for the fruit of the vineyard, she asserts the bridegroom dwells, and she beseeches him, that he not only converse with the angelic powers, but also make her worthy of his voice, and not despise her, who burns with desire and thirst to enjoy his words."

THIRD SENSE, THE PRINCIPAL ONE. Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

First, William expounds this of Christ, seeking through Gabriel the consent of the Blessed Virgin to the incarnation of the Word, as if to say: O Virgin, who in the gardens of the soul are fed on the lilies of purity, make me hear your voice, as if you were to say: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word," Luke 1:38. Again, the same William expounds this of Christ after the resurrection, seeking from his mother leave to depart from the earth and to ascend into heaven, as if to say: Make me hear your voice, by which you say: "Flee, my beloved: be like a roe, and a young hart, upon the mountains of spices," that you may flee into heaven, and thence, to me and to the apostles saddened by your departure, send the Holy Spirit.

THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE.

VERSE 14. FLEE, MY BELOVED, AND BE LIKE THE ROE, AND THE FAWN OF THE HARTS, UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF AROMATIC SPICES.

Symmachus renders it "of sweetnesses"; the Syriac, instead of "flee," etc., translates it "when I shall have come, my beloved"; the Chaldee: "in that time the elders of the assembly of Israel will say: Flee for thyself, my beloved, Ruler of the age, from this unclean land, and let thy majesty dwell in the high heavens; and in the time of tribulation, when we shall have prayed before thee, thou shalt be like the roe, which, at the time when it sleeps, has one eye closed and the other eye open; or like the fawn of the harts, which, at the time when it flees, looks back after itself: so shalt thou behold us, and look upon our tribulation from the high heavens, until the time when it shall be thy good pleasure in us, and thou shalt redeem us, and bring us into the mountain of Jerusalem, and there shall the priests burn before thee the incense of spices."

This is the last and swan-song voice of the bride, which she utters to the bridegroom desiring to hear her last voice, and through it she conveys to the bridegroom her last and final wishes, which are: that the bridegroom flee, that is, that he swiftly hasten away like the roe upon the mountains of spices, and that he carry the bride with him thither, that there she may enjoy him alone: for the love which has settled in the inmost marrow of the bride endures no delays of the bridegroom. Flee, therefore, O bridegroom, with me from the valleys of the gardens into the mountains of the rocks, from the crowd into solitude, from the mire of stenches into the hills of spices.

Again, "flee," that is, "hasten," "depart in haste," and "fly away" into the mountains: thus also the Hebrew ברח barach, that is "to flee," is subsequently the same as "to run hastily," says R. Joseph Kimchi, several examples of which meaning Pagninus recounts in his Thesaurus of the Holy Tongue: for since flight occurs with haste and speed, hence by metalepsis "to flee" is taken for "to hasten," "fleeing" for "swift," "flight" for "course." So Virgil, Georgics III, verse 66, says:

FIRST, THE ADEQUATE SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Church.

The Church, at the end of the world, all having been converted and the number of the saints and elect completed — who will restore and fill the seats of the fallen angels — by this whole work sends up her sighs to heaven from her heart, with burning love, to the bridegroom, that there, after so many labors and struggles, as one who has, so to speak, served out her time and won the victory, she may consummate the blessed nuptials with Christ, and gloriously enjoy him forever, and sing with the holy angels an unending Alleluia. Hence she repeats here the same sigh, and with it concludes the canticle, the second coming of Christ to judgment now being at hand. The sense, then, is as if she said: Flee, that is, hasten and hurry thyself away, O bridegroom, soon after the judgment has been carried out, from this valley of tears, foul and rotten with so many crimes and miseries, into the mountains of spices, that is, to the hills of blessed eternity, to the seats of the angels, where all things are fragrant with the incense and frankincense of praises and jubilations, and carry me likewise with thee, as the roes and fawns are wont to snatch away their young with them (indeed, they will not snatch themselves away alone, without them) from the hunters, and carry them into the mountains fragrant with spices. Why Christ is compared to the roe and the fawn, I have set out several causes and analogies at chapter 2.

Hence Cosmas Damianus explains this paraphrastically and with feeling: "O best and most beloved, dearer to me than my own life, my bridegroom, Lord Jesus Christ, thou hast come at last, long and much called upon by me and awaited: happy and auspicious be thy coming to us. Behold, now the longed-for day of our regeneration breathes forth: now that thou, our highest Sun and King, hast arisen, the shadows of all princes and powers, like melting mountains, are drawn in; now every creature shall be freed from the bondage of corruption; now our life, which until now lay hidden, founded in thee, shall be revealed to the whole world together with thy life and glory; now this corruptible body shall put on incorruption, and the mortal, immortality; now at last, about to triumph with thee over sin and death, we shall taunt our enemies, singing this song of Osee: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy victory? O death, O sin, where is thy sting? We have fought the good fight, we have finished the course, we have kept the faith, we have conquered. We beg thee earnestly, therefore, that thou command all of us who are thy elect and beloved to come to thee from the four quarters, and snatch us up into that most shining cloud of thine, and that thou transfer thyself and us, out of the sight of ungodly men, as swiftly as possible into heaven, far from the foul mountains of this world, reeking with the wild stench of lions and leopards, into the heavenly mountains of all thy graces and virtues, breathing the aromatic fragrance of our vows. Let thy Church at last hear, I beseech thee, that most delightful voice of thine which thou hast promised: "Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee. Come from Libanus, my spouse..., thou shalt be crowned," etc.; and likewise that other: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.""

Furthermore, the Fathers commonly refer this to Christ's ascension into heaven, which took place on the fortieth day from his resurrection, as though the Church, that is, the apostles and the faithful, entreat Christ to ascend into heaven, but in such a way that from there he may look upon his saints with an eye of mercy, and visit them often with his grace and consolation: saints, I say, who deserve to be called mountains of spices on account of their contempt of earthly things, and their desire for heavenly goods and joys, says Bede; so too Cassiodorus, Philo, Justus, Aponius, and St. Bernard, Sermon 9 on the Psalm "Qui habitat," where by "mountains of spices" he understands all the orders of angels, above whom Christ, as man, triumphant, ascended into heaven. But because Christ's ascent into heaven has already been treated at chapter 2, in the Church's adolescence, it is therefore better here, where the Church's mature age — indeed, her perfection — is being treated, and she is therefore soon to be blessed and glorified in heaven, that you should understand this flight of the bridegroom into the mountains of spices of the second coming of Christ, namely, that on the day of judgment, once it has been carried out in the valley of Josaphat, he himself will gloriously ascend from there with the saints into heaven, and will snatch them up with him, that he may offer them to God the Father as the fruit, as it were, of his cross: so Theodoret, Honorius, Aponius, St. Ambrose, On the Good of Death, book V, and St. Bernard, Sermon 9 on the Psalm "Qui habitat," and among the more recent writers, Luysius, Nannius, Osorius, Delrio, Hortolanus, and others.

SECOND, PARTIAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Holy Soul.

First, St. Gregory: "Christ," he says, "fleeing the reprobate, seeks the mountains of spices, because, leaving behind the perverse, he does not cease to visit holy souls, who both become exalted through contemplation, and carry with them fragrant ointments through the compounding of virtues; above these mountains the beloved is likened to the roe, and to the fawn of the harts, because it is made manifest in the hearts of holy men with what loving charity he assumed humanity for us."

Hence St. Ambrose, book III, On Virgins, adapting this to them: "There," he says, "let the daughters seek Christ, where the Church seeks him, on the mountains of good odor, which, by the loftiness of their exalted deeds, breathe forth the sweet odor of life in place of the summits of merits. For he flees the open squares, he flees the assemblies and the noise of the marketplace, according to what is written, Canticle 8:14: Flee, my brother, and make thyself like to the hart, or to the fawn of the hart, into the mountains of spices. For, unseen by the serpentine snakes, fleeing the dogs, and hostile to the serpents that creep upon the ground, he knows not how to dwell except in the loftiness of virtues, he knows not how to abide except in such daughters of the Church, who can say, 2 Corinthians 2:15: We are the good odor of Christ."

Secondly, St. Ambrose, more fittingly according to the letter, in his book On the Good of Death, chapter 5, understands this of the soul's desire to fly forth from this life and age into heaven: "Flee," he says, "my brother." He exhorts the bridegroom to flee, because she herself can now also follow him as he flees earthly things. He says that he should be like a young doe, which escapes from the nets: for she too wishes to flee, and ... [text wanting in the source] ... that we may avoid persecution by fleeing: "On account of the weak," says St. Ambrose, "he flees, who cannot bear the more grievous trials, etc.; let him pass over to the mountains of spices, who, for the sake of martyrdom, can bring the fragrance of the blessed resurrection. The mountains of spices are the saints: to them Christ flees, because his foundations are in the holy mountains: to them, therefore, he flees, who are his stable foundations; in us he flees, in them he stands in a sure station. The mountain of spices, therefore, is Paul, who can say, 2 Corinthians 2:15: We are the good odor of Christ unto God. The mountain of spices is David, whose odor of prayer ascended to the Lord, and therefore he said, Psalm 140:2: Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight."

The mystics, or contemplatives, refer this to the mystical approaches and withdrawals of Christ toward the soul: for these are likened to flight; hence our own Alvarez de Paz, On the Nature of Contemplation, book V, part II, chapter 12, explains it thus, as if he were saying: "Flee, my beloved," etc., since, O bridegroom, thou art about to flee, and to leave me in love of thee, I pray that thou mayest flee after the manner of the roe and the fawn of the harts, which flee their pursuers in such a way that they frequently turn back toward them, and look upon them with their eyes. Go, but return, that as by thy departure I am made more humble, and acknowledge my own weakness, so by thy approach I may be exalted with an increase of virtues, and breathe again with the affection of love. Thou hast made thyself like the eagle.

In a symbolic sense, Rupert and St. Gregory hold that here the pious soul asks that God hide himself, and withdraw into the darkness and incomprehensibility of his own deity, lest, contemplating higher things about him, she should think she has comprehended him: hear St. Gregory, Morals, book 17, chapter 15: "Flee, my beloved, flee, as if he should say: Thou who, from thy flesh, hast been made comprehensible, from thy divinity go beyond the understanding of our sense, and remain incomprehensible to us in thyself." Again, Philo: "When," he says, "thou art tempted, O beloved soul, flee to the mountains of spices, that is, to the examples of the saints, that, animated by them, thou mayest resist temptation: art thou tempted by lust, flee to the steep mountain of chastity, the patriarch Joseph, who left his cloak in the hand of his mistress who was tempting him, and fled; art thou tempted by anger, flee to the most gentle hill of clemency, David, who forgave Saul's crime of persecution, and imitate him: "Let us, then," he says, "be mountains of spices," that is, the perfumes of virtues." Moreover, in temptation, especially of pleasure, gluttony, and lust, flight is a singular remedy, that thou mayest flee all the enticements of the flesh, and the beauty of women, and all occasions of sinning.

THIRD, PRINCIPAL SENSE, Concerning Christ and the Blessed Virgin.

First, William understands this of the Blessed Virgin asking Christ to ascend into heaven, and from there to send the Holy Spirit upon herself and the apostles; that he ascend, I say, "above the mountains of spices," that is, above every excellence of the angels, who have been made mountains of spices, since they have merited to be made blessed, established in the love of God: "on account of the ineffable," he says, "delights of inward sweetness, which they shall enjoy forever, from the contemplation of the highest Trinity."

Secondly, Rupert teaches that in any necessity the faithful must take refuge at the mountains of spices, that is, that any of the saints may be invoked, but especially the Blessed Virgin, who is the Virgin of virgins, the mountain of mountains, and the holy of holies: "I have lifted up," says Psalm 120:1, "my eyes unto the mountains, from whence help shall come to me; but to thee especially we turn, to thee above all we lift up our eyes, for thy help before all others we sigh. By the holy sacrament of thy womb, and by that sword which pierced through thy soul, obtain for us that we may see that very illumination of the eternal mountains, namely, the beloved, and, from the beloved, the beloved, and, together, the love of both, that is, the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God, living and true, whose kingdom and dominion endures for ever and ever. Amen."

The literal and adequate sense of the Canticle is to describe the marriage of Christ and the Church through the humanity assumed by him; the partial sense, that of Christ and the holy soul, not any soul whatever, but the perfect soul; and the principal sense, that of Christ and the Blessed Virgin. First, then, the Church and the holy soul describe their infancy, from chapter 1 up to chapter 2, verse 8; secondly, their adolescence, from chapter 2, verse 8, up to chapter 3, verse 6; thirdly, their mature age, from chapter 3, verse 6, up to chapter 5, verse 2; fourthly, their old age, from chapter 5, verse 2, up to chapter 6, verse 3; fifthly, their renewal and glorification, or rather their aspiration to glory, from chapter 6, verse 3, up to the end of the book.

1. LET HIM KISS ME WITH THE KISS OF HIS MOUTH. — The Synagogue asks for the kiss of the incarnation of the Word, namely, that the Word may kiss human nature by assuming it, so that, by suffering in it, he may reconcile it, hateful to God the Father on account of sin. The holy soul asks for the kiss of perfection, of charity, and of union with God. The Blessed Virgin asks for the kiss of the Holy Spirit, that she may become the mother of Christ.

FOR THY BREASTS ARE BETTER THAN WINE. — He calls the nipples "breasts," for men do not have breasts as women do; but that from the nipples of men milk is sometimes expressed, Galen and Aristotle teach, in the History of Animals, book 1, chapter 12, and book 3, chapter 20; the breasts signify the most sweet faculty and power of giving suck, for Christ, by his doctrine and grace, nurses the faithful as it were with two breasts. Note the word "for," for this word gives the reason why the bride desires the kiss of the bridegroom, as if she said: Because I have tasted the sweetness of thy breasts, that is, of thy doctrine, grace, and consolation, hence I aspire to thy kiss, that from its breath I may draw in the spirit and soul, from which all sweetness flows, in the wine itself, the very fountain. These breasts are better than the wine of the pleasures of the world, and likewise than wine, that is, than the austerity of the law of Moses.

2. FRAGRANT WITH THE BEST OINTMENTS — namely, with the most excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit. The external breasts of Christ are the apostles and the evangelists.