Expositio In Canticum Canticorum Salomonis [Incertus] (Appendix VI)

APPENDIX VI. EXPOSITIO IN CANTICUM CANTICORUM SALOMONIS. CHAP. I. — 1. Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. Let him touch me with the sweetness of his presence, whom I have heard promised so often by the prophets. For your breasts are better than wine. The sweetness of evangelical doctrine is better than the austerity of the law. Fragrant with the best ointments. With the gifts of the Holy Spirit: A chrisma Christus, that is, anointed from anointing, which name, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, is poured out upon all the faithful in baptism. Therefore the young maidens have loved you. The souls of the elect, renewed by the grace of baptism. Draw me after you. That I may follow you ascending into the heavens. The king has led me into his cellars. Faith into the inner joys of the heavenly fatherland. We shall exult and rejoice in you, mindful of your breasts above wine. In you, not in us; mindful through all things that the grace of faith is above the teaching of the law. The righteous love you. No one loves you unless he is righteous; and no one is righteous unless he loves you. I am black, but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem. The voice of the Church concerning her afflictions. Black in the afflictions of persecutions, but beautiful in the beauty of virtues.

As the tents of Cedar, as the skins of Solomon. In the temptation darkened by demons, beautiful in mortifying carnal desires. Do not consider me, that I am dark, because the sun has discolored me. Do not wonder if I am despised outwardly by men on account of the heat of temptations. The sons of my mother have fought against me; they set me as a keeper in the vineyards, I did not guard my vineyard. The bitterness of the sons of the Synagogue made me not guard the vineyard of Jerusalem, but to be the keeper of many vineyards, that is, of Churches throughout the world. Tell me whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie at noon, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of your companions. Tell me my shepherd, whom I love with my whole mind, and in what pastures and rest he has, lest, disturbed by the heat of temptations, I begin to seek him through the conventicles of companions, that is, of heretics. If you are ignorant, O beautiful among women, go out and go after the tracks of your flocks. If you are ignorant that you are betrothed to me under such a condition of temptations, go out from my sight and follow the various acts of the erring. And feed your goats near the tents of the shepherds. That is, nourish lost hearers, follow the doctrines of foolish teachers. I have likened you to my chariotry in the chariots of Pharaoh, my friend. Just as I freed the former people from Egyptian fear, so I, your spouse, if you trust in me, will free you from empty threats.

Beautiful are the cheeks with light, like the turtledove. I have adorned you with such power of salutary modesty that you may not corrupt the chastity of the faith promised to me by any seduction of depraved teachers. Your neck, like necklaces; we will make for you little golden chains studded with silver. In the neck, teachers are signified. In the necklaces, works are expressed, because those things which they teach by word they demonstrate by works. In the little chains, Sacred Scripture is shown, which shines within with the gold of spiritual senses and gleams without with the silver of heavenly eloquence. While the king was in his reclining place, my nard gave forth its fragrance. This, with Christ resting in the blessedness of heavenly seclusion, the virtue of the saints administers to us the grace of great sweetness. A bundle of myrrh, my beloved, to me, will dwell between my breasts. The death of my beloved, which he underwent for my salvation, will always dwell in my memory. A cluster of Cyprus, my beloved, to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi. He who was a bundle of myrrh in the bitterness of the passion, he himself is a cluster of Cyprus in the sweetness of the resurrection. Myrrh brings sorrow, wine brings joy. In the vineyards of Engaddi, on account of the divine charismata which after the resurrection he bestowed in baptism upon his participants. Engaddi, a fountain of a kid, signifies baptism.

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved; behold, you are beautiful. Beautiful in simplicity of heart and purity of works. Your eyes are those of doves, because your senses are endowed with spiritual understanding. Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved; behold, you are beautiful. You alone are naturally beautiful; I am beautiful through you. Our little bed is flowery. The peace of holy Church flourishes with holy virtues and multiplies in spiritual offspring. The beams of our houses are of cedar; our paneled ceilings are of cypress. The beams and paneled ceilings are the teachers in holy Church, for protection and adornment. They are of cedar and cypress because of their outstanding virtues and the fragrance of a good life. CHAPTER II. — 1. I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. I am the glory of the world, and the glory of the humble. As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters. You seek rest, and you praise the little bed; remember that you become whiter through the goads of tribulations, and the fruit of preaching is greater than that of quiet.

Just as the apple tree among the trees of the forests, so is my beloved among the sons. Just as the apple tree surpasses the wild trees in sight, smell, and taste, so Christ surpasses all the saints, who are called sons of God, but by grace, while He alone by nature. Under His shadow, whom I had desired, I sat. Protected by the same, whom I always sought to be present, I rest, and I remain secure. And His sweet fruit is to my throat, because He has refreshed me with the celestial sweetness of His grace. He led me into the wine cellar; I set in order charity in me. The wine cellar should be understood as the Church, in whose unity alone the Holy Spirit is customarily given and received. Whose grace is designated in this place by the name of wine. In which cellar charity is set in order, so that anyone may love God with his whole heart more than himself. Prop me up with flowers, surround me with apples, because I languish with love. Console me with examples, whether of those beginning or those finishing the way of salvation, while I still languish in the weariness of this pilgrimage with love for the heavenly vision. His left hand is under my head, and His right hand will embrace me. In Christ’s left hand, His temporal goods are designated; in His right hand, the blessedness of eternal life. Because here He strengthens the mind through hope, and there He glorifies through reward.

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and stags of the fields, that you not rouse nor awaken the beloved until she herself wishes. I call to witness the peaceful souls of the faithful, by each of their own virtues, which are signified by clean and ruminant animals, that they not impede the pious studies of brothers by any importunity; but let each rejoice in the progress of his neighbor as in his own. The voice of my beloved. It is understood: this is whose voice I heard adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem not to rouse me resting in his embrace. Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. For my beloved made such leaps. He came from heaven into the womb, from the womb into the manger, from the manger to the cross, from the cross to the tomb, from the tomb he returned to heaven. He who is raised above all mountains and hills, that is, the heights of the saints. My beloved is like a roe and a young stag. In the assumption of flesh and humility, Christ is compared to a roe; in the variety of virtues and innocence, to a young stag, that is, of the patriarchs. Behold, he himself stands behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattices. Clothed with the wall of our mortality he lay hidden, but peering at us through the lattices and windows he performed miracles, so that from the miracles the God would appear, who from the passions was hidden. Behold, my beloved speaks to me. He urges me to preach, saying:

Arise, hasten, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come. Arise from the bed of quiet, in which you seek to care only for yourself; hasten, you, and come to devote care also to the salvation of your neighbors through the zeal of diligent preaching. For now winter has passed, the rain has gone and departed. Now the cold of unfaithfulness and the rain of iniquity have receded, which covered the whole world up to the time of the Lord’s incarnation. Flowers have appeared in our land. That is, the beginnings of faith and righteousness have blossomed in the world, as the Church grows. The time of pruning has come. That is, so that, with the useless shoots of vain religion cut away, the hearts of men may be prepared for the future fruit of faith. The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. That is, of Christ our Savior saying: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven will draw near. The fig tree has put forth its unripe figs. The precepts of the Old Law have fallen. The flowering vines have given forth their fragrance. That is, the evangelical people, or the flowering vines of holy conduct, have given forth their fragrance far and wide.

Arise, hasten, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come; my dove in the holes of the rock, in the cavern of the wall. Bride and beloved, to whom I have offered choice goods, arise and come; gird yourself for the contest, whence you will receive eternal rest. My dove, through the illumination of the Holy Spirit. In the holes of the rock, that is, the wounds which the bridegroom received for the salvation of the bride. In the cavern of the wall, that is, the custody of the celestial virtues. Show me your face, let your voice sound in my ears. Voice, namely, of praise, or of preaching. For your voice is sweet, and your face is comely. For that voice is sweet to the Lord, to whom it is sweet either to announce the word of the Lord, or to resound praises to the Lord Himself. And that face is comely, which, adorned with works, does not fear to suffer adversities. Catch for us the little foxes, which demolish the vines. That is, conquer the heretics and schismatics, those corrupt in faith and deceitful in word, who with the tooth of wicked doctrine are accustomed to lacerate the rude minds of the faithful. For our vine flourishes. That is, the peoples of the elect widely germinate.

My beloved is to me, and I to him. That is, he alone is my beloved, and he alone is my helper. And I am his only beloved, because no other rightly loves Christ except the one Church, and no other is loved by him. Who feeds among the lilies. That is, the purity of faith and the brightness of virtues. Until the day dawns and the shadows incline. Until the eternal light of the coming age arises, and the shadows, that is, the errors of the present life, pass away. Return, be like the roe, and like the fawn of the stags upon the mountains of Bether. I beseech you, beloved, that you may more often return to me with the sweetness of your visitation, you who, by the flesh you assumed from the origin of the patriarchs, have ascended above all the heights of the celestial mountains, so that you may relieve the labor of my pilgrimage by the contemplation of the eternal homeland. CHAPTER III.— 1. In my bed by night I sought whom my soul loves; I sought, and did not find. For a long time now, she says, I have sought the Lord with great zeal; but because I was still subject to the allurements of my flesh and blinded by the darkness of ignorance, I did not find the light of truth, that is, the Lord. I will arise and go around the city; through the streets and squares I will seek whom my soul loves; I sought him, and did not find him. I resolved in my mind to arise from the bed of carnal pleasures, to go around lands and seas, and to hear the teachings of the philosophers; but even so I did not find him.

The watchmen who guard the city found me. Have you seen the one whom my soul loves? The watchmen who guard the Church are the apostles and teachers, who found the gentile world by a diligent search for truth. A little while after I had passed by them, I found the one whom my soul loves. When I entrusted myself to their teaching, I found the light of truth which I had sought. I held him, and I will not let him go, until I bring him into the house of my mother and into the chamber of my parent. I hold him with firm faith, until at the end of the age, through the office of preaching, I bring him into the house and into the chamber of the Synagogue, which gave birth to me in the Lord, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, etc. The bridegroom repeats this verse so that he might not be thought to have less concern for the people gathered from the Church than for those from the Jews, but so that there might be from both one bride, and she the most beloved.

Who is this that ascends through the desert? The Synagogue marvels how the people of the Gentiles, uncorrected by any mystery of circumcision, untaught by any admonition of the prophets, suddenly from the lowest pleasures ascended through the desert of idolatry and paganism to the high summits of the virtues and the embraces of the bridegroom. Like a wisp of smoke from aromatics. Kindled by the fire of love, she strains with all the effort of the virtues toward the heavens. Of myrrh and frankincense, and of every powder of the perfumer. From the mortification of carnal pleasures, and the purity of prayers, and the fragrance of all the virtues. Behold, sixty strong men from the mightiest of Israel surround the bed of Solomon. The bed of Solomon is the communion of the saints; the sixty strong men are the holy preachers and the mightiest warriors, who with a pure heart are worthy to see the Lord. All holding swords, and most skilled in war. For they hold the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, who complete by their deeds what they teach by their mouths. Each one’s sword upon his thigh on account of nocturnal fears. Nocturnal fears are the hidden temptations of the day. The sword of the preacher is vigilant watchfulness, suppressing the lusts of the flesh, lest the word of preaching be stained by the impurity of life.

He made for himself a litter, King Solomon, from the wood of Lebanon. The litter of Solomon is the Holy Church, which lifts believers to the feasts of eternal blessedness, which is built from the virtues of the soul, as from incorruptible woods. He made its columns of silver, its headrest of gold. The silver columns are the teachers, shining with the light of eloquence. The golden headrest is perpetual hope, promised to the faithful in their rest. A purple ascent. What is the purple ascent, if not the blood of the martyrs and the passion of our Redeemer? For one does not ascend to the feasts of life except through the mystery of the passion of Christ. In the middle he paved it with love for the sake of the daughters of Jerusalem. For everyone who has love for God and for neighbor will joyfully arrive at this rest and at these feasts. Christ provided all these ornaments of the Church out of the exceeding love with which he loved us, and gave himself for us. Go out and see, daughters of Zion, King Solomon. Go out in mind and in deed from the turbulent life of the world, so that you may be able to see the king of peace. In the diadem with which his mother crowned him. See the Lord Christ in the humanity which he assumed from the Virgin mother, which he placed at the right hand of the paternal majesty. On the day of his betrothal. That is, at the time of his incarnation, when he came forth from the virginal womb to join the Church, his bride, to himself. On the day of the joy of his heart. That is, of the redemption of the human race, which was a day of joy for Christ.

Chapter 4. — 1. How beautiful you are, my beloved; how beautiful you are? He calls the Church beautiful, and repeats that she is beautiful, because he has seen that she is praiseworthy both in action and in preaching. Your eyes are like doves. Your spiritual senses are excellent in the contemplation of spiritual things, and worthy of veneration. Apart from what lies hidden within. The glory of the open work is indeed great, but far more incomparable is that of eternal reward, which cannot yet be seen. Your hair is like flocks of goats. In the hair, the faithful people may be understood, who provide the greatest adornment to the Church by their multitude. Which have come down from Mount Gilead. Gilead is interpreted as a heap of testimony, which well suits the assembled multitude of saints. Your teeth are like flocks of shorn sheep. In the hair, the more fragile ones are signified; in the teeth, however, the more perfect ones, who are suited for governing the Church. Which have come up from the washing. That is, from the font of holy baptism, who, as they are shorn and washed, that is, stripped bare by renouncing the world, and cleansed by the washing of life. All with twin offspring, and there is no barren one among them. There is no one who does not produce the offspring of good work in them. Like scarlet ribbons, your lips, and your speech is sweet. The scarlet ribbons are understood as the teaching of truth. The lips of the bride are likened to scarlet, because the Church does not cease to proclaim the price of the Lord's blood by which she was redeemed, or because holy preaching blazes with the ardor of charity.

Just as the rind of a pomegranate, your cheeks. In the cheeks modesty is expressed, in the pomegranate the passion of Christ. Therefore she has a blush on her cheeks from the foam of the pomegranate, when the mystery of the Lord’s cross is hidden in words and proven by deeds. Just as the tower of David, your neck. The tower is the Church, the neck the preachers, whose faith and constancy in that same city are firm and impregnable from all sides. It is built with battlements. The battlements of that city, however, are the defenses of the holy Scriptures, or the precepts of the Fathers. A thousand shields hang from it. Because, as many precepts as there are in the divine books, so many are the protections of our breast, by which we are defended against all snares. All the armor of the strong. All instruction is either of action or of heavenly doctrine, through which we not only escape but also overcome. Your two breasts, like two twin fawns of a roe deer, which feed on lilies until the day dawns and the shadows incline. The two breasts are the two peoples coming from circumcision and from gentility; who through humility indeed understand themselves as small and sinners, but running with charity, they pass over all obstacles of the world, who feed on lilies, that is, on the most shining examples of the holy Fathers, until we pass through the shadows of this present mortality when the eternal day dawns.

I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of incense. In myrrh the mortification of the flesh is expressed, in incense the devotion of prayer; as if the bridegroom were saying: I will frequent them, and I will glorify them with pious and favorable illumination, whom I perceive to be exalted in the virtue of the passions or of prayer. Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon. Lebanon is interpreted as whiteness, that is, a soul made white by good deeds, whom the bridegroom urges three times to come. First, while living in the flesh through good works; second, freed from the flesh to receive the blessed life; third, having received the body to enjoy the perfect joys after the resurrection. You will be crowned from the head of Amana, from the summit of Sanir and Hermon, from the lairs of lions, from the mountains of leopards. Lions on account of pride, leopards on account of cruelty, are evil spirits; the mountains Amana, however, designate the proud hearts of the unfaithful, where unclean spirits have their seat. When holy preachers convert such men to the way of salvation, they are crowned from the head and summit of the mountains, that is, from the princes of the proud, because from the labor of the struggle the crown of glory grows.

You have wounded my heart, my sister spouse, you have wounded my heart. In the wounding of the heart, the intensity of Christ’s love in the Church is understood. In one of your eyes, and in one lock of your neck. In the holy unity of the teachers, that is, the eyes, and the holy unity of the people, that is, the hairs. How beautiful are your breasts, my sister spouse. Likewise, three breasts: the holy teachers are designated on account of the consolation of the weak and the support of the little ones, which is expressed by milk. Your breasts are more beautiful than wine. The sweetness of grace is more beautiful than the austerity of the king. And the odor of your ointments is above all spices. The most sweet renown of the faith spread through the whole world is wider than that of the old law and of the fathers in it, which was confined to Judea alone. A dripping honeycomb are your lips, spouse. A honeycomb is honey in wax. But honey in wax is the spiritual sense of the divine words, honey dripping from the letter, because nearly every sentence has multiple senses: the lips are the spirits of the teachers, who reveal that manifold senses inhere in the sacred writings. Honey and milk under the tongue. In milk, the instruction of the little ones is signified; in honey, the more perfect teaching of the stronger ones; under the tongue, that is, in the meditation of the heart.

And the smell of your garments, like the smell of incense. The garments of the Church are its works, which are compared to the odor of incense, because all that the holy Church does for the Lord renders prayers for it in return. An enclosed garden, my sister spouse, an enclosed garden, a sealed fountain. An enclosed garden is the Church, because it produces manifold spiritual works; it is a fountain, because it overflows with salutary doctrine; enclosed, because it persists fortified by the Lord’s protection; sealed, by the word of faith. It has sent forth a paradise of pomegranates, with the fruits of apples. Through the irrigation of sacred baptism, the holy Church has sent forth from itself a paradise of pomegranates, that is, of holy martyrs: with the fruits of apples, that is, with the fruit of holy virtues. Cypress with nard, nard, and crocus. Cypress is an aromatic tree, and it signifies the blessing of heavenly grace. Nard is a type of the Lord’s passion; crocus expresses the fervor of charity; cypress is joined with nard when divine grace strengthens us to suffer for Christ. Likewise, nard is joined with crocus when we willingly undergo death for the love of Christ.

A reed and cinnamon with all the woods of Lebanon. The reed, which is also cassia, is an aromatic tree, but small, and therefore it designates those humble in spirit. Likewise, cinnamon signifies those who despise themselves. It too is a short tree, but fragrant and sweet. But humility has great praise and sweetness before the Lord. With all the woods of Lebanon. Just as the reed and cinnamon signify humble thoughts, the woods of Lebanon demonstrate their lofty actions. Myrrh and aloe are aromatic trees, which express continence of the flesh. With all the first ointments. That is, with the more excellent charisms of virtues, and the conjunction of these trees is beautiful, because when we restrain the flesh from lasciviousness, it follows that we receive greater gifts of the spirit. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, which flow impetuously from Lebanon. The Church is both; it is a fountain of gardens, because it produces spiritual fruits, and a well of living waters, which flow impetuously from Lebanon, on account of the hidden mysteries which are revealed only to the saints through the revelation of the Holy Spirit; living waters, on account of the divine words, which proceed from the invisible treasuries of divine grace; from Lebanon, it says of the Church itself, which is both white through the purity of faith and high through the power of glory.

Arise, North Wind, and come, South Wind, blow through my garden. For in the North Wind the adversities of the world are signified, in the South Wind the blandishments, by which twofold assault the Church is tested. "Arise" is the voice of one permitting, not commanding. And let her aromatics flow. That is, let the constancy of the virtues disperse with wondrous fragrance. CHAPTER V. — 1. Let my beloved come into his garden. Let the Lord come into his Church, that he himself may preserve her immaculate everywhere and make her fruitful with the fruit of faith. And let him eat the fruit of his pomegranates. And let him gladly accept and gratefully inspect the works of his servants. Come into my garden, my sister, my bride. "Come," he says, very often into my Church, and I come, that I may correct, help, and confirm. I have reaped my myrrh with my aromatics. By myrrh, passion or mortification is expressed; by aromatics, the virtues. He reaps myrrh with aromatics when he brings martyrs together with chosen ones to the maturity of rewards.

I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk wine with my milk. In the honeycomb and the wine, preachers are understood; in the honey and the milk, hearers are understood; and the internal judge approves and rewards both. Eat, friends, and drink, and be inebriated, dearest ones. Friends, by casting what I command, I beseech you, fill your hearts with the deeds of the saints as with choice feasts. I sleep. By the grace of God, I rest in the peace of the present life. My heart is awake. The more tranquilly I rest under external assaults, the more deeply I see within how good God is. The voice of my beloved knocking. He knocks at the door of the heart when the Lord rouses us to the advancement of virtues. Open to me, that is, open your heart to me, my sister. My friend, because you are privy to my secrets. My dove, because you are illuminated by the gift of my spirit. My immaculate one, because you alone are worthy of my sight. Because my head is full of dew, and my locks are with drops of the nights. The head of Christ is God. The locks are the gatherings of the faithful. In the dew and drops of the nights, the cold clarity is shown in many which they ought to have had toward the Lord and their neighbors. Therefore, the Lord necessarily rouses each of the faithful to the zeal of preaching, to which the Church responds, provoked to the labor of teaching.

I have been stripped of my tunic; how shall I be clothed in it again? As if it said openly: I have abandoned worldly business for your sake; how shall I take it up again? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them? Already I have washed away earthly thoughts with the tears of compunction; how shall I be polluted again by the filth of the world? For the office of preaching can scarcely exist without worldly occupation. My beloved has put his hand through the opening. Indeed, my beloved put his hand through the opening when our Lord invisibly kindles us with hidden compunction for the work of virtues; and recalls to our memory how and how much he suffered for us, descending from the bosom of the Father. And my belly trembled at his touch. When these things are recalled, the intimate conscience of the bride is wholly terrified; and, setting aside sluggishness, she hastens to the labor of preaching; whence follows: I arose to open to my beloved; that is, to preach the word of the Lord. My hands dripped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh. For in the hands, works are signified; in the fingers, discernment. In myrrh, continence and passions are signified; which is then most choice when continence or passions are undertaken solely for the love of God and neighbor.

I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved. She opens the bolt to her beloved who has made the temple of her heart worthy of divine visitation and habitation. He had turned aside and passed by. Because a full vision of God is not granted to anyone in this life as it is in the future, the beloved is said to pass by, that is, to show himself as to be seen and fully enjoyed in the future. My soul melted when my beloved spoke. The more sweetly, she says, I received the voice and presence of my beloved, the more sublimely whatever was cold in me grew warm with love, and whatever was rigid was melted. I sought him and did not find him. Because the gift of compunction and inner sweetness is not in the will of the one who desires it, but in the mercy of the one who bestows it, they do not always have it equally, because God does not offer himself to those laboring in exile as he does to those reigning in their homeland. The watchmen who go around the city found me, they struck me, they wounded me, the guards of the walls took my cloak from me. The guardians of the city, that is, of the Church, are the holy teachers, who go around the hearts of individuals with constant preaching, and wound them with the darts of heavenly love, and inflame them so that they burn more, and strip from them the covering of their old way of life.

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you announce to him that I languish with love. The bride rightly languishes, struck by the sword of the word of God, having cast off her earthly garment; and she adjures the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, souls worthy of God, to refer the greatness of her love to the Lord; and to seek for themselves heavenly aid for the sake of seeing his glory. What is your beloved like, from the beloved, O most beautiful of women? What is your beloved like, from the beloved, that you have thus adjured us? I beseech you, since you have thus adjured me, that by the love with which you say you languish you also make me burn through the word of preaching, and show me what your beloved is like from that part by which he can be loved, not feared, because perfect love casts out fear. My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands. White, because without sin; ruddy with the blood of the passion of Christ, who alone is the mediator of God and men. His head is the best gold. The head of Christ is God, who alone is good and best. His hair is like the leaves of palm trees, black as a raven. The hair is the multitude of saints, who adhere to God with faithful service. The leaves, or chosen palms, because of the head of Christ, black because of tribulations.

His eyes are like doves above streams of water. His eyes are the teachers, through whom the Church discerns what is right; they are well compared to doves because of simplicity, and to streams of water because of divine charisms. They are washed with milk, and they dwell beside the most abundant streams. He says "washed with milk," that is, cleansed by divine and most sweet grace; and "they dwell beside the most abundant streams," that is, the abundance of all spiritual gifts. In the streams, the instruction of the old law can be signified, and through the most abundant streams, the perfection of evangelical teaching, because holy preachers bring forth new and old from their treasuries. His cheeks are like beds of spices planted by perfumers; his lips are lilies dripping with first myrrh. In the cheeks of our Savior, both modest piety and severity are expressed. By the beds of spices, virtues, sweetness, and fame are designated. "Planted by perfumers" refers to the prophets and apostles, the former telling the secrets of his future incarnation, the latter relating the deeds. His lips are the words of his teaching. Lilies, because they promise the brightness of the heavenly kingdom. Dripping with first myrrh, because they preach that this is to be attained through contempt for present pleasures.

His hands are turned, golden, full of hyacinths. "Hands" means works, because what he taught in words, he fulfilled in deeds. "Turned" because they hold within themselves every rule of justice. Whence it is said: I must fulfill all justice. They are also golden hands, because everything he did in his human life perfected the riches of glory. "Full of hyacinths" because they rouse us to hope for and love of heavenly things, since the hyacinth is a gem of golden color. His belly is ivory, distinguished with sapphires. The belly of the Beloved designates the fragility of his humanity; "ivory" designates the beauty of chastity. "Sapphire" is the sublimity of heavenly virtues. "Distinguished with sapphires" because partly human fragility is understood through hunger, temptation, weariness, death, and partly divine loftiness through miracles, resurrection, and ascension in glory. His legs are marble columns, which are founded upon golden bases. By the term "legs" the ways of Christ's incarnation are intimated, which are compared to marble columns because of their firmness and uprightness. "Founded upon golden bases" because whatever was done by him or through him, all things were arranged by the counsel of divine providence before the ages of time.

His appearance is like that of Lebanon, choice like the cedar. As Lebanon surpasses other mountains in height and the beauty of its trees, so the Lord Christ surpasses all the saints in the height of his merits and the beauty of his virtues. He is choice, like the cedar. Just as other trees which grow in Lebanon are surpassed in their dignity by the cedars, so Christ surpasses in his glory all who are born into life in the Church. His throat is most sweet. In the throat, the inner sweetness of his words is recalled; he who tastes it does not hunger. And he is wholly desirable. What more do you seek? He is wholly desirable, because he is wholly God and wholly man, whom even the angels desire to behold. God in the majesty of the Father, man in the virginity of the mother. In him, the creator; in her, the savior. Such is my beloved, and he himself is my friend. The more devotedly each one loves the Lord, the more familiarly he has the Lord as a friend. And you must understand him to be such, if you wish to have him as a friend. Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful of women? The voice of the Synagogue; for the beauty of the poem varies the persons speaking. But the Church of Christ alone, because it is expressed by the name of bride, is designated the most beautiful of women. The individual churches of the saints are beautiful; but the most beautiful is the whole of the holy Church throughout the entire world. Where has your beloved turned aside, and shall we seek him with you? He who once dwelt on earth in bodily form—on the day when he turned aside, shall we follow him with you?

CHAPTER VI. — i. My beloved has descended into his garden, to the bed of spices. As if to say, he has descended into that garden, that is, his Church, so as to irrigate her with the fountain of his glory, as with a bed of spices, that she might sprout with the flowers of virtues. So that he may pasture in the gardens, and gather lilies. I prepare for my beloved a place of habitation within me, and he for me with himself, who always pastures among the holy desires of chaste minds. Thus far is the voice of the holy Church, seeking and praising; now, what the sought one answers is subjoined. You are beautiful, my friend, sweet and comely, like Jerusalem. He calls his holy Church his friend, because the desire of her life is likened to the vision of intimate peace already. Terrible as an ordered line of battle. That is, united and compacted by charity, so that no place is opened to the enemy through the evil of discord, because we are terrible to the enemy only in the unity of peace.

Turn your eyes away from me, because they have made me fly away. That is, do not seek to know me perfectly by the eyes of your mind on the journey of your pilgrimage, because it cannot be done; for the more intently you seek to know, the more certainly you will understand that I am incomprehensible; and do not seek on the road the reward that is reserved for the homeland. Your hair is like flocks of goats, etc. These verses were placed earlier, but repetition is a sign of firmness. In the hair, the peoples are understood; in the teeth, the teachers; in the twin offspring, the precepts of charity. Like the rind of a pomegranate, so are your cheeks apart from your hidden parts. The cheek of the holy Church is the spiritual Fathers, who are admirable in virtues and venerable in manners, and who are not ashamed to glory in the cross of Christ. And these are very great things that are seen in her; but much greater are those that are not seen and are reserved for the future.

There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and the number of maidens is without count. The queens are those who, by the love of the Bridegroom and the contemplation of the heavenly reward, through the preaching of truth and the font of sacred baptism, spiritually beget offspring for the eternal king. The concubines are those who, for merely carnal advantage, preach or baptize while teaching Christ; and therefore they are designated by that perfection of the number six, through the number ten, on account of the Decalogue. The maidens are souls recently reborn in Christ, whose sum exceeds the number of the citizens of heaven on account of their multitude. One is my dove, my perfect one. That is, the holy and universal Church throughout the whole world. One is she to her mother, chosen for her parent. To her mother, that is, to the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Whence the grace of the Holy Spirit descends to us, through which we are born to God. The daughters saw her, and proclaimed her most blessed. Those whom it earlier called maidens, it now names daughters; all the ancients praise the Catholic Church.

Who is this that advances, like the rising dawn? The Church advances, like the dawn, because the rising of the true light is shown to the world after the long darkness of ignorance. Beautiful as the moon, because, illuminated by the sun of justice, she lights up the night of the world. Chosen as the sun, because she bears the image of her Creator in all justice, holiness, and truth. Terrible as a drawn-up line of battle camps, terrible to the powers of the air in the unity of charity, faith, and hope. I went down into the garden of nut trees, to see the fruits of the valleys. For the garden of nut trees is the present Church, where we do not see each other’s consciences, but once the shell of the body is broken, the fruit of inner sweetness will appear. The fruits of the valleys are the fruit of humility. Holy Church descends through holy teachers to those who are striving toward good fruits, or who still need the irrigation of teaching. And I would inspect whether the vine had flowered, whether the pomegranates had sprouted. I would inspect whether the pursuits of the virtues had flowered, and whether any were prepared, after the example of the Lord’s passion, to shed their blood.

I did not know, my soul troubled me, because of the chariots of Aminadab. I did not know the gifts of spiritual grace in you, O bride; but my soul troubled me because of the introduction of the evangelical chariot, by which Aminadab (which is interpreted as "the spontaneous one of my people"), that is, Christ, is borne throughout the whole world. To this the Church, consoling, immediately responds: Return, return, O Sulamite; return, return, so that we may gaze upon you. Do not be self-satisfied; but return to the knowledge of your Redeemer, who was promised to you so many times in the prophets and in the Law. Return by purity of faith; return by perfection of works, O Sulamite, that is, captive, now from the bonds of unfaithfulness return to your Redeemer, that you may be saved. CHAPTER VII — 1. What will you see in the Sulamite, if not the choirs of the camps? You grieve for the hardened synagogue: the time is near when you will see in her the chorus of warriors against the evil spirit and of those praising the Lord. How beautiful are your steps in your sandals, O daughter of the prince! Now the praises of the Church are uttered by the Bridegroom himself; and first the constancy of her works and the mortification of pleasures are praised in her, because she is the daughter of the prince, that is, of Christ, by reason of the grace of baptism...

The joinings of your thighs are like necklaces, which are fashioned by the hand of a craftsman. The concord of two peoples, spiritually fruitful, is designated in the joining of the thighs, because just as a necklace is fashioned by the hand of a craftsman, so it is strengthened by the ineffable generosity of our Founder. In the necklace, good works are expressed. Your navel is a turned bowl, never needing cups. The navel, that is, the fragility of our weakness, is a bowl, when, admonished by the consciousness of our mortality and weakness, we strive to offer the cup of the saving word with a ready mind to our neighbors. Your belly is like a heap of wheat fenced with lilies, etc. A heap of wheat fenced with lilies is when the abundance of good work is gathered solely by the hope of eternal light. In the belly, memory; in the wheat, the multiplication of good work; in the lilies, chastity is expressed. Likewise, in the wheat, bread, and in the bowl, drink, which are given to the poor, are expressed.

Your two breasts are like two twin fawns of a roe deer. Concerning the two breasts, it has been said above. The two breasts are the teachers of each people. In the twins, the two Testaments are present. Twins, on account of a single concord. Your neck is like an ivory tower. Likewise, in the neck, teachers are designated, who are compared to an ivory tower on account of firmness and beauty. They both provide strength and adornment to the city of God. Your eyes are like the pools in Hesebon, which are at the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Likewise, the eyes of the Church are the teachers, on account of nourishment. And they are rightly compared to pools, because they do not cease to provide the streams of teaching to their hearers. Hesebon is interpreted as “girdle of mourning,” because the saints are bound by the girdle of abstinence on account of the vain joy of the flesh; and rightly at the gate of the multitude, on account of the abundance of peoples running together through the gate of faith into the Church. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, which looks out towards Damascus. Likewise, in the nose, the dispensers of the word of God are designated on account of discernment. A tower, because it holds an eminent place in the Church, which looks out towards Damascus, that is, bloodthirsty and impious (because Damascus is interpreted as “drinking blood”): it signifies the carnal and cruel, against whom the holy teachers, in the tower of Lebanon, that is, in the firmness of the Church, are always vigilant.

Your head is like Carmel, and the locks of your head are like the king's purple joined to channels. In the head, the mind is signified; in the locks, thoughts. And just as the limbs are ruled by the head, so thoughts are ruled by the mind. In Carmel, that is, in sublime things, and in the passion of Christ, which is expressed by the name of purple, they are engaged. The channels are the hearts of the saints, in which such thoughts are bound. How beautiful you are, and how comely, most dear, in delights. Beautiful in faith, and comely in work, most dear in delights, that is, in spiritual virtues. Your stature is likened to a palm. That is, the uprightness of your work always tends toward victory. And your breasts to clusters of grapes. The breasts are compared to the teachers of the Church on account of the milk of primary instruction, and they are equated to clusters of grapes on account of the sweetest mysteries of eternity. I said: I will ascend into the palm, and I will grasp its fruits, and your breasts will be like clusters of the vine. For the most victorious cross is aptly compared to a palm, into which Christ, ascending, grasped its fruits, that is, the gifts which he lavished upon the holy Church, which from that time germinated clusters of the vine, that is, holy teachers, who abound in greater knowledge and grace on account of the cross and resurrection of the Savior.

The moisture of your mouth is like apples, your throat like the finest wine. In the throat, the voice of present teaching is signified; in the scent, the reputation of an absent one is shown. And therefore that one is compared to wine on account of the fragrance of virtues, this one to apples on account of the sweetness of the reputation of an absent one. Worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and teeth to ruminate. For the bride seized a word from the mouth of the bridegroom, when he compared her to the finest wine and added: Worthy for my beloved, that is, such is the sublimity of evangelical preaching that the beloved himself, first appearing in the flesh through it, opened the heavenly path to the world. And for his lips and teeth, that is, he gave it to the apostles and the greatest preachers to meditate upon. I to my beloved. And not to another, to whom I devote the whole care of service and love. And his turning to me. He loves and helps me alone, lest I fail on the way. Let us go out into the field, let us stay in the country houses; let us rise early in the morning to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, if the flowers are bringing forth fruit, if the pomegranates have flowered. For the Church is never able either to proceed by going out to good works, or to tarry by persisting in the exercise of good works, or to rise up on the path to the purpose of doing good, or to discern the minds of her hearers, how much they have progressed, unless aided by the grace of God, who said: Behold, I am with you, etc. Likewise, in the field, Christians; in the vineyards, the Church; in the flowers, faith; in the fruits, virtues; in the pomegranates, martyrdom is signified.

In each of these things, the bride seeks the presence of her beloved. There I will give you my breasts. That is, the teachers of my little ones: because in all these things the holy guides make progress. The mandrakes gave off their fragrance in our gardens. The mandrake, on account of its many kinds of remedies, is compared to the virtues of the saints; the gates of the Church are the holy teachers. In such gardens the mandrakes gave off their fragrance, when each spiritual person spreads the fame of their virtues far and wide. All the fruits, new and old, my beloved, I have kept for you. The new and old fruits are the precepts or promises of the New Testament and the Old: because the Church refers everything to his grace. CHAPTER VIII.—1. Who will grant me that you, my brother, be sucking the breasts of my mother, so that I may find you outside? This is the ancient voice of the righteous longing for the coming of Christ in the flesh. Sucking the breasts of my mother, that is, to be born and nurtured in the synagogue according to the nature of the human condition. And I may find you outside. The beloved was within, while in the beginning was the Word; outside, while the Word became flesh and was born.

There I will kiss you. That is, I will see face to face and speak mouth to mouth. And now let no one despise me. Before the coming of Christ, the Church was only in the narrow confines of Judaea; after the Ascension, it was spread throughout the whole world and became venerable. I will take hold of you. That is, I will receive you as you come with ready and faithful devotion. And I will lead you into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of my mother; there you will teach me. When the dispensation of the flesh is completed, I will lead you, returning with joyful eyes, into the house of my mother. The house of my mother is where our mother, heavenly Jerusalem, dwells. There you will teach me to hope for greater gifts than I had in the Law. And I will give you a cup of spiced wine. That is, a fervent love adorned with the various pigments of the virtues. And the must of my pomegranates. That is, the glory of the triumphs of the holy martyrs, who endure flames with the most burning charity, through which they do not hesitate to pass over to you.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand will embrace me. The left hand designates the gifts of Christ’s flesh, and the right hand expresses the future joys of the saints with Christ. Who is this that ascends from the desert, abounding in delights, leaning upon her beloved? The voice of the synagogue, wondering how the gentile world had suddenly ascended from the desert into the embraces of the bridegroom. Abounding in delights, that is, in the beauty of all good things, recently leaning upon her beloved, referring everything she has to the grace of her beloved. Her beloved, whom I thought was sent to me alone. Under the apple tree I awakened you. Under the tree of the cross I recalled you from perpetual death, as the apostles and the other elect from Judaea. There your mother was corrupted, there your mother was violated. That is, the greater people, by denying Christ and choosing Barabbas, were rejected. Place it as a little sign upon your heart, as a little sign upon your arm. As we bind some sign with a finger for the memory of some thing. By the heart is designated thought, and by the arm is designated action. If you wish to have me as a bridegroom, let charity of faith be within, and devout action without.

Because love is as strong as death, rivalry is as hard as hell. My love for you, O Synagogue, is strong unto death; but your rivalry toward me has been hard as hell. But turn rivalry into love, and you will be to me, the bridegroom, a bride. His lamps are lamps of fire and flames. The lamps of love are the hearts of the faithful; fire, on account of the fervor of the heart; flames, on account of the efficacy of action. Many waters will not be able to extinguish charity, nor will rivers overwhelm it. By many waters and rivers it speaks of the onslaughts of temptations which, visibly or invisibly, do not cease to assail the souls of the faithful, to which charity does not yield. If a man gives all the substance of his house for love, he will despise it as almost nothing. The saints truly despise the substance of their whole house as almost nothing on account of the greatness of love. Our sister is little, and she has no breasts. It designates the early times of the Church arising from the Gentiles, when it was still small in number and less fit to preach the word of God, as if the bridegroom of the Synagogue had said of her: What shall we do with our sister on the day when she is to be addressed? As if he openly says: The Church of the Gentiles is indeed small in number, and it is not yet sufficient to undertake the ministry of the word. What then seems to you, O Synagogue, should be done about our sister, when she is to be addressed, that is, led into the faith through the ministry of the word? With the Synagogue remaining silent, the bridegroom himself answers what ought to be done.

If it is a wall, let us build upon it silver battlements. As if he were to say: If it has some who are strong in faith, distinguished in talent, or instructed in philosophy, let us add to them silver battlements, that is, knowledge of the divine Scriptures, so that they may more easily be able to protect the weak and unlearned. If it is a door, let us construct it with cedar planks. If they are simple, yet eager for the study of teaching, let us set before them the prior examples of the just, so that they may be able to fulfill the work of teaching more certainly and effectively. The cedars signify the virtues of the saints, and the planks the breadth of clarity. To these things the Church herself responds. I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers. From the time I was made before him as one finding peace, I am built of living stones, united by the glue of charity, and built upon an immovable foundation. The breasts, that is, the strongest teachers, like a tower, who both know how to nourish the little ones and to drive away everything of the evil one; and this has happened to me from the time when Christ reconciled me, and through him I found peace.

A vineyard belonged to my peaceful one in that place which has peoples. A vineyard, that is, the Catholic Church abounding in the fruit of faith, belonged to the peaceful one, that is, to Christ, because he pacified all things in the heavens and on the earth, in that congregation which possesses many peoples from the whole world, not from Judea alone. It is entrusted to guardians, prophets, or apostles, or angelic powers and dignities. But a man of fruit. That is, of the eternal reward of this vineyard. He brings a thousand silver pieces. That is, for the acquisition of the heavenly kingdom, which is the fruit of the vineyard, he has left behind all things of the world. The number one thousand is placed for perfection. That is, he who has left all things. Silver pieces are taken for all money. My vineyard before me. The voice of the bridegroom. Nevertheless, even if I entrust you to other guardians, I still always have you in my presence, seeing and rewarding the devotion of your labor in all things. A thousand of your peaceful ones. A thousand of yours, that is, silver pieces are understood. As if he had said: He who, out of love for me, gives up all his own things will be in peace, because he loses all his substance, which is designated by the thousand, for the love of God.

And the two hundred (that is) those who guard his fruits. They are the holy teachers, who abandon all worldly things and do not cease to labor in the word of preaching; they are granted a double reward, which is signified by the two hundred, in my presence. You who dwell in the gardens, the friends listen. Because our discourse must be ended, hear this final farewell from me. Always dwell in the thickets of virtues; and know that the friends, that is, the angelic spirits and the souls of the saints, always regard you and rejoice in your sight. Let me hear your voice. That is, the voice of your preaching, as long as you are able, may it always be heard by me. Flee, my beloved. As if it openly says: Since, appearing in the flesh, you deigned to bestow upon me commandments and gifts of heavenly life, now that these are accomplished, return to the bosom of the Father, O most beloved one. Be like the roe deer, and like the fawn of the stags upon the mountains of spices. And let this be a comfort to me: because I cannot behold you in continuous vision, at least remember to console me with frequent visitation.