Chapter IV.
A perfect soul is introduced into the King's chamber. When it complains of being stained by the contamination of the body and desires to know itself, Christ commands it to leave, etc. The same thing is compared to Solomon's horses. What do the wells dug by Isaac signify? And how does Christ, once recalled from the soul and returning by leaping, also appease it?
11. The second process of the soul.—Finally he says: The king brought me into his chamber (Song of Songs 1:3). Blessed is the soul that enters the innermost sanctuary of the Word. Rising up from the body, it becomes more distant from all things and searches and seeks that divine reality within itself, by which it may in some way attain. And when it is able to comprehend that, having surpassed what is intelligible, it is confirmed in that and nourished by it. Such was Paul, who knew that he was caught up to paradise, but whether caught up outside the body or in the body, he did not know. For his soul had risen from the body, and had drawn itself away from the entrails and bonds of flesh, and had lifted itself up; and having become estranged from itself, it held within itself unspeakable words which it had heard, and it could not express them in common speech; for it realized that it was not permitted for a man to speak of those things. Therefore, the good soul despises visible and tangible things, and does not dwell or abide in them, nor does it stay and reside in despising these things, but it ascends to those eternal and invisible things, full of miracles, uplifting itself with the pure sense of a pious mind. For indeed, desiring perfection, he aims only at that good of Divinity, and does not think that anything else should be sought; because he holds that it is the highest. Therefore, a man of this kind, in whom beauty of the soul exists, is sufficient for himself alone, because he is sufficient for himself. Nor is he ever alone, to whom the Lord is present as a guide.
Finally, let us enter into that divine secret: Let us exult and rejoice in you, and let us love your breasts more than wine (Song of Songs 1:3). For the just person does not exult in riches, or treasures of gold and silver, or the fruits of possessions, or in powers, or in banquets, but only in God alone.
However, the same soul, aware that it is obscured by the association with the body, says to other souls, or to those celestial powers that are assigned to sacred ministry: 'Do not look at me because I am obscured; for there is no sight of the sun in me. The sons of my mother have fought against me' (cf. Ps 68:9); that is, the passions of the body have attacked me, the allurements of the flesh have discolored me, therefore the sun of justice did not shine on me. Deprived of its protection, I was unable to maintain my devotion and full observance; for in truth, 'I have not kept my vineyard' (cf. Song 1:6), because I have brought forth thorns instead of grapes, that is, I have committed sins instead of producing good works.
14. And when he speaks of the Word, turned to it by the shining splendor of the Word, he says: Where do you graze? Where do you remain at midday? He rightly says: Where do you graze? because the Word of God is regal; Where do you remain, because it is moral; At midday, because it is mystical. Indeed, at midday, Joseph, when he was seated with his brothers at the banquet, revealed the mysteries of future times. But David also says: Reveal your way to the Lord, and trust in him, and he himself will do it: and he will bring forth your justice like the light, and your judgment like midday. And Paul himself declared that a light shone around him at midday (Acts 9:3), when he was converted from persecution to grace. Therefore, it is questioned why she has been abandoned, why the poor has been deserted by the rich. For she was abounding in the gift of grace, but she began to be in need when the abundance of divine presence was denied to her; and therefore, she demands to be possessed as if for payment, which she previously claimed as a more precious bond of grace.
15. To whom the Word of God responds: Unless you know yourself, beautiful among women (Song of Songs 1:7); why do you complain about being abandoned unless you know yourself, unless you repent of your fall, unless you approve of the intention of your devotion, unless your faith and sincerity increase, your complaint will be of no avail. Or thus: Unless you know yourself to be beautiful, unless you preserve the beauty of your nature, and do not immerse yourself in the allurements of the body, nor be detained by hindrances, the nobility of a more excellent creature will be of no benefit to you.
Therefore, know yourself and the beauty of your nature, and go forth as if your foot were freed from chains and your naked foot exposed, so that you may not feel the trappings of the flesh; let the bonds of the body not entangle the mark of your mind, so that your foot may appear graceful. For such are those who are chosen by the Lord to proclaim the kingdom of heaven, of whom it is said: How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace (Isaiah 52:7)! Such was Moses, of whom it is said: Take off the sandals from your feet (Exodus 3:5), so that he, in calling the people to the kingdom of God, might first lay aside the trappings of the flesh and walk with a naked spirit and the mark of the mind. This is therefore what it says: Go, you on the heels of kings, and feed your goats in the tents of shepherds (Song of Songs 1:7); for by flocks we understand the kingdom, because it is able to preside over flocks. And each person presides over themselves with a certain royal power, if they restrain the luxury of the body in themselves, and bring their flesh into servitude. Therefore it is said: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). Hence it beautifully advises the soul: Go, that is, go out from servitude, go out from the authority and dominion of the flesh, and go out not in the flesh, but in the spirit: go out to the governance of power. Therefore, he added. Feed your young goats. Rule over those things on your left hand; for if they are not ruled, they easily slip away. Restrain the impudence, the sensuality of your body, and irrational luxury: tame the light movements, feed them not in bodily dwellings, but in the dwellings of shepherds, who know how to rule the flock. For the dwellings of Israel are lovely like shady groves by the river, in which the soul, like one prepared for war, exercises good military service, explores hostile attacks, seeks victory through the toil of virtue; so that she may be compared to the horse that belongs to Solomon, swift in running, capable of bringing forth (Cant. I, 8); for the fruitfulness of the soul is desired and sought after.
17. Therefore, this precious horse and the swift chariots of Pharaoh, which some refer to the Church and the people. But we have spoken often elsewhere about this mystery, especially in Psalm 118 verse 10 (Sermon 2 on Psalm 118). However, in this place we have undertaken to speak about the soul. This horse is considered similar to that soul, that is, of prophetic or apostolic virtue, which is numbered among those in their flock who brought the entire world under the influence of their preaching; and although they were in the body, they did not experience any spiritual setbacks in their course. Therefore, it is praised that she, with the heavenly commandment illuminating her, is now beautiful and lovely, and she presents the adornment of chastity in her face, and raises the ribbons of her neck, in which the insignia of patience and humility are found. Isaac truly loved such a soul's beauty, humility, and patience; and that is why he eagerly sought her offspring.
18. And Rebecca conceived, and by her patience she untied the knot of sterility. But let us consider what the prophetic and apostolic soul gives birth to and how it gives birth. She went, it says, to inquire of the Lord (Gen. XXV, 22), because the infants in her womb were rejoicing. And she received this answer: Two nations are in your womb (Ibid., 23); for she presumes nothing of her own accord, but in all things she seeks the highest God as the ruler of her plans. In fullness of peace and piety, she joins together two peoples by her faith and preaching, and she encloses them as in her own womb.
She is rightly called sister more than wife, because she adopts the name of a gentle and peaceful soul of shared piety rather than a special bond; and because she considers herself more bound to all than to one.
But Isaac dug wells; and indeed, he redug many of the wells that his father had dug, and the Philistines had filled them after Abraham's death. However, he dug these wells in particular, one in the valley of Gerar, and he found there a well of living water. And the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's shepherds because they claimed the water of his well as their own, so he called its name Injustice. And he dug another well, which caused a dispute, and he named it Hostility. And he dug a third [well], in which there was no quarrel among the shepherds, and he called it Rehoboth. And he dug another well, and he did not find water in it; and he called it Sitnah.
21. Whoever, while reading this, thinks that these works are more earthly than spiritual, because either Abraham dug wells or Isaac, such a great patriarch, or even Jacob, as we find in the Gospel (John 4:12), are like certain sources of the human race, and particularly of devotion and faith. For what is a well of living water, if not the deep depth of doctrine? Hence, Hagar saw the angel at the well, and Jacob found Rachel as a wife for himself at the well: Moses also put the future well in a safe place as the first merits of marriage.
22. Therefore, Isaac opened the wells, and in good order: so that the first reasonable water of his well might wash and nourish his soul, and make his sight clearer. He also dug several other wells. Hence it is written: 'Drink water out of thine own cisterns, and out of the wells of thy own fountains' (Prov. 5:15). The more there are, the more abundant is the overflow of blessings. However, he dug the well that his father Abraham had dug, which the shepherds of Gerar, that is, argue over the wall. For where there is a wall, there is a division between those who oppose each other, and there is injustice; and therefore it is called Injustice. It also undermines another, and from the resulting dissension, it is called Enmity. In these things, the moral doctrine seems to shine forth; because with the wall of division removed, the enmities in human flesh are dissolved, and both have become one in form through Isaac, and in truth through Christ; and rightly afterwards, pure water has been found in that well, as if a useful moral doctrine to be drawn from. The well of Latitude implies nothing else but the discipline of natural things. For this reason it is called Latitude, because one who has surpassed these worldly and sensible things is already calm and secure, without contention or dispute. Having overcome the opposing and foreign thoughts (for what could be more foreign than all secular things, which cannot be eternal), a wise person can say: The Lord has enlarged us and increased us upon the earth (Gen. XXVI, 22), because he surpasses earthly things. The last is the well of the Oath, in which God appeared to him, and said to him: 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you' (Genesis, 26). And he blessed him. This doctrine is already mystical.
You have these in Solomon; because his Proverbs are moral; Ecclesiastes is natural, in which he despises the vanities of this world; his Songs of Songs are mystical. You also have in the prophet: Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of life, enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge (Hos. 10:12). For this is the light of knowledge, to have the perfection of charity. Therefore it is said: Do not be afraid; for charity drives fear away. But in order for us to understand that, Solomon also interpreted these wells as referring to moral doctrine, natural doctrine, and mystical doctrine, and placed these wells in each of his books that he wrote on moral, natural, or mystical topics.
24. For in Proverbs, when it speaks of the appearance to be avoided, it says: Drink water from your own vessels, and from the fountains of your own wells, and let there be an abundance of water for you from your own fountain (Prov. 5:15). And further: Let your fountain be for yourself alone, and rejoice with the wife of your youth (Ibid., 18); for true wisdom is our remedy against the temptations of the world. Moral doctrine also washes away with its flowing stream the image of worldly pleasure, stained with certain cosmetics of a harlot, and cleanses with the current of its own fountain.
25. You also have in Ecclesiastes the saying about natural things: I made for myself pools of water to irrigate a flourishing grove (Eccles. II, 6). Do not be surprised that he used the word 'pools' instead of 'well'; for even Moses called it a well of width, because it is freed from all worries and narrowness when one transcends this world with a devout mind. Therefore, Ecclesiastes rightly has pools, since he saw that there is no abundance under the sun: but if anyone wants to abound, let them abound in Christ.
26. And about mystical wells it remains for us, which we also find in the Song of Songs, as Scripture says: A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing down from Lebanon (Song of Songs 4:15). For if you pursue the depth of mysteries, the well appears to you as if the mystical wisdom is located in the profound: but if you desire to draw from the abundance of charity, which is greater and richer than faith and hope, then the fountain is for you. For charity is overflowing, so that you can both draw it near and water your garden with its abundant spiritual fruits. And because the person who possesses charity is beyond measure, it is said that where charity is, there descends a great force from Lebanon. But let the fact that he uses both the term 'well' and 'spring' teach you, as the Gospel instructs you, where it is written: 'So Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there.' And, tired, he sat thus upon a well (John 4:5-6). Hence, in the mystical doctrine, we understand that this well is also referred to there, because there the Samaritan woman, that is, the guardian (the guardian, however, of heavenly precepts), drew divine mysteries from that well, knowing that God is spirit, and is not worshipped in a place but in spirit (ibid, and following, 24); and because he is the Messiah, Christ. And therefore, he who is still expected by the Jews has already come. Having heard these things, that woman who appears to be of the Church, recognized the sacraments of the law, and believed.
27. In the Book of Songs, Solomon also clearly expressed this triple wisdom; although he said in Proverbs (Prov. XXII, 20) that anyone who wishes to hear his wisdom should write it down three times. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride speaks of the bridegroom: 'Behold, you are my cousin and indeed handsome: our resting place is shady, the beams of our houses are cedar, and our rafters are cypress' (Cant. I, 15 and 16). We can understand this morally. For where does Christ and the Church find rest, if not in the works of His people? Finally, where there was impurity, where there was pride, where there was injustice, there the Lord Jesus said: But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (Matthew 8:20).
28. But what do we understand about natural things? 'In its shade,' it says, 'I desired and sat, and its fruit was sweet to my mouth.' (Song of Solomon 2:3) For whoever surpasses earthly things and to whom worldly things die (for the world is crucified to him, and he to the world), he flees and despises all things that are under the sun.
29. He also says about the mystics: Lead me into the house of wine, establish charity in me (Song of Songs 2:4). For just as the vine embraces its own vineyard with branches of eternal charity, so the Lord Jesus embraces his people with certain arms of charity.
Consider each thing individually. In moral matters, it is a flower, and among thorns, a lily, as he himself says: I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys (Ibid., I). Therefore, in moral matters, it is a flower. In natural matters, it is the sun of justice, which rising and shining illuminates, setting and overshadowing. Beware lest it set on you, for it is written: Let not the sun go down upon your anger (Ephes. IV, 26). In mystical matters, it is charity, for Christ is the fulfillment of the law. And therefore the Church, which loves Christ, is wounded by love.
Therefore this charity raises and revives until it receives his voice and calls forth his presence; because the one sought not only came, but also came leaping: Leaping over the mountains and bounding over the hills (Song of Songs 2:8). He leaps over the souls of greater grace, he bounds over those of lesser grace. Or thus: how does he come leaping? He comes with a leap into this world. He was with the Father, he came into the Virgin, and he leaped from the Virgin into the manger. He was in a manger, and shone in the sky. He descended into the Jordan, ascended the cross, descended into the tomb, rose from the tomb, and sits at the right hand of the Father. Then, like a young deer longing for the springs of water, he descended to Paul, and enveloped him, and leaped upon the holy Church, which is Bethel, also known as the house of God. For the calling of Paul is the strength of the Church.
Therefore, he comes, and first after the wall is removed, which seemed to be an obstacle to harmony, in order to dissolve the enmities between soul and body. Then he looks through the windows. About what the windows are, hear the prophet saying: The windows are opened from heaven (Isaiah XXIV, 18). Certainly, the prophet signifies those through whom the Lord looked upon the human race before he himself descended to the earth.
33. And today, if any soul earnestly seeks him, it will receive much mercy; for the one who seeks much is owed the most. Therefore, if any soul seeks him diligently, it hears his voice from far away: and even though it may seek from others, it hears his voice before those from whom it seeks. It sees him coming towards it, that is, hastening and running, and surpassing those who are unable to grasp his power with a weak heart; finally, it sees him looking through the riddles of the prophets, reading them and understanding their words. It sees him looking, but as through a window, not yet as present. He sees something prominent above the nets. What is this, unless perhaps because those nets are ours, not his. The nets are, because that soul is still within the sensible and worldly things, which it is accustomed to captivate the mind of man, and wrap in its own embrace. Therefore, still placed in secular things, but nevertheless to one who seeks him, he reveals himself through the nets.
34. Finally, He says to that soul: Arise, come to me, my love (Song of Songs 2:10). That is, rise from worldly pleasures, rise from earthly things, and come to me, who are still laboring and burdened, because you are anxious for the things of the world. Come above the world, come to me, for I have conquered the world. Come near to me now, beautiful with the beauty of eternal life, now a dove, that is, gentle and meek, now completely full of spiritual grace. Therefore, by law, it should not fear the nets any longer, since it calls to itself the soul that could not be captured by the temptations and snares of the world. For when we humans walk in the midst of traps, we are subject to both the nets and the snares because of our desire for food. He who was placed in the body did not fear the nets, but rose above them, that is, above the temptations of the world and the passions of the body; indeed, he made others rise as well. Therefore, desiring to establish this soul, he said: Rise up, come near to me, do not fear the nets.
35. Now winter has passed, that is, Easter has come, indulgence has come, remission of sins has come, temptation has ceased, the rain has gone, the storm has gone, and the shaking. Before the coming of Christ, there is winter, after His coming there are flowers. Hence it says: Flowers are seen on the earth. Where there were thorns before, there are now flowers. It is said that the time for cutting has come. Where there was a desert before, there is now a harvest. The voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land. The prophet added well, Our Lady, as if marveling that where there was once impurity, there is now chastity.
The fig tree produced its large fruits (Ibid., 13). What was previously commanded to be cut down as if it were unfruitful, now began to bear fruit. But why do you hesitate because he said 'large'? It rejects the earlier ones in order to bring forth better ones later. Just as the unripe fruit is cast aside by the Synagogue, so too is the Church renewed.
37. And although full tranquility exists, and mysteries have grown, nevertheless he says again: Rise securely under the covering of the rock (Ibid., 14), that is, safe under the protection of my passion, and the safeguard of faith. For they have drawn honey from the rock, and oil from the firmest rock. By being clothed with this covering, the souls of the righteous are no longer naked, and this is their defense. Therefore, he also says to this soul: And you, my dove, come under the covering of the rock near the defense, show me your face, and let me hear your voice. He encourages to confidence, so that one does not be ashamed of the cross of Christ, nor his seal. He encourages to confession, wanting all snares to be removed; so that the good odor of faith may breathe, so that the day may shine, so that the shadow may not harm those who have encountered it; for the one who is close to Christ says: The night has gone, but the day has approached (Rom. XXIII, 12). There is also the shadow of secular things which has passed, and the day of the heavenly Christ who shines upon his saints. This good soul accepts these tokens of love.