Sermon 19 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
On the Nature, Manner, and Properties of the Love of the Angels toward God, Discussed according to Each of the Angelic Orders
1. Still the bride speaks words of love, still she goes on further pursuing the praises of the bridegroom; and she provokes grace while she shows that the grace she had already received had not been empty in her. For hear what she adds next: "Therefore," she says, "the young maidens have loved you exceedingly" (Song 1:2). As if she were to say: Not in vain nor to no purpose has your name been emptied out, O bridegroom, and poured forth upon my breasts; for therefore the young maidens have loved you exceedingly. On account of what? On account of the name poured forth, and on account of the breasts perfused from it. For from this indeed they were aroused to love of the bridegroom, from this they received the capacity to love. When the bride received the gift poured into her, they at once perceived the fragrance—they who could by no means be far from the mother; and filled with that sweetness they say: "The love of God has been poured forth in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (Rom 5:5). Therefore the bride, commending their devotion, says: "This, O bridegroom, is the fruit of your poured-forth name, that therefore the young maidens have loved you." For they perceive it as poured forth, since they could not grasp it whole; therefore they have loved you. For the pouring forth makes the name graspable, the grasping makes it lovable—but only for the young maidens. Those who are more capacious rejoice in it whole, and have no need of the pouring forth.
2. The angelic creature gazes with the unreflected keenness of mind upon the great abyss of the divine judgments, and, blessed with the ineffable delight of their supreme equity, glories moreover that these are committed to execution through its ministry and made manifest; and therefore it rightly loves the Lord Christ. "Are they not all," he says, "ministering spirits, sent for ministry on behalf of those who receive the inheritance of salvation?" (Heb 1:14). Furthermore, the archangels (that we may attribute to them something more distinctive than to those who are simply angels) are, I believe, wonderfully delighted that they too are admitted more intimately to the counsels of the eternal Wisdom, and that through them those same counsels are dispensed each to its proper place and time with supreme governance. And this is the reason that they too love the Lord Christ. Those blessednesses also which are called Virtues—perhaps so named because, divinely ordained to search out and marvel at with blessed curiosity the hidden and perpetual causes of mighty works and prodigies—powerfully produce from all the elements signs upon the earth, of what kind and when they will: and they therefore, not undeservedly, burn with ardor to love the Lord of hosts and Christ the power of God. For it is a thing full of sweetness and grace to behold in Wisdom herself the uncertain and hidden things of wisdom; it is no less full of honor and glory that the workings of causes hidden in the Word of God should be directed through their hands to be beheld and marveled at by the world.
3. But those spirits also who are named Powers, while they delight to behold and magnify the divine omnipotence of our Crucified One, reaching mightily everywhere, receive the power to cast out and defeat the opposing powers of demons and of men, on behalf of those who receive the inheritance of salvation. Do not these too have a most just cause to love the Lord Jesus? There are also above these the Principalities, who, contemplating him more deeply and clearly perceiving him to be the principle of the universe and the firstborn of all creation, are therefore endowed with such dignity of principality that they have power throughout the whole earth, as if from some supreme hinge of things, to change and order kingdoms and principalities and whatever dignities at their judgment; to make the first last and the last first according to the merits of each; to put down the mighty from their seat and to exalt the humble. And this is their reason for loving also. But the Dominations love too. Why? I know not what more subtle and sublime thing they are borne to investigate concerning the interminable and irrefragable dominion of Christ, with a praiseworthy boldness: namely, that throughout the whole universe, not only powerful but also present, above and below, he compels the courses of times, the motions of bodies, and the inclinations of minds to obey his most righteous will, in an order assuredly most beautiful; and this with a vigilance so watchful that not even a point or an iota may in any way withdraw from any one of all these things, as it is said, its due service; yet with an operation so effortless that the governor feels no disturbance or anxiety whatsoever. Beholding therefore the Lord of hosts judging all things with such tranquility, seized by the excessive yet conscious rapture of most intent and most sweet contemplation into that vast ocean of divine brightness, they withdraw into a certain more secret recess of wondrous tranquility, where they enjoy such peace and security that, while they themselves rest, the remaining multitude appears to minister and serve them as truly dominations, out of reverence for their prerogative.
4. God sits upon the Thrones. And I think that for these spirits, above all those who have been mentioned, there is both a more just cause and a more abundant matter for loving. For if you enter the palace of any human king, when it is full of seats, benches, and chairs, is not the royal seat, placed on high, at once perceived? And there is no need to ask where the king is accustomed to sit: the manifest seat of his, higher and more adorned than the other seats, meets the eye at once. So also understand these spirits to surpass all others in every adornment of beauty, in whom, by a certain special gift of astonishing condescension, the divine majesty has chosen to reside. But if the sitting signifies a teaching office, I think that the Wisdom of God, Christ, who is our one master in heaven and on earth, although he reaches everywhere else on account of his purity, yet illumines these more specially and principally, as his own proper seat, with his presence, and from there, as from a solemn audience chamber, teaches angel and teaches man knowledge. From there comes to the angels knowledge of the divine judgments; from there comes to the archangels knowledge of the counsels; there the Virtues hear when and where and what manner of signs they are to bring forth. There, finally, all of them, whether they be Powers, or Principalities, or Dominations, learn indeed what they owe by duty, what they may presume by their dignity, and—what is especially enjoined upon all of them—not to abuse the power they have received for their own will or glory.
5. Those heavenly hosts, however, which are called Cherubim, if the interpretation of their name be preserved for them, I judge to have nothing that they receive from them or through them, since they may draw to the full from the fountain itself, with the Lord Jesus himself graciously introducing them into all fullness of truth, and most liberally revealing the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are all hidden in him. But neither do those who are called Seraphim—for God who is love itself has so drawn and absorbed them into himself, and has swept them up into the same ardor of holy affection, that they seem to be one spirit with God; just as fire, which, when it inflames the air, imprints upon it all its own heat and clothes it with its own color, is seen to have made the air not ignited but fire itself. Those spirits indeed love especially to contemplate in God the knowledge of which there is no number; these, however, to contemplate the love which never falls away. Whence also they have received their names from that in which each is seen to excel: for Cherubim indeed means "fullness of knowledge," while Seraphim means "those who set on fire" or "those who are aflame."
6. God is loved, therefore, by the Angels on account of the supreme equity of his judgments; by the Archangels, on account of the supreme governance of his counsels; by the Virtues, on account of the most benign display of miracles, by which he most graciously draws unbelievers to the faith; by the Powers, on account of that force of most just might, by which he is accustomed to drive back and ward off the cruelty of the malicious from the devout; by the Principalities, on account of that eternal and original power by which he gives being and the principle of being to every creature, higher and lower, spiritual and corporeal, reaching from end to end mightily; by the Dominations also, on account of his most placid will, by which, although he rules everywhere in the strength of his arm, yet with a might more powerful, on account of his innate gentleness and imperturbable tranquility, he disposes all things sweetly. He is loved also by the Thrones on account of the benevolence of his teaching wisdom, which communicates itself without envy, and the anointing which teaches freely concerning all things. Moreover, by the Cherubim he is loved because God is the Lord of knowledge, and knowing what each one needs for salvation, he distributes his gifts discreetly and providently to those who worthily ask, as he knows to be expedient. By the Seraphim also, because he is love, and he hates nothing that he has made, and wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
7. All these, therefore, love according to their capacity. But the young maidens, since they have less understanding, also have less capacity, and are by no means sufficient for such sublime things: for they are little ones in Christ, to be nourished with milk and oil. Therefore from the breasts of the bride they must draw the means by which to love. The bride has oil poured forth, at whose fragrance they are aroused to taste and perceive how sweet the Lord is. And when she has perceived them burning with love, turning to the bridegroom she says: "Your name is oil poured forth; therefore the young maidens have loved you exceedingly." What is "exceedingly"? Greatly, vehemently, ardently. Or rather, this spiritual discourse touches you more obliquely, you who have come recently, reproving that less discreet vehemence of yours—which we too have often tried to restrain—indeed an altogether too stubbornly intemperate excess. You do not wish to be content with the common life. The regular fast is not enough for you, nor the appointed vigils, nor the imposed discipline, nor the measure which we apportion to you in clothing and food; you prefer private practices to the common ones. You who once entrusted the care of yourselves to us—why do you again interfere with yourselves? For that own will of yours, with which, as your consciences bear witness, you have so many times offended God—behold, now again you have it as your teacher, not me. She teaches you not to spare nature, not to yield to reason, not to comply with the counsel or example of your elders, not to obey us. Or do you not know that "obedience is better than sacrifices" (1 Sam 15:22)? Have you not read in your Rule that whatever is done without the will or consent of the spiritual father will be reckoned to vainglory, not to merit? (Rule of St. Benedict, ch. 49). Have you not read in the Gospel what pattern of obedience the boy Jesus handed on to holy children? For when he had remained in Jerusalem and had said that he must be about the things that are his Father's, yet when his parents did not agree, he did not disdain to follow them to Nazareth—the Master following disciples, God following human beings, the Word and Wisdom following a carpenter and a woman. What? The sacred history even adds: "And he was," it says, "subject to them" (Lk 2:43-51). How long will you be wise in your own eyes? God entrusts and subjects himself to mortals; and you still walk in your own ways? You had received a good spirit; but you do not use it well. I fear that in place of this one you may receive another, who under the appearance of good may trip you up; and you who began by the spirit may be brought to completion by the flesh. Or do you not know that the angel of Satan often disguises himself as an angel of light? (2 Cor 11:14). God is Wisdom, and he wills to be loved not only sweetly but also wisely. Whence the Apostle says: "Let your worship be rational" (Rom 12:1). Otherwise the spirit of error will most easily deceive your zeal, if you neglect knowledge; nor does the cunning enemy have a more effective device for removing love from the heart than if he can bring it about that one walks in it carelessly and not with reason. For this reason I am thinking of handing on to you certain guidelines which it is worthwhile for those who love God to observe. But since this sermon requires an end, tomorrow I shall attempt to set them forth, if God preserves for me life and the leisure we now have for discoursing. For then, with senses refreshed by the night's rest, and—what is foremost—with prayer offered beforehand, we shall come, more eagerly, as is right, to the sermon on love, with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.