Fifth Sermon for the First Sunday in November: On the Way in Which the Seraphim Cover the Face and Feet of God, and on the Manner of Their Flying

“ Upon it stood the Seraphim. The one had six wings and the other had six wings. With two they covered His face and with two they covered His feet and with two they flew.” — LSet 2.

The Holy Scriptures, my brethren, represent to us Christ the Lord as being of the Father, and in the Father, and with the Father, and from the Father, and for the Father, and even as being under the Father. When He is said to be of the Father, there is allusion to His ineffable divine nativity ; when He is said to be im the Father, the reference is to Their consubstantial unity ; when. He is said to bewith the Father, we have insinuated to us the equality of Their majesty. These three attributes, namely, to be of, and in, and with the Father, are eternal in the Son. But if He is born of the Father, in what sense is He declared to be in the Father and with the Father? Perhaps it would not be absurd to say that He reclines in the bosom of the Father and sits with Him upon His throne? And listen to the reason of this sitting with the Father and of this reclining. Just as the Son’s mere sitting is expressive of majesty, so does His sitting with the Father indicate an equality of majesty, especially since we are told that He is seated at the right hand of the Father, not at His feet nor at His back. Now sitting is already repose, but reclining is much more so. Which of these two shall we consider to be the source of the greater delight and sweetness to the Son: that He reclines in the bosom of the Father, or that with the Father He governs the universe? In which of the two shall we suppose to consist that sovereign ‘‘ peace of God which surpasseth all understanding ” (Phil. iv. 7)? To which had we better assign that singular repose of the Lord ? And if such a question cannot be worthily expressed in human language, perhaps it may be piously conceived in the mind: perhaps it may seem possible, without prejudice in any respect to the absolute simplicity of the Divine Essence, to draw a mental distinction between the equality of majesty and the identity of Substance corresponding to that which we recognise between the sitting of one person with another and the reclining of one person on another ?

Thus, the Spouse in the Canticle is not satisfied with beholding her Bridegroom seated: she asks to see Him reclining. ‘‘ Shew me,” she exclaims, “ O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou liest in the mid-day ” (Cant. i. 6). Indeed it may be said with truth that every soul of healthy palate finds a sweeter relish in the words of St. Paul, “ He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him ” (1 Cor. vi. 17), than in the promise given to the Apostles, “ When the Son of man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats judging the twelve tribes of Israel ’’ (Matt. xix. 28). In the same way, therefore, we may consider that it is more delightful for the Son to recline in the Father’s bosom than to share His throne. “I am in the Father,” He says, “and the

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Father in me ” (John xiv. 10). The unity of Their Substance could not be more distinctly expressed. For since Either is in the Other, we may not conceive of anything of Either as outside or of anything as inside the Other; rather we must recognise in the Two the most absolute unity of Essence. But there is another unity resembling this, whereof we read, “ He that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him” (x John iv. 16). However, the unity referred to here is but a spiritual unity and ought to be understood in the sense of the text quoted above, ‘‘ He who is joined to the Lord is—not one thing or one substance with Him, but—one spirit.” But the words of Christ, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me,” designate a unity of Nature and Substance. Hence, on another occasion, as you may read in the Gospel, the Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John x. 30). This substantial unity—to speak in accordance with the metaphor I have been using—is the bed of the Only-Begotten, and the most perfect repose of the Lord. And the same Only-Begotten—become now “the First-born amongst many brethren ” (Rom. viii. 29)—introduces us also, according to the measure of our littleness, and by means of such harmony of wills and spiritual union as is possible between Creator and creature and realised by charity—the Only-Begotten, I say, brings us also into this, His own bed, and makes us share His own repose.

But when Christ is said to be from the Father, He is represented as having proceeded in asense from the presence of the Father, and the reference is to His coming to us visibly in the incarnation, which, by His grace, we shall socn be commemorating. Hence, He said Him.

Il, 25 self on one occasion, ‘‘ From God I proceeded and came ” (John viii. 42). For “ He was seen upon earth and conversed with men ” (Bar. iii. 38); He stood in the midst of us, though we knew Him not (John i. 26), the true Emmanuel, that is to say, God with us, standing in our midst, but standing for His Father. His standing amongst us signifies the succours of grace which He has brought us; His standing for the Father designates His zeal for the Father’s glory. For in all things He sought nothing else save the glory of the Father, Whose will, as He declared, He had come to do (John vi. 38). But, my brethren, if you now contemplate Him hanging upon the Cross, if you consider “ Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. ii. 2), it is thus especially and most manifestly He shall appear to be under the Father. For such inferiority belonged properly and exclusively to the lowliness of His Human Nature, according to Which He was speaking when He said, “ The Father is greater than I” (John xiv. 28). But shall we venture to say that He was also some time without the Father? No man, I believe, would be bold enough to say such a thing had not He Himself authorised it by His example, when in His agony He exclaimed, “ My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. xxvii. 46). Forin © that hour He was, asit were, abandoned by His Father, inasmuch as there was no exhibition of supernatural power in His so dire necessity, nor the least revelation of His majesty.

Accordingly, we have Christ born of the Father, reclining in the bosom of the Father, seated upon the throne with the Father, proceeding from the Father, standing for the Father, suspended on the Cross under the Father, and dying, in a manner, without the Father.

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Now in which one of these ways shall we suppose that the Prophet Isaias saw Him* when he said, “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated ” (Is. vi. 1)? For, as is evident enough, this vision is entirely different from that other whereof the same Prophet speaks thus, “ We have seen Him and there was no beauty in Him nor comeliness . . . and we have thought Him as it were a leper, and as one cursed by God and afflicted ” (Is. liii. 2, 3). On both occasions the same Lord was seen by the same Prophet, yet not seen in the same manner, and therefore not quite as the same Lord. For there He showed Himself all mangled from the scourging, “ saturated with reproaches ” (Jer. Lam. iii. 30), drowned in sufferings, overwhelmed with injuries. There Isaias saw Him an object of contempt, he saw Him fastened to the cross, he saw Him dying for our salvation, and he said, “ He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins ; and by His bruises we are healed ” (Is. liii. 5). There, in short, He appeared as one “ despised and the most abject of men ” (ibid. 3). But here “all the earth is full of His majesty ™ (Is. vi. 3). There He is seen as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity ” (Is. liii. 3); here as the great Lord sitting upon His throne. The former vision is common to many, hence the Prophet, in referring to it, uses the plural number ; whereas the latter is as singular as it is sublime. It is as one of a multitude he speaks about the former, saying, ‘ We have seen Him”; but in describing the

“These things said Isaias when he saw His (Christ’s) glory and spoke of Him.” Cf. A Lapide on Is. vi. 1.—(Translator.)

latter he stands before us as single and solitary, “ raising himself above himself ” (Jer. Lam. iii. 28), for he says “I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and elevated ” (Is. vi. 1). Rightly, indeed, does the Prophet call Him Lord Whom he saw sitting. For to sit is usually the privilege of the person who presides ; to sit belongs to him who rules and to him who reigns. To sit simply is sometimes indeed a sign of lowliness, subjection*: but to sit upon a throne is a special mark of domination. Accordingly, as I have said, He Who reposes delightfully in the bosom of the Father, reigns royally with the Father on His throne; there He presents Himself to our contemplation as a most amiable Bridegroom, here as a most admirable Lord; for God is glorious in His saints, wonderful in His majesty (Ps. lxvii. 36).

“ I saw the Lord,” says the Prophet, “ sitting upon a throne high and elevated, and all the earth was filled with His majesty, and those things that were under Him filled the temple ” (Is. vi. 1-3).f Now what does he mean by the ‘ things that were under Him”? Did they constitute that which he calls a throne? For however “high and elevated” that throne may have been, it was nevertheless under Him, otherwise He could

• This is a combination of the Septuagint and Hebrew readings of Isaias vi. 1, and it occurs also as a responsory in the Office of Matins for the first Sunday in November. The Vulgate following the Hebrew, has: “et ea quae sub ipso erant replebant templum,” rendered by the Douay translators : “and His train filled the temple ” ; the Greek: ‘‘ cal mAnpns ó oikos rns ojs aùroð —“ And all the house was filled with His glory.” St. Bernard takes the words ‘‘ ea quae sub ipso erant ” to mean those rational creatures who were voluntarily subject to Him, Cf. A Lapide on this verse.—(Translator.)

SERAPHIM COVER THE FACE 373 not have been represented as sitting upon it. But in what way did that throne fill the temple? Furthermore, when even all the earth was already filled with the majesty of the Lord, how or by what means could the temple be filled anew (re-plebant)? You can see, my brethren, from what I have been saying, that this throne is not to be understood as a material seat, but rather as the angelic creation. For if the soul of the just man be the seat of Wisdom,* how much worthier a seat are the holy angels! It is manifest, therefore, that these blessed spirits are the throne of God’s glory, “ high ” by their nature, but “elevated” by grace toa far higher dignity. They were made high by the Lord when He formed their spiritual nature, they were elevated when He bestowed upon them the grace of stability, whereof the Psalmist sings, “ By the word of the Lord the heavens were established ”’ (Ps. xxxii. 6). Consequently, the angelic choirs are the throne on which God sits, and which are under Him and fill the temple, although all the earth is already filled with His majesty. For He reigns everywhere as King, He rules everywhere as Lord, His majesty is ubiquitous, but perhaps not so His grace. No, not universal like His power “‘ is the good and the acceptable and the perfectly accomplished (perfecta) will of God” (Rom. xii. 2). Otherwise what would be the purpose of the petition we make when we say to Him, “ Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’”’? His will indeed is accomplished concerning all men, and accomplished likewise through all men, yet it is not accomplished în all men. The will of God is perfectly accomplished in the spirits of the elect when they begin to have but one will with Him. This unity of will results in a unity of spirit; hence we read in the Acts that “‘ the multitude of believers had but one heart and one soul ” (Acts iv. 32). “ And those things that were under Him filled the temple ” : they filled it with all “ spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ ”?” (Ephes. i. 3), they filled it with divine consolation; they filled it with the fruit of sanctification (Rom. vi. 22), because, as the Psalmist sings, ‘‘ Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord”; they filled it with all “ the diversities of graces” (1 Cor. xii. 4), with “ the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and of fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and of piety, the spirit of the fear of the Lord ” (Is. xi. 2-3).

“ Upon it stood the Seraphim.” The Seraphim, my brethren, is the name given to the highest and most excellent of the angelic orders: hence they are rightly represented as standing above the rest. Nevertheless, however much they surpass the other choirs of blessed spirits, they humbly wait upon the great Lord Paramount, rendering Him their devoted service and fullest homage. For there is one way of standing proper to ~ the Lord alone, and another peculiar to the holy angels, and still another characteristic of men. Christ stands — in His zeal for the Father, seeking in everything the Father’s glory ; and as the faithful Only-Begotten of the Father, yea, as the Father’s First-Begotten also (Rom. viii. 29), through the same zeal assisting the Father’s adoptive sons. So the Martyr Stephen saw Him by Whose grace he was being assisted, standing at the right hand of God (Acts vii. 55). So too the Prophet besought Him to stand up as our Helper, saying, “ Arise,

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O Lord, help us ” (Ps. xliii. 26). But the angels stand to minister. This is evident from the words of the Prophet, “ Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him ” (Dan. vii. r). As for men, their standing consists in tenacity of purpose and in an unconquerable strength of soul.. So “ Moses stood in the breach in the sight of the Lord to turn away His wrath ” (Ps. cv. 23) ; so too “ Phinees stood up and pacified Him ” (ibid. 30).

“Upon it stood the Seraphim.” What means it, my brethren, that the Prophet tells us that he saw not one, nor yet a multitude of Seraphim standing, but just two? For that two and only two appeared to him is evident from the words which follow: “ The one had six wings and the other had six wings.” To my mind there is a special significance in the fact that two of these spirits were revealed to him as standing, for “woe to him that is alone, for when he falleth he hath none to lift him up” (Eccles. iv. 10). Woe to thee, O spirit of pride, lover of singularity and of solitary presumption! Thou didst not stand in the truth (John viii. 44) ; thou hast been cast out: the foot of thy pride has not been able to support thee. Desiring to sit alone, thou hast fallen “ like lightning from heaven”’ (Luke x. 18), and there shall never beany one to lift thee up again.

“ The one had six wings and the other had six wings.” Do you ask the purpose of so many wings? The Prophet shall tell you t “ With two, ” he says, “ they covered His face, and with two they covered His feet, and with two they flew.” We have here, my brethren, a great and profound mystery. These words require from you an attentive hearing, but much more strictly from me a careful discussion, and above all a spiritual understanding. I will say, however, just what I think and as well as I can, putting forward nothing as certain truth, but only as an opinion or a conjecture.* Well, then, why may we not suppose that, after Lucifer’s expulsion, the Seraphim were appointed by God to guard diligently the heavenly gates, just as—according to the testimony of Scripture—the Lord appointed the Cherubim to sentinel the gates of the earthly paradise, whence man had been driven forth (Gen. ili. 24)? And not without reason were the Cherubim armed with a flaming sword to guard the tree of life from mortal hands, because there is nothing so terrible to the flesh as fire and sword. As for the Seraphim, they were given, not a sword, but only wings with which to baffle the eye of the evil spirit. For so we read, “ With two they covered His face and with two they covered His feet,” so that neither the lofty things of God nor “ the deep things of God ” (1 Cor. ii. 10) should be open to the view of the evil one’s eye. The hour will come, it is true, when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, but not before the fulfilment of that which is written, ‘‘ Let the impious one be taken away that he may not see the glory of God ” (Is, xxvi. 10). Meantime, His head is covered and His feet are covered, whilst something of His middle—if I may so express it—is left exposed for the contemplation, or rather for the envy, of the wicked one. And for this covering wings are made use of, which, whilst intercepting the gaze of Lucifer, lift up the Seraphim and sustain them aloft before the face of God. i

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But before proceeding further with this investigation, it is necessary to explain what those wings are wherewith the Seraphim are said to fly : “ And with two they flew.” Perhaps we shall not be far astray if we understand them as symbolising nature and grace, especially since I have already expounded in this sense the height and the elevation of the throne. For by the natural vivacity of their intelligence and by the supernatural, grace-given fervour of their will, they are always tending towards and intent upon Him Who sits above them ; and (as I have said) they are represented as standing because of their ministry, and as flying on account of their ardent affection. It is true, they cover the face of the Lord, and cover also His feet : still it is not from themselves that they cover them, but from the eye of the evil one. They themselves are for ever winging their way up and down from the feet to the face of the Lord, diligently searching out the deep things of His wisdom and the high things of His power. Nevertheless they run no risk of being “ overwhelmed with glory,” because they are not “searchers of majesty ”’ (Prov. xxv. 27): for they are guided and governed by the Spirit Who “‘searcheth all things, yea, the high* things of God ” (x Cor. ii. 10), and consequently their love keeps pace with their understanding. Lucifer, the spirit of pride, having light enough but no heat, dependeclares that the latter, but not the former are capable of increase.—(Translator.)

ding as it were on one wing, was able to lift himself indeed but rather for a fall than for flight. He gloried in his brightness, but neglected the warmth and burning ardour which the very name of Seraphim signifies. In consequence of this contempt he was not able to stand, - neither had he the power to fly, because of his presumption. The energy of his spiritual nature raised him up, but only unto his ruin, for on account of his lack of grace he was presently cast down headlong. Not unlike to Lucifer’s fall was the fall of them who “when they knew God did not glorify Him as God nor give thanks,” in punishment whereof they were at last “ delivered up to a reprobate sense . . . and their foolish heart was darkened ” (Rom. i. 21-28). For before the eyes of their prince also has been spread a similar veil of darkness, which no natural subtlety can enable him to penetrate, and which still hinders him from beholding the head and feet of the Occupant of the throne, because still the Seraphim, standing and ministering, ‘‘ with two wings cover His face and with two they cover His feet.”

The Divine Substance, my brethren, must not be conceived as something corporeal, nor does It possess, like our human nature any distinction of bodily members. God is a pure Spirit, and all that is said of Him must be “spiritually examined ” (1 Cor. ii. 14). Now who shall reveal to us that spiritual face and those spiritual feet which the Seraphim cover with two of their wings— who save the Holy Spirit Himself, Who knoweth all that the Deity includes, and “searcheth even the high (alta) things of God ?” ? Indeed I am inclined to think that what the Apostle calls the “ high things of God ” signifies the same as what is here designated the face

SERAPHIM COVER THE FACE 379 of God. Therefore, according to this interpretation by the face or head of God we must understand His majesty and His sovereign authority, “ His eternal power also and Divinity” (Rom. i. 20). The Psalmist is alluding to the head of God where he sings, “ Thy justice is as the mountains of God” (Ps. xxxv. 7). What follows in the same Psalm, viz., “Thy judgments are a great deep ” (ibid.), may be referred, as I think, and not unreasonably, to the Lord’s feet. For what are the feet of the Lord but His “ unsearchable ways ” (Rom. xi. 33), and His inscrutable judgments, and the profundity of His wisdom, and the irreprehensible or rather incomprehensible dispositions of His will? To the same feet belong also and especially, as we know, the mystery of the Lord’s incarnation and the whole economy of redemption.

It is necessary for us, brethren, to consider the loftiness of that divine justice which the Psalmist contemplated with astonishment and compared to “ the mountains of God.” Our own human justice—if existent at all—isa diminutive justice, so to speak, and though perhaps true, is never entirely pure. This we must acknowledge unless we would claim to be better than our fathers, who confessed with as much truth as humility, “ all our justices are as a filthy rag ” (Is. lxiv. 6). For how can justice be pure there where as yet sin cannot be absent ? (rt John i. 8). But the justice of men can nevertheless be true, even in the present life, provided only that they do not consent to sin, so that sin may not “ reign in their mortal body ” (Rom. vi. 12). The justice of the first man was, at least in the beginning, not only true, but pure also, and such it remained so long as he was able by the grace of God to withhold his consent to sin. But even this justice, not being firmly established, quickly lost its purity, and proved unable to preserve even its truth. Amongst the holy angels we find a justice that is true and pure and steadfast ; it is lofty too, but falls infinitely short of the altitude of God’s justice. For their justice is not innate in the angels, but bestowed upon them by God, so that of itself the angelic nature is capable not only of justice but of injustice as well. Is not this capacity for injustice the wickedness which, according to Job (Job iv. 18), He who is essential Justice found in His angels ? “In Thy sight no living creature shall be justified (non justificabitur omnis vivens) ”’ (Ps. cxlii. 2): these, my brethren, are the words of one who was by no means ignorant of the justice of God. Observe how he does not say, ‘““ No man,” but “ No living creature,” lest we should suppose that he is excepting even the very angelic spirits. For the angels are included amongst living things, and they live more truly than men for that they stand closer to Him “ with Whom is the fountain of life” (Ps. xxxv. 10). Nevertheless they also are just only by His grace, not in His sight; through His bounty, not in comparison with His justice. He is justice to Himself, Whose will is not so much righteous as righteousness, and both, viz., the will and its righteousness, are in nothing distinct from His Substance. Very properly, therefore, may we compare to a mountain that justice which is true and pure and stable and, if I may so speak, substantial. Oh, what unsuspected sublimities lie hidden in this head of God! How great a glory, how dizzy an altitude do we not discover in this shadowy and cloud-capped mountain !

But with what kind of wings do you suppose the

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Seraphim cover the face of God from the gaze of the wicked one, so that neither the nobility of his spiritual nature nor the acuteness of his intellect can enable that evil eye of his to force its way—if I may use the expression—into the brightness of the true divine light ? Perhaps I mistake, but it appears to me that these two wings are nothing other than their glory and their happiness. For the wonder they feel in contemplating that Divine Head is to them a source of unutterable delight, whilst they find their greatest glory in venerating the same. Now the wicked one of old experienced a like feeling of wonderment in presence of that Object, yet wonderment unaccompanied with veneration. And forasmuch as he refused to avow his inferiority by veneration, he could not be rendered steadfast by his admiration. For admiration itself he converted into envy, and disdaining to bea worshipper, he endeavoured to become arival. How much wiser are the Seraphim who are made happy by their admiration and venerable by their veneration, finding—as I have said—their true glory in Him Whom to serve is to reign, and with Whom every one that “ humbleth himself shall be exalted”’ (Luke xiv. rz)! Let me tell you now in what manner these blessed spirits appear to cover with the two wings of their happiness and their glory the head of God, so as to prevent the evil spirit from beholding it. As often as Satan turns his eyes upwards to heaven he is immediately met with the view of the angels’ bliss and glory ; thereupon the most malignant humour of his own jealousy obscures his vision, so that his gaze cannot reach any higher. In this way, therefore, that envious one is hindered, as by a double veil, from contemplating the loftier heights of heaven. For the sight of the happiness and glory, considered separately or at once, of those whom he grieves to see above him, fills his mind with a jealous fury and forces him to avert his gaze. Is there any disease of the eye more afflicting than that of jealousy ? Now the pains which torment the jealous eye have for their single source the sight of the glory or the happiness enjoyed by others. Misery, as the saying goes, has nothing to fear from envy.

But the Seraphim cover also with two of their wings the feet of the Lord, by which, as already remarked, we must understand the unfathomable abyss of His judgments and the unsearchable ways of His providence. The two wings employed for this purpose signify, as it seems to me, the two virtues of prudence and fidelity. For the Seraphim, being, as they undoubtedly are, faithful and prudent ministers of God (Matt. xxiv. 45), look after His interests and promote the salvation of the elect in such a manner as to baffle completely the eye of the malignant one. In my opinion, it was owing to this covering of the feet that the latter unwittingly caused the Lord of glory to be crucified (1 Cor. ii. 8). And I think it is due to the same cause that, through ignorance, he is constantly—though much against his will—furthering the interests of our salvation, and left to lament, when all too late, that his designs for our hurt have turned to our profit. Thus is his astuteness mocked by those “ ministering spirits ’ (Heb. i. 14), who, being faithful are unwilling to disclose, and being prudent, know how to preserve the secrets of divine providence and predestination concerning us.

But just as of the two highest wings of the Seraphim —those wherewith they cover the head—the spirit of wickedness possessed one without the other, viz., ad-

SERAPHIM COVER THE FACE 383 miration without veneration; and as of the two middle wings likewise—those wherewith they fly—he had from nature a spiritual understanding, yet without any grace-given affection: in the same way, as you may easily observe, of the two lowest wings which cover the feet he was found possessed of prudence, but devoid of fidelity. You will agree that he was found possessed of prudence, unless perchance, you consider that it is not of him the Scripture speaks where it says, “ The serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth ” (Gen. iii. 1). Perhaps too we shall not be far astray if we suppose his fall to have been so desperate and his ruin so irreparable for this reason: because of all the various wings whereof I have been speaking, as he lacked none that belonged to the left side, so he possessed none that belonged to the right. This certainly was not the case with the two Seraphim whom the Prophet beheld in vision and describes for us as standing and ministering before the Lord of majesty. They cover His head, as you have been told, with two of their wings, that is, with their admiration, in which they find their joy and happiness, and with their veneration, whereby they are magnificently glorified ; and His feet also they cover with two other wings, namely, with their prudence and fidelity; and the remaining two, viz., the vivacity of their spiritual nature and the efficacy of divine grace, they use for flying, as before remarked. But in the middle they leave naked and visible the patience and long-suffering of God, which, with His benignity, lead men to penance (Rom. ii. 4). For all can see how the Father in heaven “ maketh His sun to rise upon the good and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust’ (Matt. v. 45). Itis with this charity that the true Solomon has overstrewn His middle—if I may use the expression—“ for the children of Jerusalem” (Cant. iii. 10), so that such as cannot attain to the higher truths or fathom the more profound, may at least find occupation in this intermediate place, from which they may deserve to be advanced sometime to the contemplation of things subtle or sublime. But as for the wicked one, to him the vision of this middle part is at present a source of torment and shall be a source of still greater torment in the time to come. For in the first place, he is filled with furious jealousy at the sight of God’s patience and benignity in our regard; and, in the second place, he recognises that now at all events the same patience and benignity can be of no profit to himself, inasmuch as he cannot thereby be brought to penance.