Sermon LXXV. On the Time, Place, and Manner in which the Bridegroom should be Sought

"In my bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth: I sought Him and found Him not. I will rise and will go about the city,."

"In my bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth." The Bridegroom evidently has not returned at the desire and solicitation of her who recalled Him. Wherefore? In order that her desire may increase, that she may give proof of her love, that she may be the longer occupied in the exercise of charity. The delay consequently is no evidence of anger on the part of the Beloved, is in fact nothing more than pious dissimulation. It only remains, therefore, to seek Him, if perchance He may be found when sought. Who when called has deferred to come. For He assures us Himself that "everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth." Now the words employed by the Spouse to recall Him were as follows, "Return; be like, my Beloved, to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel." On account of the reasons just given. He has not come back at her invitation. This only makes her, who loves Him so ardently, the more desirous of His presence, and with all eagerness she begins at once to seek Him out. She seeks for Him first in her bed, but fails to find Him there. Then she "rises," she "goes about the city," she passes along "the streets and the broad ways." But nowhere does He show Himself, nowhere can she find Him. She inquires concerning Him of everyone she happens to meet, without obtaining any certain information. Nor is it only once she has made this search, and suffered this disappointment, nor during a single night, because she says, "During the nights (per nodes) I sought

Him." How great must be the longing, how ardent the love under the influence of which she thus rises in the night, goes out fearlessly into the public thoroughfares, runs around the city, openly interrogates all whom she meets concerning her Beloved, and from her purpose of following His footsteps can be dissuaded by no argument, impeded by no obstacle, held back by no desire for seasonable repose, prevented by no feelings of womanly modesty, restrained by no fear of the "terror of the night "! And nevertheless, in spite of all this she is still defrauded of her hope. Wheref oi e? What is the meaning of so cruel and so oft-repeated a disappointment, which is the nurse of weariness, the inspirer of suspicion, the torch of impatience, the mother of despair, the step-mother of love [noverca amoris)? If the Bridegroom is still dissembling. His dissimulation has become exceedingly trying.

I allow that up to this, whilst there was only question of calling or recalling Him, dissimulation could be practised with piety and profit. But now, when He is sought and sought with so much trouble, what object can be gained by dissembling longer? If this Canticle were concerned with an earthly bride and bridegroom and with the earthly love which unites them, as indeed seems to be suggested by the mimicry of the literal sense, and if such things as are here described were to happen between them, that would be their own affair, and I should not feel called upon to cast about for an explanation or apology. But if I have the duty to make answer and satisfaction, according to the best of my poor ability, to the minds and affections of those who are seeking the Lord, in that case it will be necessary to extract from the Holy Scripture, in which they "think to have life everlasting," something spiritual and therefore vivifying, in order that "the poor may eat and be filled, and that their hearts may rejoice." And what is so much the life of our hearts as my Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom one said who lived by Him, "When Christ shall appear, Who is your Life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory"? Let Him therefore come amongst us, so that to us as to the Jews it may be truly said, "There hath stood One in the midst of you Whom you know not." And yet I do not understand how the Bridegroom, Who is a Spirit, can fail to be recognised by spiritual persons, provided they have made such progress in the spirit as to be able to say with the Prophet, "A Spirit before our face (is) Christ the Lord"; and with the Apostle, "And if we have known Christ according to the flesh: but now we know Him so no longer." Is not He the Beloved W^hom the Spouse has been seeking? He is indeed the Bridegroom, a loving and amiable Bridegroom. He, I say, is the Bridegroom indeed, just as His "Flesh is meat indeed" and His "Blood is drink indeed." Everything that appertains to Him is in deed and in truth, since He is Himself the Living Truth.

But what means it, my brethren, that this Bridegroom cannot be found when sought, even when sought with so much zeal and assiduity, now in the bed, now about the city, now "in the streets and the broad ways".? For He Himself has said, "Seek and you shall find," and, "He that seeketh findeth." The Prophet Jeremias also says, "The Lord is good to them that hope in Him, to the soul that seeketh Him." And holy Isaias, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." "How then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled?" Nor can it be said that she who is here represented as seeking Him, is one of those to whom He addressed the words, "You shall seek Me and shall not find Me." But listen. Three causes now occur to me which are wont to render our seeking futile. These are: unsuitableness in the time of seeking, unsuitableness in the manner of seeking, and unsuitableness in the place of seeking. For if every time were equally suitable for seeking, why does the Prophet speak the words already quoted, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." Most certainly there shall come a time when He can be found no longer. Therefore we are counselled to call upon Him whilst yet He is near, because the hour is approaching when He shall no more be near. Who is there that will not seek Him then? As He says by His Prophet, "Every knee shall be bowed to Me." Nevertheless, He shall not be found by the impious, because the avenging angels will assuredly drive them away and prevent them from beholding the glory of God. The foolish virgins likewise shall call upon Him in vain; for the door shall then have been shut and He will not go out to them. Let these consequently take as applying to themselves the words, "You shall seek Me and shall not find Me."

But "behold now is the acceptable time, behold now is the day of salvation." Now, my brethren, is the time for seeking and for invoking, when, as ordinarily happens. He Whom we seek is felt to be present even before we call upon Him. For this is what He has promised by His Prophet, "Before they call, I will hear; as they are yet speaking, I will say: Lo, here I am."¹ This kindness and graciousness, which belongs to the present time, was not unknown to him who sings in the psalm, "The Lord hath heard the desire of the poor: Thy ear hath heard the preparation of their heart." But if it is by good works the Lord is to be sought, "therefore, whilst we have time, let us work good to all men," the more especially, because the Bridegroom plainly announces that "the night cometh when no man can work." Or dost thou hope to be given in the life to come another time for seeking God and for doing what is good, besides that which He has appointed for thee wherein to show thee mercy? The present life, therefore, is "the day of salvation," because in this "God is our King before ages, He hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth."

And thou, my brother, dost thou expect to find in the midst of hell the salvation which has been wrought in the midst of the earth? How canst thou imagine that any time shall be given amidst the "everlasting burnings" for impetrating pardon, when the season of mercy shall have then gone by?² Having died in thy sins, for thee "there is now left no sacrifice for sins." The Son of God is not to be crucified a second time. "He died once," He "dieth now no more." The Blood Which was poured out upon the earth, has not penetrated as far as the infernal regions. "All the sinners of the earth shall drink" thereof; but neither the demons themselves, nor reprobate men condemned to their society, are allowed to use It in any way to extinguish the flames which torment them. The Saviour's Soul, not his Blood, descended once to hell. That was the portion of those who were confined there, that one visitation, made by the presence of His Soul whilst His Body was hanging lifeless above the earth. By the Blood the dry land was irrigated, by the Blood the earth was overrun and inundated, by the same Blood Which has made "peace both as to the things on earth, and the things that are in heaven." But It made no peace as to the things that are in hell: excepting that His Soul made one visit to that place, as I have said, and accomplished there a partial redemption.³ For He was unwilling that the work of charity

L. should be suspended even for that short time. But never more shall He go down thither. Therefore, "now is the acceptable time," the time proper for seeking Him in which beyond question "He that seeketh findeth"; if yet he seeks in the right manner and in the right place. I have now explained sufficiently one of the reasons on account of which the Bridegroom cannot be found by those who seek Him, because, namely, they do not seek Him at an opportune time. But as the Spouse does call upon and seek Him at a seasonable hour, this cannot be the reason that prevents her from finding Him. Neither does she seek Him with tepidity, with negligence, or with indifference; but evidently as she ought, with ardent affection and indefatigable zeal.

It only remains to enquire concerning the last of my three reasons, lest perchance the Spouse is not seeking in the place where she ought. "In my little bed (lectulo) by night," she says, *' I sought Him Whom my soul loveth." But perhaps it was not in a little bed but in a large bed she should have looked for Him for Whom, in truth, the universe is not wide enough. I do not, however, object to the little bed, because I remember that He made Himself a Little One. As a Little One He was born for us. Yet listen to Isaias: "Rejoice and praise, O thou habitation of Sion, for great is He That is in the midst of thee, the Holy One of Israel." The same Lord, Who is great in Sion, is found amongst us to be weak and little, having to lie down because of His weakness, and because of His littleness to lie in a little bed. Was not the sepulchre a little bed? Was not the manger a little bed? And the Virgin's womb, was not it also a little bed? But no little bed is the Bosom of the great Father. It is undoubtedly a great bed, whereof the Father says to His Son, "From the womb before the day-star I begot Thee": although perhaps it is not proper to compare that Bosom to any kind of bed, since it is rather the throne of an Emperor than a couch of repose. For the Son abiding in the Father, governs the universe with the Father. We have it on the infallible authority of our faith that He reclines not, but sits at the Father's Right Hand. And He tells us Himself by His Prophet that heaven is His throne, not His bed, in order to teach us that in His own home beyond the stars, the supports of infirmity are nowhere in evidence, but only the emblems of power.

Justly, therefore, does the Spouse, in referring to the little bed, speak of it as her own; because, as is manifest, whatever of weakness and littleness is found with God must be attributed not to His Divine but to the Human Nature Which He has in common with us. For the infirmities to which He submitted for our sakes, such as, to be born, to be suckled, to die, to be buried, belong to the Humanity Which He borrowed from us. Mine is the mortality of the Infant, mine the helplessness of the Child, mine also the death upon the cross, and mine the sleep of the tomb. But now "the former things have passed away "and behold all things are made new. "In my little bed by night I sought Him

Whom my soul loveth." What is this? Hast thou been seeking in thine for Him who has already returned to His own bed? Didst thou not "see the Son of man ascend up where He was before "? He has now exchanged for heaven the tomb and the stable, and wilt thou still seek Him in thy little bed? "He is risen. He is not here." Why dost thou seek in the couch of infirmity for One Who is hale? Or for One so great in a little bed? Or in a stable for One in glory? "He hath entered into the powers of the Lord," "He is clothed with beauty, the Lord is clothed with strength." And behold He Who lay beneath the sepulchral slab now "sitteth above the cherubim." Henceforward He will no more recline, but will sit; and art thou getting ready a couch for Him as for one about to lie down? But perhaps it would be more true to say of Him that He sits to judge us and stands to assist us.

For whom, then, ye holy women, are you thus keeping watch? For whom, I ask, have you bought the sweet spices and confected the ointments? If you did but know how great He is, and how "free amongst the dead "Whom you have come forth to anoint, you perhaps would have asked rather to be anointed by Him. Is not this He of Whom the Pssdmist says, "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows "? Blessed shall you be if on your return you are able to boast and to say, "And of His fulness we (also) have received." And so has it been in truth. For they who came to anoint Him returned by Him anointed. How could they help being anointed with the tidings so gladdening of His fresh and fragrant resurrection? "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things! "By commission of the angel they "do the work of an evangelist." They become the apostles of the apostles themselves (apostolae apostolorum) whilst they hasten "to announce in the morning the mercy of the Lord," saying. ** we will run to the odour of Thy ointments." From that time and thenceforward it has been in vain for the Spouse to seek the Bridegroom in her little bed. *' And if (the Church has) known Christ according to the flesh, but now (she knows) Him so no longer." Thus, St. Peter and St. John came together after the the holy women to seek Him in the sepulchre, but they found Him not. Do you not suppose, my brethren, that each of them could then truly and appropriately say with the Spouse, *' In my little bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth "? For the holy Flesh when about to ascend to the Father — although It proceeded not from the Father, — first by the glory of the resurrection put off all that was infirm in It, girded Itself with power, and clothed Itself with light as with a garment. That is to say, It was adorned with such splendours and beauty as would make It worthy to be presented to the Eyes of the heavenly Father.

But instead of saying, *' Him Whom I love," the Spouse says very beautifully, "Him Whom my soul loveth." For to the soul alone belongs truly and properly the love wherewith one loves any spiritual object, such, for instance, as God, an angel, the human soul. The same remark applies to the love of justice, of truth, of piety, of wisdom, and of the other virtues. On the other hand, when a person loves, or rather desires [appetit) something according to the flesh, for example, food, or clothes, or dominion, or any such earthly and material good, this affection must be held to spring not from the spirit but from the flesh. So much concerning the very unusual yet equally proper expression of the Spouse, "I sought Him Whom my soul loveth," whereby she insinuates that her Bridegroom is a Spirit and is loved by her according to the spirit, not according to the flesh.

Justly, too, does she say that she sought Him during the nights. For if, as St. Paul tells us, "they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that are drunk, are drunk in the night"; if this be so, it may also be said without absurdity, as I think, that they who are ignorant are ignorant in the night, and consequently that they who seek, seek in the night. For who would seek for what he has plainly before his eyes? Now the day makes manifest what the night conceals, so that what you sought in the night you discover in the day. It is therefore night so long as the Bridegroom is sought; because if it were day He would certainly reveal Himself and there would be no necessity to seek Him. These remarks would suffice to elucidate this point only for the fact that the Spouse speaks of nights in the plural, which perhaps is significant of something requiring to be further investigated. For her words are, not *' during the night," but "during the nights I sought Him."

The reason of this, my brethren, appears to be the following, unless some of yourselves can discover a more plausible explanation. The world in which we live has its own nights, and they are many. But why do I say that the world has its nights, since it is rather itself almost completely a night, and is totally and eternally buried in darkness? One night is the perfidy of the Jews, a second is the ignorance of the Gentiles, heretical depravity is a third night, and a fourth the carnal and animal conversation of many Catholics. Surely it must be then night when one "perceiveth not those things that are of the Spirit of God." As for heretics and schismatics, there are amongst these as many different nights as there are distinct sects. Vainly shall you seek in these nights for the Sun of Justice or the Light of truth, that is to say, for the heavenly Bridegroom; for "what fellowship hath light with darkness?" But some one may tell me that the Spouse is not so stupid and blind as to seek for light amid darkness, as to seek her Bridegroom among those who have neither the knowledge nor the love of Him. As if, foresooth, she had declared that she is still seeking Him by night, and not that she has been seeking. She says not "I seek" but "I sought by night Him Whom my soul loveth." And the sense is the same as if she had said with the Apostle, "when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child." She erringly sought the truth where it was not, and so failed to find it, according to what is written in the psalm, "I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost." And she mentions that at the time of seeking she was still in her little bed, as being still but a little one herself both in strength and understanding.

If it be preferred, however, to construe the text in this manner, "Lying or reposing in my little bed by night I sought Him Whom my soul loveth," the sense will be, not that she searched her bed to find Him there, but that whilst she herself was reclining in her little bed — that is to say, was but a little one — she sought her Bridegroom. According to this interpretation her words may be paraphrased thus, ** when I was still weak and helpless and altogether incapable of following the

Bridegroom whithersoever He went, of following Him up the steep and lofty heights to where He sits in glory, I fell in with many, who, knowing my desire, used to say to me, ' Lo here is Christ, lo He is there/ whereas He was neither here nor there. I fell in with such, I say, yet ' not unto folly to me '; because the more nearly I approached and the more carefully I examined, the more speedily and thoroughly was I convinced that the truth was not to be found amongst them. For though I sought I could not find; and thus I perceived that they were only as nights trying to personate the day.

"Then I said. ' I will rise and will go about the city. In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek Him Whom my soul loveth.' "Observe, my brethren, that she is even still reclining, since she says, "I will rise." This has a beautiful significance. Why should she not rise now after hearing of the resurrection of her Beloved? But, O happy Bride, "If thou be risen with Christ," it is necessary that thou shouldst relish "the things that are above," not the things that are upon the earth; it is necessary that thou shouldst seek Christ above, where He sitteth at the Right Hand of the Father. But thou sayest, "I will go about the city." Wherefore? "The wicked," so speaks the Psalmist, "walk round about." Leave to the Jews this cir cum ambulation, of whom their own Prophet predicted that "they shall suffer hunger like dogs and shall go round about the city." And if thou shouldst "enter into the city "according to another of their prophets, "behold them that are consumed with famine. ' ' Now this could not have occured if in the city were found the Bread of Life. But He has arisen out of the heart of the earth, and has not even remained on its surface. He has mounted "up where He was before." L For "He That descended," says the Apostle, "is the Same also That ascended," "the Living Bread That came down from heaven," and at the same time the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed forever. Amen.

Footnotes

1. "Antequam invocetis Me, dicam: Ecce adsum" (Is. lxv. 24). The Vulgate has: "Eritque antequam clament, Ego exaudiam; adhuc illis loquentibus, Ego audiam." Different from both is the Septuagint: "καὶ ἔσται πρὶν ἢ κεκράξαι αὐτούς, Ἐγὼ ὑπακούσομαι· ἔτι λαλούντων αὐτῶν, ἐρῶ, τί ἐστι;" St. Bernard's reading is found also in the Preface to the Holy Rule of St. Benedict.—(Translator.) ↩

2. The Saint is here apostrophising Origen. See note at p. 117 — (Translator.) ↩

3. According to Horst, the Saint is here affirming that when Christ, after His death on the cross, "descended into hell," He delivered thence some of the damned, which certainly appears to have been the opinion of many of the Fathers, such as SS. Cyprian, Gregory, Naziazen, Augustine, and Clement of Alexandria; and in support of it they appealed to the words of St. Peter (istEpist. iii.19), "He (Christ) preached to those spirits who were in prison," also Acts ii. 24, "Whom God raised up, having loosed the sorrows of hell." It may be held consistently with the doctrine of eternal punishment, 'since it does not deny the ordinary law, but only asserts a dispensation by special privilege frorn the same. Thus the ordinary human law which punishes homicide with death does not exclude exceptions according to the pleasure of the sovereign. Mabillon, however, proves conclusively that St. Bernard is speaking of the deliverance of the just souls from Umbo. Limbo, according to the holy Preacher, is a part of hell; he calls it an "infernal prison" in Sermon I. in die Pascha. And in Sermon IV in fesi. Omnium Sanct., he tells us that for the just who died before Christ "God provided a place of rest and refreshment in the midst of hell," where although covered with darkness, they were free from pain. Cf. Suarez, vol. xix., pp. 734-40.— (Translator.) ↩