\\ SS XK \ S YS SS \\ . SS . RAY \\ WAN KKK A \ \ A WS \ \\ SY ee Qype GLE. te eZ agi OF PMR »” QM PTIRG I} “i oe CaN JUN 79-2925 ‘ | } . A> 3 er iets L. S 4 ¢ 3 ‘3 wrha wk Division ‘BS \4-& OW BS4+S ao. Gg Weclioy Ve had hi fold u} VIA MYSTICA ee So-7 = SS es PORES. A yarn ‘a? a ae i 6 ree : rari J eh yr Dod ae > . 7 4 Tyra, a ao Us a) ae. ; ; 7) ~ Sax re s va tat _ 7 “oe Kentand Lacey. JESSE BRETT. iF PRI} uF Py> ALN ht, bing VIA MYSTIOA” Come A DEVOTIONAL TREATISE ON THE LIFE OF PRAYER Based Upon THE SONG OF SONGS BY/THE REV. JESSE ‘BRETT, L.TH. LONDON 5O.G TH Dyes © Ro PROMO TEN G CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK AND TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY Printed in Great Britain 1925 PREFACE By Tue Rey. W. J. SPARROW-SIMPSON, D.D. Ir is a venturesome thing for one who has no claim to be a student of mystical theology to add a preface to a work composed by a master of that study. My only excuse is that the late author’s intimate friends desired me to do it; and, having known and valued the author himself, I could not easily refuse. Nothing can well be more foreign to the prevalent tendencies of our age than allegorical expositions of Serip- ture. Those who have been trained in the school of literal interpretation are bewildered and disconcerted by the dis- regard of the original meaning, and the irrelevancy of the meanings read into and imposed upon, rather than derived from, the sacred text. To the modern reader it seems as if almost anything may be elicited by the allegorical method from any Scripture page. He remembers how Philo loved the allegorical method because it enabled him to escape from the dogmas of the Jewish faith. But while this dislike of allegorising the Scripture is to modern thought quite natural, the fact remains that alle- gorical interpretation has occupied a very important place in Christian devotional life. Allegorical expositions occur within the New Testament itself. And from early days mystical meanings have been ascribed to large portions of the Jewish Scriptures. The principle upon which the mystical interpretation is based is the fact that earthly things are the shadow of things Vv vi * PREFACE heavenly. The visible world is the medium by which the soul is led to the world invisible. And modern thought itself is familiar with the spiritual interpretation of Nature : the beauty of the natural sphere being a hint of the beauty of the spiritual. The transience of the one is by contrast an implication of the permanence of the other. The temporal suggests the eternal. Man is created in God’s image, and the capacities of man for love towards his fellow-creatures is a prophecy of the love of which he is capable toward his Creator. Allegorical interpretation has, of course, its dangers. It must be employed under certain conditions. If it hopes to be secure from error, it must be exercised within the cor- porate life of the Church, and therefore controlled by the Church’s Faith. Otherwise there is no extravagance which it may not perpetrate, and no false theory into which it may not lead. The allegorical method employed by an in- dependent individual, isolated from the Catholic Tradition and the social Institution, is always liable to draw from the sacred text fantastic conclusions and erroneous ideas, or to read into the language of the Bible contradictions to its principles. But the mind which is guided by the Christian Creed, and lives within the Church’s fold, is thereby protected from the danger of extracting from the sacred pages theories contrary to the Christian Faith. Religious meditations con- ducted on these conditions will utilise the Scriptures to illustrate the Church’s convictions. And, obviously, this is the proper use of sacred books which are the property of a religious community. For books which were written within the Church, by the Church, and for the Church’s use, can only be rightly interpreted in accordance with the Church’s mind. The great masters of allegorical interpretation were, as a general rule, faithful sons of the Church, dwellers within its precincts, breathing its atmosphere, familiar with its faith, habituated to its devotions. Under those conditions they could safely wander at will over the whole field of spiritual and mystical thought, secure against error, because the corporate institution, to which the books belonged, was their spiritual home. Apart from those conditions of PREFACE vii institutional life, such a method as allegorical exposition would leave the isolated expositor to the risk of unrestricted wanderings over regions where neither stars appeared, nor compass was given whereby his course might be directed. Allegorical interpretation did memorable service to the Christian religion by enabling it in the early centuries to meet the difficulties involved in the literal meaning of the Jewish Scriptures. When critical intelligence recoiled from Old Testament stories taken as they stand, or when its moral bearing was felt to be imperfect, the allegorical method provided a way of escape for the hesitating and perplexed, and enabled them in conspicuous cases to give assent to the Christian Revelation. If the literal meaning of a Jewish book appeared unworthy of God as Christ revealed Him, here was a method by which the incongruity was solved. If the literal meaning was gross, or was unspiritual, or fell beneath the lofty demands of the Christian moral ideals, the allegorist reconciled the critical mind by placing a nobler mystical construction upon the facts. Thus the earthly was refined into the heavenly. And a solution was found which implicitly involved, although this was not always reached, the principle of a progressive revelation. This apologetic use of the allegorical interpretation pre- pared the way for Augustine’s conversion to the Catholic Church. It cleared from his path many an intellectual obstruction to faith which the imperfect religion of Israel presented. Allegorical interpretation was by no means only em- ployed as a solution to critical difficulties. It was above all converted to a devotional use. That was the case conspicuously in the preaching of S. Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan. S. Ambrose was one of the earliest teachers of the Church who delighted in mystical interpretation of passages in the Song of Songs. A medizval admirer gathered from his writings his various expositions of this book. And anyone who reads the wonderfully spiritual and beautiful exposition of the words, ‘*‘ I found Him whom my soul loveth ; I held viil PREFACE Him and would not let Him go” (iii. 4) can hardly fail to be uplifted. j Augustine, who often heard S. Ambrose preach, followed his belief that the Song of Songs was adapted to, and indeed required, a mystical interpretation. ‘There are many things,” said Augustine, ‘‘ written in the Song of Songs which, if taken according to the flesh, would not be productive of enlightened love but would tend to sensual desire.” 2 Accordingly he insisted that a spiritual construction is to be placed upon them. ‘‘ We feed our souls by spiritual understanding, considering the inner meaning which it represents ; since to be earthly-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life and peace.”’ But, as everybody knows, allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs reached its height in the wonderful Meditations of S. Bernard—a truly amazing production of lofty unworldliness and exuberant spirituality. The noblest affections of earthly love are transfigured into pure devotion and love of the heavenly. It is difficult to conceive any- thing of its kind more unearthly, more distant from the ordinary aims and ambitions. It is impossible to read it without reverencing the Power behind the Saint. For nothing else than the Holy Spirit could have enabled a man to elevate the earthly into the spiritual in this singularly beautiful and captivating way. Allegorical interpretation can never be safe except within the Body of the Church and on the precepts of its Creed. But there is another very obvious contention. It demands peculiar spirituality on the part of the person who attempts it. Not every devotional writer is qualified to give us spiritual meditations on the Song of Songs. There lies before me, as I write these words, a volume on the Song of Songs by a modern writer of a Communion other than the English Church. One can only say about it that nothing could show more convincingly how difficult it is to write such meditations ; how easy it is to remain on the earthly levels ; ' Migne, Patr. Lat. i. p. 1891. * On the Spirit and the Leiter,%§ 6. PREFACE 1X and how hard to transfigure the earthly love to the heavenly ; how poor it may become; what delicacy and refinement and spirituality of mind it requires to treat this subject in a really edifying way. There are some commentaries on the Canticles which had better not have been written. It is easy to become weak, sentimental and silly, in sucha theme ; or rhetorical, exaggerated and unreal: easy to lose the sense of reverence and awe in the language of’ a commonplace familiarity which forgets the distance between the imperfect sinful human being and the perfection of Deity. The Song of Songs is by its very nature liable to this danger of irreverence when spiritually applied. For the Beloved in the Song is idealised, and graced with all per- fections in the eyes of the lover ; whereas in the application to Christ and the human soul, the object of our Lord’s amazing love is anything but ideal, nor is it graced with all perfections. The soul is indeed poor, imperfect and un- earthly. Therefore it requires deep humility to treat such a subject aright. That the allegorical method of interpretation can be made the vehicle of the highest devotion, and a means of religious uplifting, I know from personal experience. One of the most uplifting sermons it was my privilege to hear as a Cambridge undergraduate was preached by Canon Mason, now of Canterbury, on a passage from the Song of Songs. It was on the words, “‘ I sought Him Whom my soul loveth : I sought Him, but I found Him not. ... I found Him Whom my soul loveth: I held Him and would not let Him go.” It was a sermon which would have rejoiced the heart of S. Ambrose. It illustrated what the Song of Songs may be made by one who is, what many of us are not, qualified to do it. And now let me say a word on Fr. Brett’s Meditations. He was one of those qualified to turn this Song to the highest spiritual account. Each separate teacher must be left to his own individuality. He must convey religious instruction through the forms which suit him best. Men of high devotional attainments are able to impart ideals of religious life through the medium of this beautiful Jewish x PREFACE poem on human love. The relation of the lover and the Beloved is clearly the natural way for deeply religious persons to express the relation of the Redeemer to the soul which He redeems. Fr. Brett was of course thoroughly familiar with, and an obvious admirer of, the Meditations of S. Bernard on the Canticles. But the Meditations published here have a complete independence of theirown. The author’s favourite study was undoubtedly S. John of the Cross. He also made considerable use of Dr. Littledale’s ‘“* Commentary,” the principal value of which consists in the large selection of passages from the Fathers. But the Chaplain of the All Saints Home, Eastbourne, while thoroughly saturated in the mystics, wrote also from his own experience ; and it is this experience which pervades the book’s most impressive pages. The reader is asked to bear in mind that, although the book was to a large extent prepared by its author for pub- lication, yet he neither lived to complete its revision, nor to see a single page of his work in print. Large portions of these meditations were given in the form of addresses, from time to time, to the Community of All Saints of which he was Chaplain. A member of the Community who heard many of them delivered speaks most gratefully of their impressiveness. The author himself regarded this book as containing the substance of his message. It was his principal production after a labour extending over some twenty years. INTRODUCTION Tuts Book of the Sacred Scriptures, the Song of Songs, may be described as the inspired manual of the Higher Life. Its meaning, so mystical, and withal so intimately true to the experiences of a loving soul, is beyond the reach of mere beginners in the spiritual life. It is as substantial food compared with milk. “There is bread in these words of Solomon, and that white and delicate,’’ writes S. Bernard. And so, as the Saint has added, “ let us set it before us and break it according to our need.” The truths which the Holy Spirit has herein given for our guidance are concerned with the highest development of souls. They cannot be learned and understood all at once ; but must be tested at every stage of the spiritual life. They are presented to the soul in the holiest exercise of her powers ; they concern her most in the ways of love by means of which she attains to knowledge of Divine things and understands her place in the Kingdom of God, and the peculiar relation to Himself to which He calls her. This is a Book of Divine teaching to be tested by ex- perience, and not simply to be talked about; and so it may be called a manual, something which we may take for regular and daily use. If we regard the Book as a whole, we must see that the Bride-soul has found her ‘“ heart’s Lord,’® that she has made her choice, has surrendered herself to her Beloved. That is the secret, simple but deep, of her constancy and humility, her suffering and heroism. In and through her surrender she has entered the way of the spirit, the way of love; she is living the higher life. Her x1 xil . INTRODUCTION experiences, her longings and fears, her joys and her prayers, are those of one who, whatever her failings—and they are clearly indicated—can turn to her Lord in absolute assurance of love and faith: My Beloved. There is the most perfect sense of personal relation to the Beloved; and it never is lost sight of even though the Bride-soul be led into the dark depths of spiritual discipline. In contact with the world where she finds herself scorned and turned aside she ever turns for comfort to one fact of life and love which is the light of her being: My Beloved is mine, and I am His. The Higher Life with all its intimate joy of love, and its wonder of illuminating truth, can never be understood by us until we have proved our love by interior self-surrender. Much of the poverty of spiritual life so often evident in Christians is traceable to the fact that they either have not perfectly surrendered themselves, or have not continued faithful to the spirit of their surrender. Self-surrender is a deliberate act of the loving soul, and should be renewed in the intention of every act of love. The growing intensity of love in the heart will make our acts strong and pure, and exalt them according to the needs of our days. There is no possible escape from this law of self-surrender. We may even assert that the sanctity of a soul is proportioned to the perfection of its surrender. We think of the Blessed Virgin herself, of her wonderful separateness and sanctity, of the fulness of grace in her, of the eternal blessedness to which she has been raised ; but even of her, notwithstanding the holy purity essential to the ‘‘ Mother of God,” was the surrender demanded. The opportunity was presented to her who was already wholly indwelt by love, and she re- sponded with the words which have never ceased to express the highest surrender of which the purest love is capable : Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word. We notice that it was after that surrender that all the pure charm of her life, and her wonderful holiness, is presented to us. And so for ourselves, the holy teaching of the Song of Songs, and the knowledge and experiences to which it guides us, is for those who have made their INTRODUCTION xii surrender to the Beloved. For them this Book has treasures of inspired thoughts. It is not possible for any writer to exhaust those treasures, but if these pages in any way contribute to a fuller knowledge of them, may He be praised to Whom is due all that love can devise and offer. The purpose of this work is devotional and therefore the critical discussion of texts has been avoided. The Authorised Version has been accepted and’ followed, except in a few places where some marginal reading has been of special assistance. These studies were prepared in the first instance as addresses to Religious, and in their present form some evidence remains of that original purpose. This has been unavoidable ; but the work as a whole is not affected by it. Free use has been made of Dr. Littledale’s work, ‘‘ A Commentary on the Song of Songs”; of S. Bernard’s Sermons; of the works of S. John of the Cross; of Dr. Neale’s Sermons, &c. Very many points of devout inter- pretation have been passed by, not as unacceptable, but simply because they lie outside the scope of this work, which deals rather with the spiritual course of the Bride-soul. Other interpretations, though interesting and often admis- sible, are therefore not referred to. The Song of Songs is deserving of more careful and devout study than it has often received. The deepened attention to the profound realities of the spiritual life, which is evident within the Church at the present time, must be the justification of an effort which is in itself so unworthy of this wonderful Book in which we may trace with increasing clearness the work of the Holy Ghost. oh oe; en craeagas . i ey _ mae Gate: 7 te a Works by the Same Author MESSRS. LONGMANS— ALTAR AND THE LIFE 4s. 6d. net BLESSED LIFE SRR i. DIvInE ENDOWMENT, CONSIDERATION OF THE GIFTS OF THE HoLy GuHOosT SLUG Be Fe GLORIES OF THE LOVE OF JESUS: DEVO- TIONAL STUDIES Da sOd.eee Huminity : A DrvotTioNaL TREATISE OSs Od. aes Lirr’s Power: A Worp oF HELP Ae oO. aes Love’s ASCENT Ae Gdei ., PASSION IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE a3.9Od- a: SACRED WAY As. iGd. >. SAINTHOOD : RETREAT ADDRESSES Damen ScHoot oF Divine LovE AS Othe ers SYMPATHY OF THE CRUCIFIED i Bo Tot Lire PURPOSEFUL Be, Odi. 5; Way oF Vision : AN ASPECT OF SPIRITUAL LIFE 68 0da4 S.P.C.K.— THE Lire oF COMMUNION 13. Odiacess THe Work oF Grace Paper 9d.; cloth ls. 3d. MESSRS. MOWBRAY’S— GIFTS OF THE Risen LiFe 10d. VIA MYSTICA CHAPTER I Verse 1. ** The Song of Songs which is Solomon’s.”’ THRouGHOUT this book the references to King Solomon must be understood of our Lord Who is Himself the Bride- groom of the soul. While He is the object of the soul’s love, her Beloved, her Friend, He is also her Divine Lord Who inspires that love, and alone understands the move- ments of her life. The Song of Songs does more than cele- brate the love between the Bride-soul and the Beloved ; it opens out the difficult ways of the spiritual life. If, then, we receive the words as from our Lord Himself, we ascend at once to an illuminated plane upon which all the deepest concerns of the soul are revealed in passages of Divine Wisdom. Wonderful is the love of which He speaks ; it is the love of the soul perfected in the Divine Love. It is love which He praises and extols in terms which become deeper in meaning, and more wonderful in fullness, as it attains to pureness through discipline and sacrifice. We are led from thought to thought until the conception of love, as we behold it in Him, carries us away from the present, and bears us on in the longing of pure desire and holy aspiration. And all this is because the words which we hear are the words of God Who is Love. The first words of this Divine Song explain the emotions of the Bride-soul, the deep desire of love which she can scarcely explain to herself. Thus tenderly is she led to know herself that she may but love Him more and realise His love. B 2 VIA MYSTICA Verse 2. “ Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth ; for Thy love is better than wine.” How necessary is all that we have considered in the under- standing of such words as these! We feel it immediately when we try to make them our own. We feel how difficult it is to take them upon our own lips and utter them as — the expression of our heart’s desire for God. S. Bernard sees in them the yearning of the soul after God: My soul is athirst for God. We are startled by the almost over- boldness of the expression, because, perhaps, we are hardly sufficiently refined, as yet, in our spiritual life to bear such words. And yet the Divine speaker places them thus in the forefront, partly, we may believe, in order that we may perceive the need of self-surrender in purity and detachment, and partly to assure us that He will not keep the soul at a distance from Himself ; but will encourage her with personal communications of His tenderness. And, further, we learn that for the Divine communication there is no time that we can fix for ourselves. He must read the heart; He must estimate the soul’s love, and Himself come forth with His Divine consolation and tenderness to meet her. He will meet her in the sympathy of His Own understanding and knowledge of her longing and her love, and will not withhold from her the desire of pure love. Rather will He hasten to grant it. Careful attention to these words reveals their depth. They seem to imply, first, a spiritual condition, and secondly, a spiritual experience. Think of the first, the spiritual condition. It is a con- dition, or state, of mutual love, mutual attraction, which is as evident to God as to the soul, to the Beloved as to the Bride. Later the Bride expresses her sense of this mutual love: ‘‘ My Beloved is mine, and I am His: . . . Tammy Beloved’s, and His desire is towards me.’’ But in this place we mark all the inclination of the one to the other apart from the actual declaration of it. Let us note here that there is a loving desire on God’s part which should never be forgotten, Are we not apt to Gs ALR Bae Ip 3 forget this in the stress of conflict and effort, and so deprive ourselves of one of the greatest joys of the spiritual life ? We regard our spiritual concerns too exclusively from our own point of view, and in practice we seem to disregard the fact that God Himself loves, and in that love experi- ences within Himself, in a degree most wonderful and beautiful, the movement of desire towards the soul created for Himself. But more, this spiritual condition is that in which the soul is at one with her Lord in all that makes for the beauty and fullness of perfect love. She may not be perfect ; indeed we are not to suppose that in uttering these words at the beginning, she is in any sense assuming perfection ; but she does aspire towards that which she understands to be the will of her Beloved in His Divine love towards herself. In thought, desire, and will she is in sympathy with Him and is seeking perfect conformity with His mind. And nothing less than that should express the truth of our own purpose of love in relation to Him. We desire to become one with Him in every movement of love, His Will finding continual expression in us as He, in His Incarnate Life, ever realises in union with the soul He loves His Own first purpose: “Lo, I come to do Thy Will.” The soul dare not ask for anything so high and wonderful as this which she desires, if there be not a preparedness in charity as the sum of all the graces of the spiritual life. She dare not ask for so sublime a visitation, if she isnot in charity, working for the very fulfilment of Divine love. A serious question confronts us here, at the very opening of the book, and it is placed thus providentially, We must ask it of ourselves before we dare hope to reach the higher degrees of love. Do we share the mind and thought of the Beloved ? Are we through prayer and communion learning the secret of His Heart which He would communicate to us ? Is His love in us? Are we in charity? They who know most of the joy of Christ are they who are most careful to be ruled by His love in the simplest details of life, and most of -all keep themselves from unloving ways and dispositions. We must keep ourselves from everything that can come 4 VIA MYSTICA between us and the pure, abiding sense of His love. A very little will suffice to move us from that holy realisation. We must seek the perfection of love through the exer- cise of self-restraint and interior humility ; through self- effacement and a willingness to endure all things rather than manifest by gesture or word the risings of self-love ; through meekness and forbearance and everything that can keep the soul in true detachment for the Beloved. The soul must forsake even herself if she would know the pure joy of all that the Beloved wills to impart to her. We have next to notice the words as they relate to spiritual experience. And this presents some difficulty. It seems strange in a book which deals with so many things which appear relatively lower in the spiritual way, to find that which is so high in the very opening words. We have already explained this in part ; but we may go further, and say, the touches of the Divine Love are manifold, and the soul is encouraged at every stage of her progress. The Bride who thus speaks, “‘ Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth,”’ comes at last to a very much higher degree of confident love.t But usually, with S. John of the Cross, we refer the experience implied in this first verse to a more advanced step in the spiritual life.2- He considers that there is a degree of prayer which is marked by a peculiar boldness of love. The longing which the soul thus expresses is felt when there is an interior apprehension of the favour of the Beloved. The boldness of the soul would not be lawful if she were not conscious of the drawing of the Beloved which she feels as the extension of tenderest favour towards her- self. So we have to be exceedingly cautious in using such words. We dare not take them like other words of devotion and use them because we admire them and think them proper to ourselves. They are to be kept for the highest occasions of most pure communion ; and then we must be sure within ourselves of the special favour of our Lord. One has compared it to the going of Queen Esther to King Ahasuerus. She waited before approaching him, until he held out to her the golden sceptre as the sign of his favour » ' Chap. viii. 1. 2 S. John of the Cross, Dark Night, bk. ii. 20. CEA Poti eos 5 towards her. Thus must we with holy reverence offer to our Lord that which He shows to be pleasing to Him. But to go beyond this desire and know it as an experience —what shall we say of it? S. John of the Cross sees in it the secret and substantial communications of Christ to the soul in those supreme moments of pure contemplation when the human spirit, touched by the Divine, receives the most incommunicable joy. S. Bernard sees in it the inpouring of the Holy Spirit; that just as in the ineffable life of the Divine Trinity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, as from the Divine embrace, or “‘ kiss ”’ of God, so the act of which we are speaking is that through which the Holy Spirit is given into the soul. But all that we can learn from the Saints is less than the sweet experience of it, and also far below that which is reserved for souls made perfect. Human language must not be pressed in earthly literalness to explain that which is divinely spiritual. When may we expect this Divine favour? First, in the Holy Eucharist. In every good Communion there is a meeting and contact of the soul with her Lord. She is touched with His Body, Soul, and Divinity. And so in a certain sense we may say, this Kiss of the Beloved is given in every good Communion. Secondly, we say, it is given in the highest moments of devotion, when we understand the fact of our union; when out of the realised sweetness of His embrace we can speak to Him most simply, most truly, in love, as “my Lord,” “my Beloved.’ Beyond this are some wonderful revelations peculiar to the state of spiritual marriage ; but this is not the place at which we may speak of them.+ Perhaps, even at the point to which we have been led, we may say to ourselves: ‘‘ How can we dare thus far ? ”’ We find our answer even before we ask our question. If we love God, if we are one with Him in loving, we may offer the desire of our hearts, and He will not reject us in that which is the fruit of His Own love in us. We only ask as we are inspired by His love; and experience will teach us 1 See notes on chap. viii. 8-10. 6 VIA MYSTICA unfailingly of the value in His sight of the offering of holy desires. Very often it is the only way in which we can express the growing love of our hearts, and relieve its burning intensity. Very precious to the Sacred Heart are all such offerings ; and again and again has our Lord manifested to the Saints His loving regard for all such proofs of their love; and we shall not fail to receive within ourselves the like assurance if we are true to the inspirations of His love. Only let us be true in self-surrender, in charity, and in the devotion of love, and we too shall know something of that ineffable contact wherein the soul knows and is known of the Beloved—that touch divine of which 8S. John of the Cross writes, ““O my God and my Life, they should know Thee and behold Thee when Thou touchest them, who, mak- ing themselves strangers upon earth shall purify themselves, because purity corresponds with purity. The more gently — Thou touchest, the more Thou art hidden in the purified soul of those who have made themselves strangers here, hidden from the face of all creatures and whom ‘ Thou shalt hide in the secret of Thy face from the disturbance of men.’ ”’ + ** For Thy love is better than wine.’? 'These words seem to be offered as an explanation of the request: ‘‘ Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth.” The Bride-soul desires the ineffable touch of the Beloved, because she rightly perceives the nature and exceeding fullness of His love. She would not dare to say so much had she not an interiorly clear perception of what that love is. So, to ask great things of our Lord in His love is permitted if we know what we ask, And even though we are not quite clear in our requests, we can always be quite safe if we ask for the mani- festation of His love according to His Will. We know quite well that the Will of our Lord is to manifest His love to us in every possible way, even the highest ; and so we can always ask to receive of His love according to His Will. He will not, in His love, give us that for which we are unpre- pared. At the same time such a prayer assists the soul in the way of humility, she dare not ask for anything contrary + S. John of the Cross, The Living Flame, ii. 19. CHARS IS 20.-2 7 to His Will. The more she forsakes herself, the more prevailing will be her prayer. | **' Thy love is better than wine.” The effects of love are compared with those of wine. So in chapter ii. 4: ‘“‘ He brought me into the Banqueting House ’’—or, as the margin gives it, ‘‘the House of Wine.” This suggests at once the idea of the feast of the Divine Love. And that idea is accepted by some writers, as for example’ S. John of the Cross, who speaks of our Lord imparting Himself in His communications of love. The Saint has much to say of the ** strong wine of love.” It is not the highest degree of love that is here referred to; but it expresses the high sense of love which the soul has whenever God communicates Himself to her. “Thy love is better than wine.” We have understood wine to signify love, or rather we have understood wine to illustrate the effects of love. But if we recede from our point and take the word “‘ wine ”’ in simply a natural and earthly sense, the verse appears almost as an unnecessary statement ; it seems to suggest a needless comparison. If we take it in the purely earthly sense, it is quite unnecessary to say : ‘** Thy love is better than wine.’ We are therefore bound - to take it in a deeper, that is to say, in a more spiritual and mystical way. There are two lines of helpful explanation, if we hold that ‘* wine ”’ is itself a term which implies love ; and it seems impossible to accept any other explanation. ‘““Thy love is better than wine,”’ that is, it surpasses all that can be said of it. There is no comparison noble enough to convey the truth of its richness and dignity ; there is nothing which does not fall short of that which we seek to express. And even though we have gone far in experience and have been even the subjects of spiritual inebriation as we know to be the case with some favoured souls, we are told there are degrees of love, each higher and more interior, to which the soul is advanced in this life.” But even then the ‘‘ Love of Christ . . . passeth know- ledge.” So, then, however far we may have gone in the 1 Cf. S. John of the Cross. 2 §. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, xxvi. 3 Eph. iii. 19. 8 VIA MYSTICA knowledge and experience of love, even though it be the highest known in this world, we are bound to say still, “* Thy love surpasses all that we know.” ‘‘ Thou art higher than all that are in the Heavens.” We come then to our Lord in adoration of His love; we feel it as the very life pulsing in us; we are even elated ; we can find no words to express what we feel; while, above and beyond all that, there is the eternal richness of love in Him. ‘‘ Thy love is better than wine.” Are we at times distressed at our own poor feeling of this love? Earnest souls cannot be strangers to that distress ; it is consequent upon the interior development of love. It may very well be that we are ourselves so distressed. Has anyone ever so loved as not to want to love more? Has any soul in this world ever felt that love within herself was rich enough with which to glorify Him? Did S. John even as he rested upon the bosom of His Lord? Did S. Mary Magdalene as the love of Jesus swept over her soul when He called her by name in the garden? Did S. Francis when he cried: “‘My God, my All!” ? Have we ourselves in our highest flights of love, our most blessed Communions, ever felt that our love was complete enough? Has it not always been that we wanted that which should enable us to attain to the purity, the beauty, the fullness of that love which we were only approaching through intuitions ? How often have we prayed ‘ Blood of Christ inebriate me”? How often has He given us deeper draughts of His Own love; but what has it ever been? What but the showing of yet untasted sweetness ? What but the revelation to our souls of a life-giving, life-sustaining power, which was greater than all we could conceive as touching this present life! And, in truth, such experience is necessary to us, for it assures us that there is a fullness of life and joy which is being kept for us, and for which we are being prepared through that very hunger of soul which keeps us ever seeking. One day we shall know all and sing with our Lady: ‘“‘ He hath filled the hungry with good things.” “Thy love is better than wine.”” When we are dis- tressed at our own poor love, let us look out to that love of CHAP T, 05.2 9 the Beloved of which He will ever give us to drink, if our love but rise to Him in pure desire and not in empty self- pitying phrases. We may grieve over our poverty, but we must also honestly seek to be enriched. We must own most clearly that we are poor in our love ; but let even our poverty be associated with a wonderful reality. Let love be always real, true, strong, so far as is consistent with this poverty, and we shall always find He will enrich us. He will fill up our souls out of the abundance of His Own rich love. There is no excuse for us to remain bewailing our poverty. Let us rather lovingly, trustfully, and with great humility wait on Him, because while we are in Him and He in us, there is no limit to the love which may overflow into our own souls. A further explanation which we may notice is suggested by the experience of joy—“‘ the wine of joy and gladness.” “Thy love is better than wine.” There is therefore an experience of love which is higher, more to be desired even than joy. How this can be we must explain. It is not that joy is to be lightly esteemed, but that there is that in the love of Christ which transcends it. We may have the joy while knowing and possessing that which makes the joy. But let us notice first, that there is a sweetness, a gladness, in the love of our Lord which exalts and delights us, most especially in the earlier stages of the spiritual life. For example, Religious know the peculiar delight which came to them in the early days of their profession. The tempta- tion to us all is to take this sweetness too readily, as though it were the end of everything, the satisfaction of every desire, the crowning of every effort. We are tempted to imagine that our race has been run, when after all it has but just begun ; we are tempted to think the conflict is over, before we have felt the blows of the enemy. But there is something higher, and it is ever the way of God to lead us on, to exalt us by showing us the greater good: sometimes it is by discipline. There are souls whom God Himself trains by a peculiar spiritual discipline, weaning them from the love of joy for its own sake, and strengthening them interiorly and training them in the ways of pure love. This is not to deprive them of the joy, but to give them something better, 10 VIA MYSTICA something stronger, within the experience of it. And that discipline is sometimes exceeding painful, as when the soul is herself unwilling to tread the higher ways, or when God Himself wills the soul to attain to great things, and therefore leads her through ways above her understanding. We may be perfectly sure that where there is sharp, interior discipline, by which the soul is weaned from the mere sweetness, God ~ wills great things for that one. And sometimes He will accompany this spiritual discipline by some interior revela- tion, making known to the soul in His Own wonderful, loving way, the great possibilities of the spiritual life. He will show her what there is lying before her, expanding in the far distances of the spiritual life; and as often as that is done we may take courage, for He is showing us that to which He desires to lead us. Between us and that revelation which we behold, there may be much pain, there may be the loss of sweetness, but there is after all a wealth, a strength, a richness of life, a deep knowledge of God, which is infinitely greater, infinitely to be desired, infinitely to be preferred to the other. And until we know Him in the calm, inward strength of full-grown love, He will not cease to show us the upward way. It is this that we should desire; and when we find the early sweetness passing away, we should seek to know the interior strength of love. We should set before ourselves in devotion as something to be desired, a degree of pureness to which we must attain with the help of God. How often have we come to our Lord in our prayers, asking, longing, beseeching that we may know His love! But when we analyse our feelings, our thoughts, what do we find? A desire which is after all very selfish, a desire for the sweetness. But “ Thy love is better than wine.” Mature souls may have less of the sensible sweetness, but they have what is better, a more even and regular experience of the abiding Presence of the Beloved. They have joy, deep and full, but it is joy in the Beloved Himself ; it is the joy of sympathy with Him in the higher movements of His Own perfect Will, it is the joy of oneness of love and will with Him. The present is better than the past and they are able to bear the CHAP. Ly v3 11 exceeding delight of growing union. They are inwardly stronger and more courageous, they have proved so much that they can ask: ‘“‘ Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His Mouth; for Thy love is better than wine.” The secret touch in the spirit is a joy and refreshment beyond all else that could be known. ** Thy love is better than wine.” That, lastly, gives us encouragement. We know much of that love. No one of us but knows a great deal about that love. We have felt it, proved it, let us go on to the perfect knowledge of its fullness and strength. Those words, “ Thy love is better than wine,” convey to us the impression of that which is to be. However much we may know in the present time is, after all, nothing compared with that which we are yet to know. If ‘“‘ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him,’’? how infinitely beyond all that we can imagine, is the love there! Here we know it and it seems to us overwhelmingly great, but that is not to be taken as the measure of the love there, because that which lies beyond has not yet entered into our hearts in its fullness. Love here hath vast beatitude ; What shall be hers When there is no more curse, But all is good ? ? What shall be the portion of the soul when every hindering thing shall be removed and the least obstruction to the in- flowing of that Divine Love shall have been removed and God be all in all to the soul that loves Him, wholly in all ? Verse 3. “ Because of the savour of Thy good ointments Thy Name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love Thee.” Upon whom have those “‘ good ointments ”’ been poured ? Who is the recipient of that Divine unction? At first sight it seems a little difficult. We will follow the interpretation of S. Bernard. He sees in it the soul, the Bride, as the recipient of that Divine unction, and the “‘ good ointments ” 21 Cor..ii. 9. 2 Christina Rossetti. 12 VIA MYSTICA are the graces of the Beloved which He imparts to her as the largess of His love. They are the supernatural gifts with which she is adorned. The evidence of these gifts is de- scribed as the ‘‘ savour ’’—the perfume—of the good oint- ments which is exhaled wherever those gifts are found. They will be found in all states of life according to the perfection of the soul’s response to vocation. The “‘ savour ”” or perfume which is the evidence of their presence will be diffused in sweetness and richness as the life is perfected and the vocation fulfilled. S. Bernard defines these spiritual perfumes as three: “* penitence, devotion, piety.” For our present purpose it is not necessary to consider them in detail. I rather suggest to you the thought that every grace, as the soul is transformed in love, gives forth its own perfume, and so combining gives this wondrous savour which evi- dences the Presence of the Beloved. S. Bernard speaks of ** penitence, devotion, piety’; but we may fairly expand them so as to include humility, meekness, gentleness, charity, hiddenness ; we have all the joy, hope, peace, which flow from communion with the Beloved: we have also the exaltation of spirit, the kindling, burning love, the entire confidence and faith of the Bride-soul. We have all these in their several degrees as the soul advances in the way of perfection ; they proceed from the Beloved Himself as the fruit of His Own Life in her. There is no grace we may possess, nothing through which we may show forth the reality of His Life in us, but is first of all in Him, and from Him im- parted tous. The exercise of the soul in these graces causes the movement. of a Divine influence to spread, first of all throughout the whole of the interior life of the soul herself, and thence into her immediate surroundings either in the household, or in the world at large. And there is through- out the Church itself a sweet perfume, rich according to the fullness of grace in souls everywhere. We are concerning ourselves in particular with the personal life of the devout soul; but we cannot fail to notice how each stands in rela- tion to the Church as the Body Mystical. The fullness of the Church’s life is the glory of her members. And notice how all is attained through the soul’s self-forgetfulness. CHAPSi1. uv. 8 13 That one has not attained to this condition of spiritual life in whom there is a proud self-consciousness. The good ointments, the graces, are our Lord’s, not our own. We have here one further confirmation, if it were needed, of the absolute necessity of humility. How marvellous it is that we are compelled again and again both within our own spiritual self-knowledge and also in our dealings one with another, to emphasise that primary necessity of all spiritual perfection—humility! There is nothing that can flourish where that is not found. The life of any spiritual person becomes ineffectual if this grace be wanting. The number of other graces—and they may be very many—the advantages of natural gifts are wholly unavailing if they are only made to serve some selfish end. There are many so-called capable, clever people, whose influence is never sweet, never gracious, never winning; through their own self-esteem the good ointments have been spoiled of their perfume; they have been given forth to the soul who has employed them to wrong ends, robbed them of their sweetness, because she has by her own act, as it were, separated the graces from the Giver, and the perfume which is the evidence of His Own Presence has been withdrawn. In a Religious the fault is even more marked. We notice it in the world, but how much more in the cloister where every soul is separated unto our Lord, in order that she may become the means whereby He may diffuse the sweetness of His Own Life, His Own Grace, His Own Presence. It seems like failure in the very purpose of her vocation. The humble Religious will not be quick to judge of her own influence ; she will be self-forgetting in her devotion to the Beloved, knowing that a thought of self-esteem destroys the perfume of grace. Here may arise some thoughts of our own imperfect response to grace. We have so often failed, and it may sometimes seem to us that our failure has marred the sweetness of the Divine ointment. And perhaps even now we are conscious of poverty of life in this respect. But this poverty of life, poverty of soul, which we recognise ourselves, is not of necessity a hindrance to the diffusion of the perfume of the Divine ointment, because that very 14 ‘VIA MYSTICA consciousness of poverty may be one part of the grace of humility. And so this thought is not to discourage us. The perfume that to-day seems so faint and poor may become full and sweet through increasing devotion. If there be on our part the holy desire and the loving endeavour to be more consistent in devotion, more wholly at one with the motions of love in the Sacred Heart of the Beloved, there will be an . increase of sweetness as the perfume of the Divine Presence is diffused by means of us. We may be unconscious of our part in this diffusion of sweetness, but that will not matter ; we shall not even care to know anything if only our Lord be glorified. “Thy Name is as ointment poured forth.” Here is the effect. The Name of the Beloved is made known. How are we to understand that term, the Name? We understand it, first of all, of His character of love and grace. Its sweet- ness is diffused as a Divine odour throughout the world. And there is no doubt that we owe a great deal more to this sacred diffusion than we ever know. We can hardly esti- mate the importance to any soul to live within reach of that Divine odour. Sometimes it is borne in upon us how important it is, when some earnest, struggling soul is set in the midst of great danger in the world, the social circle, the home-life, where there is no care or love for God. Then we feel how such an one might be benefited if she were placed in closer touch with that Divine Presence. But it is ever God’s way thus to diffuse the sweetness of His Name by means of solitary lives; there must be this kind of work as long as there is room in the world for wider diffusion of that odour. But whether it be the influence of one, or of many lives, the work goes on, and we are debtors one to another. May we not say that unconsciously we are assisted and sustained in our own devotion by the odour of sanctity around us. Is it not especially true of community life ? Tlow one helps another, how all together combine to make this power of the Presence of their Lord strong and consoling and uplifting in times of devotion! How true this is in fact, and how inspiring as a possibility. If we are convicted within ourselves of occasions when, in choir, or in work, CHAP» T.;-0,-38 15 we have not contributed to spiritual harmony, and so have checked the diffusion of the Divine odour, we can rise up to the holy purpose of God now that He inspires us with His Spirit. The acts and dispositions by which we prevent this sacred diffusion are in truth hindrances which we place in the way of the Beloved Himself. ‘They hinder the free acceptation of what He wills to impart to those round about Him. True love will always long to see others partaking of His sweetness. Follow our Lord through His life on earth. He went about from day to day and everywhere diffused that wondrous odour of sanctity! If ‘ the house was filled with the odour of the ointment ’’ when Mary anointed Him, was it not a symbol also of His Own inherent sweetness which, as perfume, pervaded the souls about Him ? What Jesus did in His Own Person He continues to do through the members of His mystical Body. The more closely the soul abides in Him, the more perfectly does she extend the influence of His Love. And so, as ointment, sweet and precious, His Name is poured forth. The world is the better, some hearts are cheered, soothed and taught to love. | If we consider the human Name of Jesus, we see it is filled with power through the graces of the Beloved. Just because that wondrous Name which has become precious to every heart that believes, stirs within the soul the very sweetness which He alone imparts, so some of the Saints have felt it, when the very mention of the Divine Name was enough to call forth from them the rapture of love. That Divine Name of our Lord quickens love, it is as oil to the flame which enkindles the soul. Again, it strengthens the soul, as often as it is recalled and pondered. S. Bernard says very beautifully : But the Name of Jesus is not only light; it is also nourishment. Do you not feel spiritually strengthened as often as you meditate upon it ? What enriches the mind of the thinker as does the Name of Jesus ? What so restores exhausted powers, strengthens the soul in all virtues, animates it to good and honourable conduct, fosters in it pure and pious dispositions ? Dry and tasteless is every kind of spiritual food, if this sweet oil be not poured into it ; and insipid, if it be not seasoned with this salt. A book, or writing, has no single point of goodness for me if 16 VIA MYSTICA I do not read therein the Name of Jesus; nor has a conference any interest for me unless the Name of Jesus be heard in it. As honey to the mouth, as melody in the ear, as a song of gladness to the heart, is the Name of Jesus. But it is also a medicine. Is any of you sad ? Let Jesus come into your heart, let His Name leap thence to your lips, and behold, when that blessed Name arises (as a sun) its light disperses the clouds of sadness and brings back serenity and peace. Is any falling into crime? Or even in his despair rushing upon death? Let him call upon that life-giving Name, does he not speedily begin to breathe again and revive? In the presence of that saving Name who has ever remained fast bound (as is the case with some of us) by hardness of heart, ignoble sloth, rancour of mind, or cold indifference ? Who has not known the fountain of his tears, which seemed dried up, to burst forth anew and with added abundance and sweetness at the calling upon the Name of Jesus ? Who, when in fear and trembling in the midst of dangers, has called upon that Name of power and has not found a calm assurance of safety, and his apprehensions at once driven away ? Where is the man who, when labouring under doubt and uncertainty, has not had the clear shining of faith restored to him by the influence of the Name of Jesus? Or who has not found new vigour and resolution given to him at the sound of that Name full of help, when he was dis- couraged by adversities, and almost ready to give way tothem ? Those are the diseases and ailments of the soul and for them this is the remedy.! What might and mystery, what grace, what unction there is then in that Name! “ Therefore do the virgins love Thee.” The self-forgetfulness of the Bride-soul is a condi- tion that makes for perfect love. The more self-surrendered and self-forgetting she is, the more does she perceive the beauty of the Beloved and rejoice in His exaltation. She loves because she perceives the beauty of the Beloved ; but more than that, she loves Him the more because He is Beloved. The very separateness of the Religious state makes for the absorption of the soul in love with her Lord. It makes for that intimate devotion, that absolute personal oneness in which the one is lost in the other. If that ex- pression seems too bold, consider a moment how, for instance, in the Blessed Sacrament we are taken into Christ and Christ into us, we dwell with Christ and Christ with us. Are we then going too far when we say that the soul which absolutely loves Him is lost to herself in Him, and He in the excess of His love for her is correspondingly lost in her? The verse + S, Bernard, Ser, xv. CHAP. Tr, *0: 4 liv’ is specially applicable to the single-hearted, separated ones, whose eyes are clear to behold the King, the Beloved, in His beauty. The joy of the Religious state is peculiar and special. The personal attachment to our Lord which won the soul in the first instance from the world is developed and strengthened as Divine union is understood and attained. So from the first to the last moment of consciousness in this world the soul should desire to grow, attain, and develop in that wondrous consciousness of being wholly His. The evidence and tokens of His love on every hand, the fullness and sweetness of the Divine Name filling the world, do but intensify her own devotion, so that more and more He is to her “‘ the Beloved.’ Not only can she say “ My Beloved,” but ‘‘ the Beloved.”’ There is no selfishness, and if the word may be allowed there is no jealousy, between the soul and Christ. She loves Him the more because all the world loves Him. ‘All the world shall worship Thee, sing of Thee and praise Thy Name.” From such an ideal it seems hard to turn to the imper- fections of our own souls, or the faults in lives around us. Yet it must be done. Why do we not love our Lord as perfectly, as absolutely as we should? Is it not that we do not always seek delight in Him? Is it not that we are too often insensible to the Divine perfume which tells of His nearnessand His grace? Isitnot that sometimes we close our eyes and ears, and seal our hearts from the evidence of His love in other souls? Is it not that we forget to praise Him for all that He is and so to encourage our own souls in love ? Is it not that we fail to understand how, by this diffusion of the richness and savour of His Own love, He would draw us in love to Himself? But this brings us to the next verse, which presents to us the Bride-soul in the eagerness of loving and seeking. Verse 4. ** Draw me, we will run after Thee.” Notice first the change in these words from the singular to the plural. The first is “ Draw me,” and then “ We will run after Thee.”” Now, in order to understand that verse fully, we must understand that, according to one interpretation, Cc 18 VIA MYSTICA ‘“‘the Bride” signifies the whole Church. And hence, accord- ing to the view taken by the Venerable Bede, “ the Church uses the singular form at first as denoting her unity— Draw me—and then the plural, because she is made up of many faithful, nay, of many ranks and degrees of the faithful, and so we will run after Thee.” 1 Of course we must respect this view and accept it so far as it is of any assistance to us ; . but as throughout these meditations we shall think of the Bride as the individual soul, we will not stay to consider that interpretation at any length. It is better to have for pur- poses of our own a straightforward and clear idea throughout. ‘* Draw me, we will run after Thee.”? We observe that the Septuagint and the Vulgate here add some words, and the whole sentence runs: ‘‘ Draw me after Thee, we will run for the odour of Thine ointments.” And nearly all, so far as I am aware, of the medieval writers accept that reading and comment accordingly. But it is not in the Hebrew; yet for all that, it is useful to us, because it links the thought of this verse so closely with the preceding. If for devotional purposes we accept this gloss, we see at once how the thought of the preceding verse is carried on and made the purpose of the soul’s progress and effort in the way of holiness as she follows her Beloved therein. The Bride is attracted by the perfume of Divine graces in the Beloved ; she perceives it in countless ways and in every direction. The more the soul is drawn in ways of devotion and virtue, the more marvellously does she perceive the sweetness of the Divine grace. It is an indication of the way in which we may expect the soul to become refined in all her sensibilities, as she advances in the way of life. Through every experience in the higher life the Divine perfume is wafted in upon her. And this is true not only in days and seasons of consolation, but quite as much in the seasons of tribulation. We might with some truth say that she perceives it more in the seasons of tribulation. We shall meet the thought later, when we shall be shown how the perfume is exhaled all the more wondrously in days of suffering and tribulation.? ‘ Littledale’s Commentary, p.16. * See notes on chap. iv. 16, CHAR It tur 4 19 This explains that tender insistence of the Divine Will in all our days of conflict when the flesh is weak. We have trembled sometimes and held back, just because we have felt that the Divine Will was, as it were, pressing on us a Divine claim ; we felt through all there was a showing of the Divine Presence, the manifestation of Divine grace, the manifesta- tion to the soul of something higher and holier than she had grasped or perceived. And yet through the weakness of the flesh we fell back. This explains again that Divine insistence from which we cannot escape when the will of God is quite plainly shown in opposition to our unwillingness ; when we find it hard to make complete surrender, or to face the thought of separation and detachment, and to respond to the unmistakable call to suffering. Through all these is there not ever a deep, serious fact from which we cannot escape ? He is calling, demanding, drawing, in the pure singleness of His love! Yes, and through all this experience He makes it quite clear to us wherein lies for us the pathway of safety and the path of sanctification. He never leaves us in doubt about the excellences of Divine graces. We can never plead that we do not know. We can plead our weakness, the ineffectiveness of our will, but never surely that wedo not know; because there it is clearly shown to us, and the soul inwardly perceives the sweetness of the Divine perfume alluring her to the better part. And this secret, alluring sweetness will continue to pervade our way, even in the midst of tribulation ; the cheering token of guiding love. And yet the lower will clings to that which is present ; the superior will all the time inclining to that which is reserved in the secrets of the Divine Life. We may be led through the darkening ways of the Cross : and they are very dark sometimes. The whole light of our soul’s happiness may be overcast, though it be noontide with us; but ever as the soul cries : Draw me, we will run to Thee, Day-star of Eternity, she finds He is leading her on, and in the end He will reveal 1 Father Hollings, 20 VIA MYSTICA the glory of His Face. He will reveal the greatness of His glory, He will show the full sweetness and delight of His Presence. And so, to quote an eminent Carthusian, the Bride-soul cries to the Beloved : Behold, O Heavenly Bridegroom, O sweetest Jesu, my spirit strives to cling faithfully unto Thee, to rest in Thee, to give itself up to Thee alone in loving contemplation, but a thousand hindrances draw me back, delay me, stop my way. My understanding is wavering, my reason weak, my will inclined to vain and evil things, sensuality drags me down, the needs of daily life keep me busy with earthly and tangible cares, the temptations of the senses beset me, the world and the hosts of evil spirits attack me on every side, and I walk in the midst of snares, in the thick of grievous perils, and besides, the weight of my sinful flesh depresses me. What then am I to do save fly to Thy most gracious help and with the deepest longing of my heart pray: Draw me after Thee, evermore hold, bedew, enlighten, aid and comfort my heart, for Thou hast said in Hosea the Prophet : ‘‘ I drew thee with the cords of a man, with the bands of love’; and in Jeremiah: ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love.”’ 4 So we are to perceive this drawing of the Beloved through the experiences of the higher life, and perceiving it we must pray the more “ Draw me.” It is not enough to be aware of the attraction, we must yield to it, in order to be drawn into the secret chambers of the King—that is, into the more perfect degrees of Divine union. “We will run after Thee.” This suggests the holy confidence which springs up according to the degree of faith and love in the Bride-soul. The idea is that of the Apostle: ‘* This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” ? That “ prize of the high calling ” is, with many spiritual writers, nothing else than a high degree of union to which God calls the soul in love. Or take the words of S. Peter, ‘looking for and hastening unto the coming of the day of God.” That may be the day of His perfect manifestation, either to the soul individually, or to the Church collectively ; but, however we take it, there is the idea of hastening unto * Dionysius Carthus. ? Phil. iii, 18-14. * 2 Peter iii. 12, R.V. CHAPS TL yu. 21 whatever it may be the Divine purpose to make manifest to us in His love. How alert and eager the Bride is! ** We will run after Thee!’’ But then she loves! There is at once the secret, the motive, the explanation of her eager- ness. After all, her eagerness is a result of conscious union with the Beloved, that is in desire and will, so far as is yet possible to her. It is not simply that she responds to the attraction of holiness through the beauties of the Divine Life that are presented to her; but rather that she is impelled to run after her Beloved because of the grace imparted to her. This we know, do we not, our own selves, after some special season of grace, when we feel God has imparted some fuller measure of His grace? How eager we are after some special uplifting in Communion! How we go through the day with an alertness that is the result of it! How much more free we are to run when we have tasted the sweetness of our Lord in some time of holy retirement, like a Retreat ! The running of the soul is evidenced by good works, and they are not of the soul alone. So S. John of the Cross says : ** Every inclination to good comes from God alone . . . but as to running, that is, good works, they proceed from God and the soul together, and it is therefore written, ‘ We will run,’ that is, both together, but not God nor the soul alone.”’ 1 The Saint frequently contemplates the Bride-soul thus in conjunction with her Lord in holy activities. All this, as a working together with God, is one of the most important elements of the higher life. The riches of the Divine Love stored, reserved for the Bride, are not given to one who has not love enough to co-operate with her Lord. We cannot come to the King’s chambers if we do not delight in the ways of His love. We shall prove this by experience. If we lovingly co-operate with our Lord, we shall find that He will reveal to us more of the hidden graces of the higher life ; while on the other hand, when our hearts are cold and we go through our duties merely perfunctorily, or we take up our rule and follow it only with cold indifference, with no love in our 1 Spiritual Canticle, xxx. 7. 22 VIA MYSTICA action, we shall find we shall never receive those higher revelations of love. We may fitly examine ourselves upon this point. Have we sought His love in the exercises of a holy life? Have we found Him in charity? Have we missed His choicest gifts because we have held ourselves away from the working of His love ? The Bride-soul should never live her life apart: she should know no moments, no hours, no duties, no demands, that are outside her relationship to her Lord. She should know nothing that is marked by mere outside, worldly thoughts. There should be no such thing as secularity, because in the Religious Life secularity of thought, choice, tone, lowers the spiritual ideal. Secularity separates from all that makes for the perfection of experience in the secret chambers of the King’s House. Those secret chambers are nothing more than this deep, personal experience of His love, which can only be attained with a quiet, determined love, which moves ever upon the plane of her Lord’s Own Will. ‘‘ Draw me, we will run after Thee.” Mark that Divine attraction through the details of life’s service. ‘* We will run after Thee” in eager devotion. Then shall we be ‘* satisfied with the plenteousness of Thy House.” ** The King hath brought me into His chambers.” Here we seem to be shown the purpose of the Divine attraction which we noticed in the earlier part of the verse. And as we here consider the words of the Bride, ‘“‘ The King hath brought me into His chambers,”” we must pause to notice that for the first time she uses the word and title “‘ King.” Various reasons have been put forward in explanation of the use by the Bride of the title “‘ King” in this place. One is this, that before she goes on, as later, to regard God in the nearer light of love as her Beloved, she speaks of Him as King, as though perceiving His essential glory and majesty. Though held by His sweetness, she is awed by His greatness. But we may venture to go deeper than that. In giving Him the title of King there is much more than her desire to ‘* ofory in His power and riches ”’ ; for that which establishes His claim of sovereignty over the soul is Love. Thus we may contemplate the Bride as using the title to express the truth CHAPS Tio. 4 23 of her willing submission to His love. Such a consideration magnifies Him to the soul and exalts her love, because it shows that from His side and from her own there is that dominating sense of a true love which holds her captive and makes her quick to own and accept the truth of His Kingship over her. We cannot be content until we know the Beloved in this Kingship of love. No lower conception of Him is consistent with the nobility of love which is the true glory of the soul. Nothing which does not make Him supreme can ever be consistent with the love we profess to our Lord. But how the world and other interests destroy that fineness of our love’s nobility unless there be the constant, habitual recogni- tion of the royalty of the Beloved. That thought is one which ought to take hold of us and reveal to us, it may be, wherein in the past we have not been as true to that Divine Kingship as we ought to have been. We have not, as it were, accepted the relationship of our soul to our Lord as one by means of which we are to be exalted in Him. And the higher we understand His exaltation, the more wondrously do we understand how by love to Him we are ourselves exalted. But the true conception is developed in the verse before us. ‘The King hath brought me into His chambers.’ Now the word “ chambers,” as it is used in that passage, has a very common meaning; the meaning is that of “ store- rooms ”’ in which are preserved treasures, properties, pro- visions. And this meaning has coloured most of the inter- pretations of the passage as far as it has been dealt with. They are scarcely, however, sufficient to satisfy an interior soul. I do not think it necessary to go into them, for they are very obvious. Leaving them, therefore, let us notice that the term implies a great deal that belongs to the soul’s inner, hidden life in God. We know how sensible we are to the fact that we are from time to time led into very obscure and secret ways of communion. We need not to have gone very far in our spiritual life and experience of our Lord’s love to know something of that. We feel ourselves being led apart, taken into states of devotion, or of conscious union 24 VIA MYSTICA with God, restful, inspiring, uplifting; or into states, or - conditions, which are still and wonderful in the deep con- sciousness of His love. We may not have gone very far in spiritual ways, nor have learned the deeper secrets of spiritual life; but, even so, we may venture to say “‘ The King hath brought me into His chambers,” for at every step it is His leading of love to which we respond, it is the love ~ of His Sacred Heart which delights us. Every chamber of the King is glorious ; if it be but the first and lowest degree of devotion, it is glorious. He will always lead us into that for which we are best prepared, and its glory will ever be the highest revelation of His love which we are capable of understanding. He will never let us rest upon any step lower than that to which His love has prepared us to ascend. It is His Will that we should mount up in obedience to the impulse of His love. In each “‘ chamber” we are prepared for another and higher one. Each may be in its degree of love so wonderful and blessed that for the time we could bear no more, since in each we are aware that our whole being is affected by the Divine Love. Well may we rejoice if this be granted to us. ‘‘O blessed chamber of God’s perfect Love!” cries S. Bernard in addressing his monks. ‘‘ Tf ever it should be your happy lot, any one of you, to be admitted for a little season into this Divine, mysterious sanctuary, give praise and say: ‘ The King hath brought me into His chamber.’ I do not say it need be the most secret, intimate of all. Still it is a chamber, the chamber of the King, less wonderful than restful, sweet, serene and tranquil.” At this point we pause. The deeper aspects of the soul’s communion with her Lord will claim our attention when we consider chapter ii. 4. It will be enough now if we are encouraged to look for the leading of our Lord and to follow Him into the inner sanctuary of His love as He will. With humility and reverent carefulness we must follow Him, answering to the call and the impulse of His love from day to day, rejoicing to know that He is Himself guiding us from step to step into the innermost sanctuary. ‘We will remember Thy love more than wine.” Here again, as in verse 2, when we considered ‘‘ Thy love is better CHAP. FE; vu. 4 25 than wine,” we are compelled to think of the companions of the Bride. ‘‘ The Virgins that be her fellows bear her company.” Following the thoughts given to us then, we see here the aspirations of consecrated, separated souls. While we are being led by the Beloved, we must likewise be true in the aspirations of love. This is required of all who realise their vocation. Being called we are bound to aspire to the fulfilment of our vocation, and our aspirations are not to be mere emotional acts, but rather the loving expressions of a steadfast will. ** We will remember.” It is a promise for the future on the part of those who have not yet attained a very high spiritual level, but who will not stand still while the glory of their vocation opens to eternal realities. The thought may bea particularly encouraging one. We are often led by some holy intuition, even when we are still open to some lower attraction, when we are not perfectly detached in spirit. And though there be in us the lingering love of some earthly thing, we can yet look upward—* We will remember Thy love more than wine,”’ Thy love more than any other love, Thy love more than any other sweetness which may come into our lives from whatever cause. How it seems to help us through all waiting and discipline of our lives! We see the natural movement of the loving soul as she goes from step to step in the way of holy detachment. Perhaps we may permit the thought that this expression of loving determination was called forth by the prospect of those chambers of the King. Just as we ourselves, looking ahead in our spiritual course, see a little of that life into which the Saints have been admitted, and beholding, say ‘‘ We will remember Thy love more than wine,”’ we will remember that to which the Saints have attained far more than any lingering thing of this world. We will remember and be patient and strong. How true it is to the life of an interior soul! Every advance into the light and joy of the Beloved makes the lesser things of the world become more and more remote and dim, like the receding shore to one on the broad ocean. Little by little they are lost in the cloud-land; they are b 26 VIA MYSTICA there, but they cease to hold our gaze. Yes, and as they pass from our sight, so they seek to hold our heart. Are we pained at times because of this? Do we try and cling too devotedly to this world as if it were too precious to leave ? We can do this in the ways of our progress into life, ** We will remember Thy love more than wine,” we will think — of Thy love, not of any passing sweetness in the soul’s life ; we will remember it in the days of discipline and of darkness ; we will remember and persevere till, in the inner sanctuary, we find all in the Beloved. “The upright love Thee.’ Righteousness, holiness, are the bases of true love for God. As the soul grows in holiness, so she advances in love. As she perceives what God is through the sympathy of increasing sanctity, so she loves that which is in God. Again, the word “upright”? may imply the erect soul, right in intention, though not perfect. And that I think suggests to us a more helpful thought. Every soul may be regarded as upright whose intention is true, whose determination is strong in the way of God, ‘looking up to their Creator, not bowed down to the creature.” That is spiritual uprightness or erectness, rightly understood. The thought conveys, in particular, the whole truth about the Religious Life, in which there should be the constant looking to the Creator, the soul being elevated above the worship of the creature. Therefore ‘‘ the upright love Thee.” The Religious loves God, and her love is to be explained in that way. She is upright, looking steadily to her Lord ; she is not held by the creature; her eyes cannot rest upon the earth, or anything that is stored in the earth; she must be ever gazing upwards, and the more upward her gaze the more upright and erect her soul becomes and the more she loves. ‘The upright love Thee,” for their eyes are ever fixed on the glory of Thy love. They cannot help it, for the light of the glory of God streaming upon them gradually enters into them. The fire of love which is of the Holy Ghost enters into them and transforms them into the perfect likeness of the Beloved. CHAP. I., v. 5 27 Verse 5. “Iam black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.” So much has been said and written in explanation of this verse as to make it almost bewildering. It seems sometimes as if there were too many meanings suggested for some of the passages. We shall follow only that which is consistent with our purpose. First, consider to whom the Bride is speaking— * Daughters of Jerusalem.” That depends upon what we think of the Bride. Do we think of her as an alien, or as being herself one of the daughters of Israel? If we think of her as one of the daughters of Israel, then she is simply addressing her equals, her countrywomen. If we take this view it suggests that among our equals we should be able to speak, when occasion requires it, without fear, or self-consciousness, or proud reserve, on spiritual matters. Often there is, unhappily, too much _ reserve between one Christian soul and another upon the matters which are dearest to the heart of either. We need not be so reticent as we are in speaking of holy things when we know that we shall be understood by a sympathetic soul. There is all the difference between speaking to one another in a right way, of holy things, and that reckless speaking which our Lord Himself so sternly condemns. But it has been inferred that the Bride is an alien, since she describes herself as ‘‘ black.”? Although this is rather forcing the meaning of the passage, we may notice it as indicating a spiritual duty towards even those who are hostile towards us. If we cannot behave towards such without reserve, we can at least witness faithfully to the reality and power of love. The Bride speaks to all in the humility and frankness of perfect love. She is all simplicity. She is conscious only of her Beloved. Her life and thought and devotion are centred in Him. She cannot even speak without tacit reference to Him. She is lost to herself and hidden in Him, and not for an instant is her thought with- drawn from Him. So in our own intercourse with all about us there should be that simplicity of holiness which is only 28 VIA MYSTICA possible while we are mindful of our relation to Him and offering the loving homage of interior devotion. “* I am black, but comely.”” Wemay be inclined to think with some that the Bride is contrasting her present with her past state; but this only brings about grammatical confusion. There is, however, a better explanation of the passage than any of these. The words describe the actual © and present state of the soul in both words, “‘ black, but comely.” They refer to the conditions of the higher life, and so, to quote 8S. Bernard : If we consider the exterior of those who are holy, how humble and abject it is, how vile and neglected in outward appearance ; and yet, at the very same time they are inwardly contemplating with unveiled faces the glory of the Lord, they are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord, does it not seem to you that each of these souls will be able to reply to those who would reproach him with blackness: ‘ I am black, but comely ”’ ? } And when we look simply to our own spiritual state, the words suggest to us how the simplicity and frankness of the Bride is to be seen in our common attitude, both towards those about us and to God. ‘There needs to be that perfectly open recognition, with all humility and all simplicity, of our imperfections on the one hand, and of the graces in us on the other. We ought not through false humility to seek to hide either graces or imperfections. If we meet every one of life’s experiences in the simplicity of pure love, we shall desire only the truth, because we shall seek to glorify not ourselves but God. We need this holy simplicity, for think how constantly we are reminded of our own imperfections ! There is not a day but some stain is seen, not a day but what some weakness is discovered, a fault remembered, or a mistake perceived ! How seldom can we reckon a day in which there has not been some unloving act or speech, some thoughtless, selfish act, or some awakening to the fact that we have hurt another, perhaps one very dear to us, Or there may be some revelation of interior faultiness, a consciousness of our own interior imperfection which we can only understand between ourselves and God. And the 1 Ser. xxv. CHALLE 0. a 29 temptation is to lose heart because of all that we are or perceive ourselves to be. The temptation is to magnify the ill, to imagine that all is black and unlovely, all is dark and uncomely. ‘The temptation is to lose ourselves in contempla- tion of our own humiliation ; we are humbled as we come to know our own imperfection, and then we go on morbidly contemplating that imperfection and lose ourselves in self- pity of our misery. But is there not another side? We are black, there is no denying it, but we are not wholly so. When we persist in asserting our own imperfections and looking only upon our own blackness, we really are dishonouring our Lord, acting unworthily towards the Beloved. We cannot be wholly black while the light of Divine Love rests upon us. Some- Where, some spot of our being is being enlightened by that wondrous Light of love, and that is not black. Again, we cannot be wholly dark and black while Love ever burns in our hearts. It may be only a tiny spark or a flickering flame, _ but there it is, and if it be but the faintest of gleams the blackness is relieved. We cannot be wholly black while the Faith is intact, because the Faith is the outcome of the Divine Light. Nor, again, while graces are given, for they beautify the soul. Nor, again, while the Sacraments are efficacious, because they renew the life of the soul. There cannot be darkness and blackness where these things are, and we possess them in some degree. We are black, but comely. There is that part of the soul’s true life in which she is comely—not to herself perhaps, not in her own sight, but comely to Him, to the very measure of the grace which is from Him. And He sees that—He sees that growing likeness to Himself, which is never un- comely ; He sees how it is triumphing over the darkness of sin. He sees it and rejoices, for is not the comeliness of the Bride-soul the very harmony of His perfections which He is impressing upon her? We know it is that, so once more we may say with S. Bernard that it is a condition of the higher life for the soul to say: “ Iam black, but comely.”’ And the two must be seen in us: the blackness is the influence of the world which is passing away ; the comeliness 30 VIA MYSTICA is the effect of grace growing to perfection. The two are there, but the one is receding, the other is increasing, and so we fear not to meet the truth about ourselves. ** As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.”? These terms seem to stand, as it were, over against those we have now been considering: they are on parallel lines. And so they bring out a truth for the soul’s encouragement in the - higher life. The blackness is not for ever—only the comeliness of the Bride-soul is eternal. This is shown by the mention of tents ; a tent is not an abiding thing: it isa movable habitation, a sign of a pilgrimage—a sign, it may be, of fighting, of warfare. And so we take it that the blackness belongs to the pilgrim life, belongs to that transient condition of the soul. The end of the pilgrimage is stability and peace. To the Psalmist “the tents of Kedar ”’ seem to have suggested only trouble : ‘“‘ Woe is me, that Iam constrained to dwell with Mesech: and to have my habitation among the tents of Kedar.” ! He felt that painfulness of the pilgrim way, and longed for the end. The black or dark tents of goat’s-hair cloth seem to suggest the temporary character of the sinful state. Is it too much to assume here a reference to the scapegoat and the removal of sin ? ** The curtains of Solomon.” ‘Two meanings seem to com- bine in this phrase. First, of the present, as taken with the thought of the tents of Kedar, the verse tells us of the hard- ness and repulsion of the higher Christian life as it appears to the world—rough, sombre, and uncomely—whereas those who are within see around them, not the black goat’s hair of the tent of warfare, but the purple, gemmed and golden tapestry of the Prince of Peace, into Whose chambers of the celestial life they have entered. Then it speaks of the future; because, as we saw, the comeliness of the Bride is eternal, so this state of glory and of peace belongs likewise to Eternity. If, looking round in the present, we see at all the glory of the Beloved in the chambers to which He conducts us here, how much more may we not hope for in the day of perfect revelation! Even while we 1 Ps, exx. 4, * Littledale, p. 20, GUAR It, ve. 31 are lingering in tents, as it were, we know that the Beloved leads souls into the chambers of holier revelations and we shall rejoice in them. If we can have so much in the transient conditions of life, how much more will it be when that life is finished to enter into the perfect revelation! There seems a special meaning in the term “curtains of Solomon ”’ as opposed to the “‘ tents of Kedar.’’ They seem to imply the chambers of royal state, fit emblems of the Eternal Glory which is established in peace, taking the thought from the name of Solomon. As we contemplate first the black tents and then the royal curtains, there comes a thought to en- courage us: if we are compassed as yet with the one, we are preparing for the other. In the love which binds us to the Beloved we have in this present time that in which He rejoices ; His love shines on us even in our wanderings, and in its glow we begin to understand His glory and His peace. If in the days of old the Israelites in their tents and wander- ings sometimes looked from their own dark habitations to the more finished curtains of the Tabernacle, how they must have felt that there was something before them to be gained ! How again, as they entered the Promised Land and left all, must they not have been lifted still further forward till the glory of Solomon’s reign revealed to them something of the reign of the Prince of Peace. So may we find in our own simple attitude of life that we need not be ashamed to own ourselves black yet comely, knowing that the one departs, while the other expands into the light and glory of the Kingdom of Peace. Verse 6. “‘ Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me.”’ In meditating upon these words, it will be well, once more, to pass over some of the explanations which have been offered, and confine our attention to that which is most direct and simple and at the same time in closest agreement with what we have previously noticed in connection with the verse: ‘“‘I am black, but comely.” And we cannot do better than follow one of S. Bernard’s comments, which agrees with an earlier note by S. Gregory. They agree that 32 VIA MYSTICA the Sun is nothing else than the Divine Love, and the black- ness of the soul is the result of that Divine inflowing. What that is we must try and explain and understand for ourselves. The Bride has just said of herself, “‘I am black, but comely,”” and we have seen in those words a recognition (1) of her own unworthiness and faultiness, and (2) of her inward sense of Divine grace. She was black in respect to ~ the one, comely in respect to the other. This twofold consciousness in which she cannot for an instant forget her Beloved will guide us to the meaning of the words before us: ‘‘ Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me.” Naturally the thought of the one passes into the other. If she is clinging to the thought of her Beloved in the one, she will do so in the other. Our understanding of the passage is assisted when we remember the connection with the previous verse. The Bride is black but comely ; she is black because the sun has looked upon her—that is, her sense of unworthiness, her abjection, is the result of that gift of His love which has shone upon her—she thinks that all must see her as she imagines herself to be. She thinks the testimony of her own conscience, the fear which lurks within herself because of her imperfections, is reflected in the look, the tone, the words, the attitude, of those about her. She sees in those about her only that which seems to condemn her, and this is quite true to spiritual facts and experience. Anyone making true progress in the higher life will become aware of imperfec- tions which others do not expect, and will protest, ‘‘ You do not know me as [I really am.” This is ever the way of the Saints. S. Teresa, in particular, was constantly proclaiming her own imperfections, though her companions saw nothing but her increasing sanctity. Sometimes this follows upon a time of particular illumi- nation, as we ourselves may have known it: to-day to be uplifted, illumined, enlightened, to-morrow only the know- ledge of our own darkness and imperfection of soul. Or we may look back upon a time of special uplifting gladness in ~ the Divine Love—and a revulsion of feeling follows because we perceive our own faultiness. Or it may be the result of CHAP. I., v..6 33 some anxious movement of love, as the soul seeks humbly to become more like the Beloved. And this is the best way. We are not to wait for special times of enlightenment and uplifting; we have to pursue the more even way of obedience and the exercise of charity ; and in that way we are led to very much the same experiences as others who are subject to particular influences. At such times, or under such conditions, the soul is very sensitive and feels with pain every cold and unsympathetic movement towards herself from those round about her. If she is not very careful she falls into the danger of over-scrupulousness or painful self-consciousness. Indeed she is very liable to be misunderstood, for very few are quick to discern the truth beneath the outward form and manner. They judge by what looks to them like eccentricity or overcarefulness, or by that which seems to them a little difficult to understand and to bear with. And yet beneath it all there is often found the inward struggle of the soul that is only conscious of imperfection, only longing in the strength of a true love to overcome the difficulty and to become more what her Lord would have her be—she is really looking for sympathy, and finds none. ‘* Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me.” The soul herself needs to remember in all things the truth about herself, otherwise she may drift into a dangerous state of discouragement. She needs to understand the ways of the Spirit in dealing with her soul. Her very pain is an appeal to the Divine sympathy which, when experienced, turns the suffering into a joyful experience of His transforming love. But the question may arise here, is all this exceptional, or does it come to all who seek to lead an interior life? The answer is, that no one is exempt from the ordinary ways of purgation. There must be consciousness of imperfection where there is the desire for purity. And this is felt less keenly in earlier than in later days. It is as we grow in the knowledge of Divine Love that we perceive the evil of self- love. It is when we long most for inward pureness that we feel how sorely ‘‘ we are let and hindered ”’ by all that we D 34 VIA MYSTICA perceive in ourselves, by those tendencies to sin, which seem like so many roots of evil, which defy all our power to uproot. It is therefore but a natural experience of the pain of purifi- cation : when the sense of our imperfection is quickened as our knowledge of love increases. All purification is painful in the spiritual life, and may be compared to the pain of - burning, since it is caused by the fire of the Divine Love. And because it is the working of Divine Love, we need to be strictly on our guard against every inducement to self-contemplation. Rather should we give ourselves to exercises of love. There are times when it is difficult to see anything but our imperfections; and the enemy always seeks to encourage us in dull, or morbid, self-contemplation. At such times it is well to realise as definitely as we can that God desires nothing so much as our sanctification, and that we need but abandon ourselves to His Will in order to escape from impatience and depression. And how glorious is that Will of God! How it compels our admiration and quickens our love! How it reproves our slackness and awakens us to new desires! Then if we will yield ourselves to the leading of His love, responding in acts of love and fervent aspirations, we shall rejoice for the pain which is so richly fruitful of love. Therefore, recognising the Divine Will, let us lovingly and intelligently exercise ourselves in all ways corresponding to His purpose, rather than forfeit His grace through self- pity. If we can do it, it is well to view our own imperfections as indications of that wondrous Love which reveals only in order to remove them. When God leads us to the knowledge of our imperfections, it is clearly His Will to remove them if we will humbly co-operate with Him in penitent love, while each experience of His renewing grace will deepen our knowledge of His loving purpose in our lives. But further, we have a duty also towards others whom we may see oppressed with the sense of their own failure and imperfections. We have to meet them with quiet sympathy and bright encouragement. Those about us who are suffer- ing in spiritual ways do not look for pity, but for sympathy ; they need the help and support of those who in their own (GES Poe 6 35 pain have found the peace of the Sacred Heart, and know the secret of Divine Love. It should be our joy to meet them with the simplicity and brightness of our Lord’s love in us, to raise every other soul and encourage them to look with confidence into the Face of the Beloved. Perhaps we can prove this best after our Communions, when His light and grace in us are freshest. ‘* Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me.” The light of the Divine Love which so illumines the soul will also purify. It is Light and it is Fire. It will make the soul all clear, all pure; it will transform it into itself. This Divine action of love is pene- trating and relentless, but at .the same time inexpressibly sweet and gentle. The Saints have loved to dwell upon it. S. John of the Cross explains it in his own beautiful way. The first action of material fire on fuel is to dry it, to expel from it all water and all moisture. It blackens it at once and soils it, and drying it by little and little, makes it light and consumes all its foulness and blackness which are contrary to itself. Finally, having heated and set on fire its outward surface, it transforms the whole into itself, and makes it beautiful as itself. The fuel under these conditions retains neither active nor passive qualities of its own, except bulk and weight, and assumes all the properties and acts of fire. It becomes dry, being dry it glows, and glowing, burns ; luminous, it gives light, and burns more quickly than before. All this is the property and effect of fire. It is in this way we have to reason about the Divine fire of contemplative love, which before it unites with and transforms the soul into itself, purges away allits contrary qualities. It expels its impurities, blackens it and obscures it, and thus its condition is apparently worse than it was before. For while the Divine purgation is removing all the evil and vicious humours which, because so deeply rooted and settled in the soul, were neither seen nor felt, but now, in order to their expulsion and annihi- lation, are rendered clearly visible in the dim light of the Divine con- templation, the soul—though not worse in itself, nor in the sight of God—seeing at last what it never saw before, looks upon itself not only as unworthy of His regard, but even as a loathsome object and that God does loathe it. By this comparison we shall be able to understand much that I have said and purpose to say. In the first place we can see how that very light, and that loving knowledge which unites the soul and transforms it into itself, is the same which purifies and prepares it: for the fire that transforms the fuel and incorporates it with itself is the very same which also at the first prepared it for that end. 1 Dark Night, x. 1 2, 36 VIA MYSTICA Thus may we understand the interior action of Divine Love. Conscious of her own blackness, of imperfection, the soul recognises the love, the light of God which, while revealing it, is yet changing it into the purity of the living flame of love. “My Mother’s children were angry with me ; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” The experiences of interior souls are characterised by a certain uniformity. Notwithstanding our apparent differ- ences, we are subject to the same spiritual laws. Weseem, indeed, to ourselves to stand very much alone, until we come to see more deeply into the spiritual experiences of our neigh- bour, or until we look into the lives of the Saints, or have appreciated the Catholic fullness of the Holy Scriptures. Then we understand that in every age souls strive and suffer in the same way and for the same ends. The words of Holy Scripture, the spiritual history of the Saints, are continually arresting us with the reflection of our own experiences. What we imagine as the unread secret of our hearts is told us in a sentence or two, wherein the Holy Ghost has, as it were, crystallised some thoughts born of a soul’s deep agony or joy. In the unity of spiritual truth and common experience, Holy Scripture will abide as the Word of Life—God’s Word, God’s Truth. The pages of the Song of Songs are as mirrors to the spiritually minded. In them we are constantly con- fronted by something which we know in ourselves. ‘My Mother's children were angry with me ; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.’’ Ina general way these words are true of all spiritual people. We know how the strictness of holy lives is regarded by others whose devotion is less real. There is sometimes a feeling of anger and unnecessary resentment against those who put us to shame by their faithfulness. Sometimes we even indulge the sin of envy against others whose spiritual advantages appear to exceed our own. We can even be jealous of another’s state before God. By so doing we but harden our own hearts against grace and shut out the possibility of spiritual advancement. Oh, how carefully we should seek to exercise true charity towards CHAP: I., v0: 6 837 all in whom we see the evidences of grace and sanctity ! True charity rejoices in the holiness of others, while it urges the soul forward in loving personal effort. Envy and jealousy in spiritual things is a sin which returns upon the head of anyone who indulges it. ‘‘ My Mother’s children were angry with me ; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”” How this reminds us of the Beloved Himself, how He came to His own and they received Him not, how He became “a very scorn of men and the outcast of the people.” Or, again, “I am become a stranger to my brethren, even an alien unto my mother’s children.” Or, again, “ Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me and made me to be abhorred of them.” ‘“‘I am so fast in prison that I cannot get forth.”’ So was He, and the Bride-soul enters by the same experience into the deep knowledge of His love. May we not say that the pain which followed upon our Lord’s Vocation is most clearly marked in order that the soul may understand that to be persecuted and called to suffer is no sign of untrue vocation, but rather the sign that it is real? That in so far as she is made like her Lord, she may rejoice that her vocation is true. One who has not the courage to face this may well begin to doubt her vocation. ‘** They made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.”” This may be taken first of all as one action of the Bride’s kindred in ridding themselves of her by making her to be engrossed with work which was not properly her own, but more properly, we may suppose, theirs. Her presence in sanctity was offensive to them, and they made her keeper of the vineyards, to engross her with work and rid themselves of her. Of course, this was to the in- terruption of her spiritual life, of that communion with the Beloved for which she sought. The Bride’s experience is that of many within the Church. Devout souls are left to work as they will for the poor, ignorant, destitute outcast and criminal, while the less earnest go their way in close conformity to the world’s life. Christian work, corporal and spiritual works of mercy are too often left to be undertaken by a few, while others who should share the duty content 38 VIA MYSTICA themselves with some easy way of giving, and so escape the actual responsibility of work. But this unfairness inflicts great suffering upon the few who spend themselves in the care of souls for love of God. These earnest souls in their zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, in their pity for the destitute and sympathy with the ignorant, are often so wearied in themselves that their own souls are sometimes neglected, starved. They keep the vineyards of other souls while their own they keep not. They have no time for that quiet communion with God which so favours the advance of their souls in ways which lead to the refine- ments of spiritual life. They have no time to enter into the fullness of the meaning of the graces of the higher life, and if they have not a great love in their souls they suffer in this way. Some brave souls do rise in love above even such conditions ; but the danger is great for those who are not far enough advanced in spiritual knowledge to be able to under- stand the difficulty, and to meet it with wisdom. If work for God is to be well done, the life of prayer must be maintained and opportunities for devotion secured to the worker. And so I plead for those who could say of themselves with such truthfulness, “* They made me the keeper of ‘the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept. 7 There is also a more general warning to be taken from the words of the Bride. We need to watch against the danger of becoming absorbed in favourite occupations, or self-imposed works, to the interruption of spiritual duties. Religious are protected to a great extent by their Rule, but secular persons often feel both the danger itself and the difficulty of avoiding it. But whatever our state, there is always the need of great care and watchfulness. We should indeed be most careful on this point. The enemy will not be slow to magnify the im- portance of even trivial things, if only he can draw us away from prayer and the really serious concerns of the spiritual life. How easily a rule can be broken ; how easily a prayer can be put off; how simple it seems to excuse neglect or delay! The temptations are very real, while the occasions are often trifling; and we yield because we can convince ourselves that it is only a small matter, or that it will not CRAP les isu, 39 happen again. But we find to our sorrow that these trifles multiply as we go on. And as they multiply they assume to us a greater importance, and in time we come to regard them as necessary. ‘** They made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” We go beyond this and make our own suffermg. We make ourselves keepers of other vineyards and neglect our own. We are called to serve the Beloved in ways that make for eternal gladness in Him. Let us take care, then, lest we waste our days in empty, purposeless things, which, while they have no lasting fruit in themselves, leave the vineyard of our souls, the garden that should be full of beauty, bare and dry, with nothing to offer to the Beloved. Keeping the vineyard! Think of all this involves of care and diligence, watchfulness, training, secret cleansing, the removal of every hindrance, the keeping of rule rightly, simply, in order to perfect fruitfulness. We are not all called to our state to produce merely some fruit, and to be content with that; we are called to produce the utmost that we can, for the glory of God. Of course, we shall meet with many difficulties, the greatest of which will be those of the inner life ; but there is nothing that will not yield to resolute love. It is love which enables us to keep our Rule of Life; love that teaches the value of times and opportunities ; love which makes the whole life a prayer ; love through which we are sanctified; love that finds its expression through obedience, doing all for the glory of the Beloved. Every hour which we spend outside our vineyard checks its fruitfulness—that is, every hour spent without care of our souls, takes from the abundant fruitfulness which the Beloved desires in us and for which He waits in the patience of His love. Verse 7. * Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon : for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy companions ?”’ “Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth.”’ Let us note here the reverence which holy souls ever show in speaking 40 VIA MYSTICA to God. If at times we find expressions in the writings of the Saints which in our own prayers would seem forced, or unreal, we have but to consider the speaker and we shall find how truly reverent they were even in the words which seem to us almost over-bold. We might take, for instance, such words as we know Blessed Angela would use, or S. Gertrude, or S. Teresa, or any of those great loving souls whose words remain with us; and if we tried to use them in our own prayers we should probably turn away, feeling conscious of unreality in our prayer. We hesitate to adopt words and expressions which go beyond our own feeling at the moment. But if we consider such words of the Saints in relation to the witness of their lives, of their intense love, of their strong faith, of their dauntlessness and courage, at once we feel that there is between the perfection of their character and the prayers they offer nothing but the consistency: of sincerity and truth. There is a certain fitness in the words which they employ, and so we have to accept them as examples of high devotion to be followed, according to the dictates of reverent love. When uttered by our half-trained lips they seem unreal, but it was far otherwise as they welled up from the hearts of the Saints. They prayed in the liberty of love. It is better in general to use sober words in our devotional acts and exercises, both as being better suited to our im- perfect attainments, and also as being less likely to be followed by weariness of spirit and distaste for simple prayer. There will be occasions of joy when the uplifted soul may give utterance to love-inspired words; but these cannot be forced, nor are they perfected in souls which are not trained and prepared by mortification and discipline in the ways of pure love. We may be no strangers to such movements of impassioned devotion; but for that reason we know we cannot, it may be, to-day use the expressions which yesterday seemed all too poor to release the pent-up fire of our love. To-day our love is moving us in a different way; it is not with eager, burning words that we come to our Lord, but with some holier desire for interior purifica- tion. ‘The same love inspires them both. We must therefore seek to use words of prayer which are CHAP. L, v. 7 41 always expressive of the degrees of love to which we have attained, or to the immediate inspiration of love. If we are always sober in our choice of language, always deeply reverent, we shall never err. In the Song of Songs we are led to see the place and use of almost every form of devout expression, and we may mark the carefulness of the Bride as she expresses her love through her great reverence. This is clearly indicated in the passage we are considering. She has not yet ventured to speak to her Beloved as one who has the right to use a familiar title ; she says, ‘‘O Thou Whom my soul loveth.’”? There is an approach to the familiarity of love, but at the same time there is a guarded reverence. A Saint has left this beautiful comment : So I call Thee, for Thy Name surpasseth all thought and under- standing, nor could all creation reach so high as to express or compre- hend it. Thy Name then, that by which Thy goodness is known, is the affection of my soul to Thee, for how should I not love Thee, Who so lovedst me, even when I was so black, as to lay down Thy life for Thy sheep which Thou feedest. For greater love than this cannot enter into thought, that Thou boughtest my salvation with Thine Own life.t We need, then, most of all to seek that our words of devotion be always the heart’s homage of reverent love— love which we feel is both deep and sacred, love which cannot bear too great exposure. Love we will rather invite Him to regard than try to express for ourselves. “Tell me. . . where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon?” This is a twofold request.? The Bride, in her deep desire of reverent love, asks first concerning that evening rest of the Saints, of which it is written: “‘ The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them.’ She contemplates that eternal rest and longs to know it. ‘‘ Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon ?”? How many are the souls who long for that evening rest of the Saints! But how careful we need to be in all our contemplations, in all the eagerness of our longing desire ! 1 Littledale’s Commentary, p. 25: S. Greg. Nyss. Hom. IT. * Cf. Neale, Ser. iv. on the Song of Songs. 42 ~ VIA MYSTICA We need to be most lovingly patient. Before we can know the joy of that evening we must be prepared by discipline and much interior suffering. Without these we should be incapable of understanding the deep pleasure and sweetness of the eternal rest. And yet, if we truly love, we cannot wholly resist the longing for it. Let us indeed give due place to that feeling © of our souls; but let us do so only that we may attain to that which is even better than the “ desire to depart.”” We must know both the sweetness and the pain of that desire before we can offer it all in love to the Sacred Heart, and be so purified in will as to want nothing but the Will of the Beloved. The desire itself is a sign of growing love; and when the soul has attained to greater purity there will come a new desire, not destroying the old, but embracing and enclosing it within that which is henceforth its sole joy— the merging of every desire in the Will of God. We must, then, desire it if we love, and there is both spiritual joy and solace in all right contemplation of our future with the Beloved. We want to know it and, unless we rightly contemplate it, we cannot know what it is for us hereafter. We should seek herein the right exercise of the intuitive faculty. Love will lead us far into the under- standing of eternal things, and of our relation to them. So we may contemplate sometimes what it is to the soul to have attained to that eventide rest with the Beloved, and find encouragement to bear yet the burden of the flesh. How ardently S. Paul desired it! He had a desire to depart and to be with Christ, and yet how patiently he waited ! S. Teresa and others with her have desired it, and yet have waited with a patience so truly wonderful as to hide their longing beneath the action of heroic love in giving them- selves wholly to the sufferings of the present. S. Teresa in her great love could pray ‘“‘ to suffer or to die.” She had travelled so far in love that she was prepared for either at the bidding of her Lord. Another Saint, almost surpassing S. Teresa in her love, could pray, ‘‘ Give me suffering,” so great was her desire to honour the Beloved in self- forgetfulness, It is glorious for the Saint to die, but the CHAR Era 43 greatest have ever realised that the present holds for the loving soul a privilege which death must cancel. But if, impatient, thou let slip thy cross, Thou wilt not find it in this world again, Nor in another ; here, and here alone, Is given thee to suffer for God’s sake.1 And so with the Bride, every brave soul will pass on to the second request: “Tell me... where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon?” She not only desires the eventide rest, but she asks, ‘‘ Where makest Thou Thy flock to rest at noon?” Noon. That is the present life with its heat and glare, its toil and weariness, its painfulness and hardship. And yet the Bride speaks of resting at noon. The idea, of course, is taken from the custom in Eastern lands of resting in the heat and glare of noon when nothing else can be done. But we must go a step further than that—the Bride uses the expression in another sense. How wondrously she has proved the secrets of the spiritual life! Rest in this noon- tide is possible. Rest in the hurry and work and heat and toil of this present life is possible. Not rest merely in the eventide when all the toil is over, but rest for the soul in the midst of it all. But it is rest which He, the Beloved, causes. ‘* Tell me, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon?” Itisrestin Him; and this may be the experience of the soul in all the days of her toil and weariness, when in the heat of the day life seems barely supportable. It is rest with the Beloved, rest beneath His shadow: the shadow of the great Rock. This rest is assured to us so long as we ‘‘ abide in Him,” in active union and recollection. It is rest which is enjoyed even while we are toiling and suffering ; for it is rest with the Beloved in the interior peace of His Sacred Heart. And the joy of that rest will cheer the soul till eventide. The flock that rests at noon with Him will be with Him when the sun goes down, ready to follow as He leads to the pastures of the Blessed. So that just as we know the shepherd would have with him in the evening those who had rested with him at noonday, so the Beloved will lead to the 1 Mrs, Hamilton King, The Disciples. 44, VIA MYSTICA pastures of the Blessed hereafter those who have been with Him in the heat and glare of the world’s day. This resting leads us naturally to some thoughts about prayer. As prayer consecrates the whole work and duty of life—as life itself becomes a simple, but complete, act of devotion, we experience rest. We enjoy the pure refresh- | ment of the Divine Love. Even our highest acts of prayer and loving aspiration are blessed to us; they attract to us those touches which speak of the nearness of the Beloved— those gentle movements towards the soul which, like summer breezes, bear the sweetness of heavenly things. The habit of prayer both supports the soul in the day of calamity, and also keeps the soul restful under trial. Everyone must have experience of trouble, or distress, or calamity in some form ; only they who are habitually prayerful can expect peace. It is recorded of S. Ignatius Loyola that one day, when speaking on this very subject, he said he could imagine no greater calamity for himself than the breaking-up of the Society which he had founded, but he hoped and believed that one quarter of an hour of mental prayer would suffice to restore his peace of soul! How many of us could say as much of ourselves ? How many of us could face the thought of the greatest possible calamity to ourselves, and know that so short a time would suffice to restore our peace of soul? And yet this refreshment of which we are speaking, in the noonday with the Beloved, ought to be just that daily experience of the power of His love to restore our peace of soul in the midst of all pain and calamity. We dare not be over-confident ; but we should prepare for great trials by keeping restfully with our Lord in every moment of work or suffering. ** Why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of Thy companions ?”? There is no thought here of leaving the flock of the Beloved for any of His companions, for where His companions are there He is in the midst of them. The question is, Why should I be the only one that turns aside ? The Bride asks to know not only of the eternal refreshment and rest, but of the immediate and present resting in the Beloved, for she says, ‘‘ Why should I be as one that turneth CLA Ry rpms AS aside by the flocks of Thy companions ?”’ ‘There is strength in all holy companionship, such strength and confidence and mutual support as should be found in a religious Com- munity; or, in a wider sense, in the society of the faithful. ‘“Companions of the Beloved!’ What higher title can anyone have than that ? When it pleases Him to advance any soul to the degree of spiritual marriage, that one en- joys a distinction which is wholly personal; the Bride of Christ will for very love take the humblest place among the “companions.” The thought of individualism, which is likely enough to be only selfish isolation, is absent. Rather may we note the recognition of mutual confidence and love through which each and all are kept in security and united in the Heart of the Beloved. Verse 8. “* If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” The Bride has described herself as ‘‘ black,’? but then also as “‘ comely ”’ in the beauty of Divine grace. In herself nothing, she sees herself glorified in the love of her Beloved. Just as every soul advancing rightly in the way of sanctifi- cation realises within herself the glory of the love which is being infused. The truly loving soul will not be wholly ignorant of that which is passing within her. She will not boast of it, but will rather rejoice, in deep humility for her Lord’s sake. This is the way of the Saints. Now for the first time the Beloved speaks to the Bride, Himself recognising her beauty. ‘‘O thou fairest among women.” The Bride-soul is very fair in His eyes, and we might think it enough to be in one sentence assured of a favour so high that she should be so spoken of. But if our love be true, we shall not be so easily satisfied. It is of the nature of true love to seek to know the grounds of its own happiness; and so we ask with reverent love, Why is she so fair in the eyes of the Beloved, seeing she is not yet perfect ? How can He look upon an imperfect soul and say, ‘**O thou fairest among women”? The answer isto be found 46 VIA MYSTICA in this truth, viz. God regards the soul as arrayed in the glory of His Own eternal purpose. She is not perfect, but she has the promise of perfection ; the graces which clothe her are lovely with the promise of her perfect beauty. It is ever the way of God so to regard souls, not only as they are, but as they are becoming through His grace. A familiar | expression of this truth is to be found in the words of S. Paul, who speaks of Christians as ‘ Saints,” or “called to be Saints.’ It is not because they are already perfect, but because they are called to holiness, and are the subjects of sanctifying grace. And so the words of the Beloved, ‘“*O thou fairest among women,” express not only her present beauty, but also that to which she is destined in the glory of His Own eternal purpose of love. And, moreover, there appears to be a more direct reason why the Beloved should thus in a word recognise her beauty. The Bride has reached a point of spiritual experience at which she needs to be encouraged. She has asked in her weariness of the present and her longing for the future, ‘‘ Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon?’ And He replies, “If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” This reply is an example of those deep interior movements of God’s love which are so wonderful in reproof and correction, just because they are so infinitely tender in love and sympathy. He speaks in words which must only draw the soul nearer, stimulate her and encourage her in faith. ‘ O thou fairest among women.”’ Such words coming from God must indeed stimulate and encourage ! The words of God are always effectual—they produce or cause that which they declare. What dignity, what glory, will invest a soul to whom God so speaks! Very humble should we be, as we dare to take these words as applied to any single soul, and yet how devoutly thankful we should be for them ! How encouraged we ought to be in treading the way of life, difficult as we find it to be! How it should encourage us in all ways of mortification, of discipline, and of penance ! “O thou fairest among women.” God Himself regards the CLP ets ie § AT soul in the light of His eternal love, we must thereby be encouraged in all ways of purification. But then comes the first touch of reproof: ‘“‘ If thou know not.”? What marvellous tenderness! His love is all- expectant. He would have the soul of herself recognise the worth of her own past experiences. He knows her, knows her love—and He trusts her. She has had so many proofs and experiences of the very rest for which she is asking—she knows already and has only to be true to her own experience of His love. The very thing she is asking for, if she looks into herself and examines her experience, she finds. Her question betrays an imperfect knowledge both of her Lord and of His love. Is not this exactly what we are all inclined to do? We cry in our pain, our weariness, our longing, asking to know where to rest with the Beloved, where He gives the refreshment of His love; and lo! itis at hand, itis within! There is no need to look far away for it—-there is no reason to go beyond the confines of our own spiritual experience. The sanctuary where His Presence is revealed is not far off; we have but to perfect the grace given, enter more into communion, and rest more in our prayer. “ If thou know not, O thou fairest among women.” Hearing His word the soul must confess her mistake and humbly surrender herself to His guidance, while she submits to His reproof ; He will disclose the meaning of past experiences of His love and give yet further consolations. His very reproof is in love, and given in order that we may learn how we ought to regard and treasure the fruit of every experience. But now there is more. ‘If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds’ tents.” S. Bernard sees in this a sharp reproof, nothing less than the casting forth of the soul from the state of loving contempla- tion, and for her faults to be sent away from Him and to spend her powers in earthly things. The Saint takes a severe view of the passage, which we ought not wholly to disregard, for doubtless we need to remember the danger of that state to which spiritual sloth would lead us. It is spiritual sloth that makes the soul to fail in prayer, 48 VIA MYSTICA Communion, and meditation, and so to lose the sense of all that the Beloved gives. More souls fall from grace through the failure of interior effort than anything else, and the end of such slothfulness is loss of spiritual power and a falling back from the state to which we were called. The sharp warning which we may read in the Saint’s words must not be despised - for its severity. The state to which we have been called may be easily lost if we fail in interior steadfastness of love, and incline to that which is easy rather than aspire to that which is perfect. But beyond this warning given by S. Bernard there is surely an interpretation more in keeping with the note of loving encouragement which we noticed earlier. “Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.” This seems to suggest to the Bride that if she has failed hitherto to see and know all that He intended to show her, if her experiences have been in vain, let her be humble and follow in lowliness and meekness the footsteps of His Own. Let her with all humility mark the footsteps of the Saints, His dearly-loved ones, and from them learn how she is to follow. The mention of the “kids” implies the presence in the Bride-soul of desires, thoughts, feelings, which need to be controlled and ruled. The shepherds’ tents may signify the temporal state and government of the Church to which the soul is to submit in order to grow in the knowledge of the Beloved. This implies that the soul is not really thrust away, but is first of all bidden to see and understand her own experiences ; and if by so doing she cannot wholly understand, then she is with all humility to follow in the footsteps of the Saints. And may we not add, that the soul who has heard the Voice of the Beloved will accept the discipline ? Nothing is hard if it comes from Him, nothing is difficult if His love call us to the doing of it. We may regard the verse as a strong word of encourage- ment and of tenderest sympathy. But, like many another word of Divine Wisdom, its burden of love is understood best by one who loves, to whom even the severity of the Beloved is sweet in the revelation of that pureness of love to which the Bride-soul must ever aspire. CHAP: Ls. uv. 9 49 Verse 9. ‘‘ I have compared thee, O My love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.”’ The Fathers have said a good deal about these verses, but their remarks are not quite in accordance with the line we have followed hitherto, so I do not propose to draw much fromthem. These verses contain a further recognition by the Beloved of the graces and endowments of the Bride-soul. She has been ignorant of her own beauty and strength, and almost fainting under the sense of life’s burden—fainting, it would seem, in a way that would not have been so natural or so possible if she had been quite mindful of what she really was in the sight of the Beloved. She is now to be encouraged to look fearlessly into the ways of her life and understand her mission. She is to be encouraged by being shown something of her own spiritual dignity, and the supernatural graces with which she has been endowed. I have compared thee, O My love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.’’ He Who sees the soul in her true greatness thus speaks. He sees her life, marks her courage, and by a bold comparison shows what her life is to be. There is something strikingly noble suggested here; there is a nobility of bearing and action; there is even a certain nobility of independence, but at the same time there is also submission and obedience. We are thus enabled to perceive the graces of the Bride in their relative degrees and expressions. It is a truly beautiful comparison. If, in the chariots of Pharaoh, a reference is made to the powers of the world, then by the comparison we are shown the exceeding power of a soul on the side of God. If, there- fore, we see in the chariots and horses of Egypt a representa- tion of the forward movement of the world’s powers, so by comparison we are shown what may become the dignity and activity of the soul in the sight of God on the spiritual side. That the Beloved should employ such a comparison at all is no proof that the soul’s glory in His graces is fully described. We are not to suppose when He says, “‘ I have compared thee, O My love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots,” that therefore He is using a comparison E 50 VIA MYSTICA which exhausts the truth respecting the Bride-soul. That could not be. The earthly figure is suggestive of much that is dignified, noble, and real; but the soul’s glory is as much greater than that with which it is compared, as the spiritual world is greater than the material, the heavenly than the earthly. So it is simply a comparison in kind, not in degree, — There could be no comparison in degree. We may take these three points in the comparison— Nobility, Submission, and Obedience. (1) Nobility. We cannot perfectly realise the nobility of a soul, just because we cannot perfectly realise what God is in His perfections ; but the beauty and perfection of the soul correspond in a wonderful way to those of God. This we understand of the soul created in the image of God. All that we can imagine of perfection in sanctity is completed in likeness to God. So this nobility of soul which we are to recognise, even in ourselves, is altogether beyond delineation, just because we cannot estimate aright, or completely, the glory of God. And is it spiritual pride to recognise this ? I venture to say No. Rather it should help us to take our proper place in God’s kingdom. It ought not to be pride in the soul to recognise her own greatness, just because that greatness is the gift of God. She must recognise it because she wants to take her place according to the Will of God. It is no contra- diction of the virtue of humility for the soul to know that in the sight of God she is to be dignified in order to take her place aright in His service. We ought with deep humility to recognise every grace which God Himself attributes to the soul, while remembering that of ourselves we are nothing. To be forward in asserting anything of ourselves is sufficient proof that we have it not. The soul is never more noble than when with true humility she realises her- self in God. (2) Submission. Now there could not be sub- mission, in the true sense of the word, if the soul did not understand her own spiritual greatness, and so submission comes to be the proper attitude of the Bride-soul. With all her consciousness of spiritual endowment she is yet to be submissive. Entire submission to the Beloved becomes an act of most perfect love. She recognises no control, no CHAP. I., v. 10 51 claim, but His. The virtue of submission is an exceedingly beautiful one when the soul knows her own greatness, and for very love of the Beloved submits herself wholly to Him. It is the greatest proof that can be given of holy, trustful love; but as an act most joyful, because most complete, it is reached only in the state of highest union ; nevertheless, the joy is experienced in ever-increasing measure as the soul seeks to understand the Heart of the Beloved in order to submit herself to Him wholly and without reserve. (3) Obedience. This is another most beautiful proof of love. In obedience the soul, because of her love, recognises the supremacy of the Divine Will as the law of her being. She obeys because the Will of God is to her only sweetness and blessedness. Each act of obedience is an act of worship— ‘I worship Thee, sweet Will of God ’—and in that act she attains to liberty. The soul that really loves denies her own will, mortifies her self-love and self-will, only to find that the bond which seems to be implied by obedience is infinitely greater freedom than ever could have been her own way, her own will. Oh, how much we lose when we seek by all means to compass our own will! How we bind ourselves with fetters of pride as often as we take our own way and despise even the rules under which we live! Nobility, submission, obedience. The really noble soul will both submit and obey in love, and will become only the more noble in so doing, and also more loving in herself and more dear to the Beloved. Verse 10, ‘ Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold.” This may be taken as further declaring the spiritual adornment of the Bride-soul. Every grace adds something to that beauty in which the Beloved rejoices. The jewels, which are of various kinds, are symbols of supernatural graces. Every several grace is itself a jewel, the chains of gold are the habits and actions of love by which the soul is both adorned and bound. It has been said of these jewels, that they are all twined and bound together by humility.! 1 Littledale’s Commentary, p. 36. 52 VIA MYSTICA Much of the spiritual endowment of souls is of necessity hidden from themselves, the very twining of humility seems to hide away a great deal of the beauty of the jewels, their real value is hardly seen. But by our Lord it is never for- gotten—the jewels are His, not ours; they are to be kept for Him, they are to be worn for Him, both here and there. — It is but a daring assumption of self-love when we pride ourselves upon any grace, or gift, which we may imagine that we possess. When the Beloved bestows His gifts He does not cease to be their true Owner. If we would but take them always as jewels belonging to the Beloved, to be guarded, watched over, kept, worn for Him that He may be honoured thereby, we should find in the possession of them a most happy incentive to love and adoration. In these verses we hear the Beloved recounting to the Bride-soul the treasures with which He has Himself endowed her, while yet she is not allowed to forget that she holds them only as from Him. And so it is with the Saints in glory; they recognise all that is in themselves, and yet they own that it is all His, not theirs. Thus the Elders are seen casting their crowns before the Throne in order that He may be glorified. ‘The dominion and the glory are given to the Beloved for ever. Verse 11. ‘‘We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” “We.” The first question to be answered, if possible, is, “‘ Who is the speaker of these words?’ There is a change from the singular to the plural. Following an early Jewish tradition, we might say that the plural suggests ‘“‘ the Blessed Trinity.”’ There is a truth in that interpreta- tion, but it does not seem to answer all the requirements of the passage. Again, if we adopt S. Bernard’s view, we may suppose the words to be spoken by the companions of the Bride. There is one strong objection to that interpreta- tion—it entirely breaks up the sequence of that which has been running through the ninth and tenth verses; and this verse, rightly taken, seems to indicate the utterance 1 Rev. iv. 9,10; v. 12, 14. CEA Pai, ara! 53 of the Beloved Himself. I suggest a more independent thought. It seems to indicate the joint work of the Beloved and the Bride, while magnifying His love towards her. It is the Beloved Who speaks; but He says, “ We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver,”’ because He is speaking of that which will be accomplished by both together. And undoubtedly that interpretation is perfectly true to the requirements of spiritual teaching in its higher degrees ; and I think we there find the promise to the Bride herself, not only of that which is to be realised in the present, but continuously and increasingly it is to be hers as she grows into the life of union. 3 ‘** Borders of gold ’—borders, chains, necklets, so the word has been variously translated. Following the Vulgate, it is necklet. S. Bernard uses the word “ chains’’; our English version says ‘‘ borders.”’ It implies a special and particular adornment of the Bride over and above those things which have been men- tioned before, and so it continues the thought of the previous verses and completes them. Gold must be understood to mean Love. S. Bernard says it denotes ‘“‘ the splendour of Divinity.” But love is the very essence of that splendour, since love is the essential quality of the Divine Love. Silver must be understood to mean Faith. Studs of silver may be taken to denote either the several articles of the Christian Faith which the soul uses in the building up of her life, or the multiplied acts of faith which she offers to God.1 ** We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” Think what it is to the soul perfectly to realise the fact of love as between herself and the Beloved. It is all His gift, and yet in the understanding of it, and in the fashioning of her experience in it, she knows that her own action and efforts have not been lost sight of. What she feels and under- stands is, through the infinite tenderness of the Beloved, the proof of His joy in her because of all that she has attained to through His grace. A great deal might be said here of the interior joy of a soul in whom is this realisation of love ; but 1 Cf. S. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, xii, 3. 54 VIA MYSTICA to say it at all adequately one would need the knowledge of that which must ever be the secret of the soul’s life with the Beloved. If we might know the secret experiences of the Saints, and the hidden ways of love in the hearts of those about us, it would be possible to speak of that wondrous interior joy. But the word of the Saints has ever been ‘My secret to myself”’!; and the more its sweetness per- vades our own spirit the less capable shall we feel when we seek to declare it. Itis the “ secret of the Lord ”’ within the soul He has made His Own in the love of a surpassing vocation. But besides this there is a further joy in the Beloved. With all that wondrous sense of love’s secrecy there is the consciousness that the soul’s own gift is taken up into the wholeness of the perfect realisation in which she rejoices with Him. There is a real communion in the secret which they mutually guard, Now this is the result of loving contemplation rising from point to point as the soul herself grows in love and finds in the Beloved ever fresh beauty and glory which constrain her to adore, and inspire her to sacrifice. The Beloved Himself, and through the ministry of the Angels, guides the soul in all her intuitions of Divine things and so makes exceeding rich her realisation of love. It is a possession and not a mere feeling, in the Beloved. We have already understood that the “* studs of silver ”’ imply the Articles of the Faith, or the acts of faith which we offer to God. Now we may learn something more about them. It is when the soul has been raised to some high degree of prayer that she is directly assisted by the dogmas of her holy religion. She comes forth from her state of rapture only to find how wondrously He has illumined her under- standing of some great mystery. And, generally speaking, the mystery with regard to which the soul is illumined has to do with the Incarnation, or some deep mystery of the Divine Life. Thus it may be the simple fact of the Incarnation, or it may be the doctrine of the Blessed Sacrament, or of the Holy Trinity, which is made interiorly plain to her. She beholds them in their right relation to the 1 Cf. S. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, xiv. 24. CEASE eel te vel 55 essential love of God. She is strengthened within herself both in love and faith; and she can but respond again in renewed acts of faith as she knows the truth to be her own, She feels within herself that her faith is enriched by love, that her love is strengthened by her faith, the silver is set in the gold. Love is greatest, but faith has its place and is glorified by that in which it is held. There is the ornament of gold glorifying the Bride-soul; and there are the studs of silver. S. Bernard has some beautiful words ; he says: These things are wholly Divine and are known only to those who have had experience of them; they alone know how, while yet in this mortal body, while yet in the state of faith, while the real substance of Light perspicuous and lucid is not yet made manifest, it may neverthe- less come about that contemplation of the pure truth may sometimes already mark out within us the outline of its form, at least in part, so that he from among us who is so happy as to have received that Gift from on high, may say with the Apostle: ‘‘ Now I know in part,” and again, ‘‘ now we know in part and we prophesy in part.”” But when the spirit, coming forth as it were out of itself and rapt in ecstasy, beholds somewhat more of the Divine and sacred Truth which flashes before its vision with the rapidity of lightning, then, either in order to temper the exceeding brilliance of a light too penetrating to be endured or to render us capable of communicating the substance of it to others, forthwith, I know not whence, there present themselves to our imagina- tion images and figures of lower (that is earthly) things, to which the truths revealed from above are accommodated, which veil in a certain sense that most pure and splendid ray of truth, and render it more supportable by the mind, and more able to be communicated to others.! There is much in this passage which we may endorse, and especially we may say that in all matters of the Faith there is just that accommodation to the earthly environment of the soul which makes them supportable. There is needed for our support in the matters of faith just that glorifying of love which will make us able to penetrate the depths of the Faith. So we may take these words, “* We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver,” and understand that we must look for, wait for, ask for the action of our Lord with ourselves in love. This should properly enter into our daily devotions. Through prayer and Communion we are to be daily renewed in all that can assist love and make 1 Ser. xli. 56 VIA MYSTICA it in beauty and perfection worthy of that Divine tenderness of the Beloved whereby He takes us to share with Him the joyful purpose of His Own Heart, saying to us, “ We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” Such is to be our experience. The silver and the gold are held together, both are precious, since both are from God. They . are together in this life as love and faith. Hereafter only the gold will remain. The gold of purest love will be the glory of the Bride for Eternity.t Verse 12. “ While the King sitteth at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.” Throughout this canticle we are again and again reminded of the place or the House, of the Banquet or Feast; or it is some circumstance connected with the Feast that is mentioned. And the reason is quite evident. The meeting of the soul with the Beloved and all the delights which flow from that holy association cannot be described save under different aspects. We know in ourselves that we cannot in one sentence and at one time declare all that we know through experience of the love of our Lord. So wonderful are these experiences that the Bride returns to them with some frequency. Thus in the fourth, seventh, and twelfth verses of this first chapter the Bride refers to something connected with the Feast. Again we shall find it in chapter i. 4. “While the King sitteth at His table.” The sitting of the King may refer to the Incarnation of the Son of God. That seems to be the most general view of the Fathers. They see in it the meeting of the Son of God with human nature in the Incarnation, and thence they refer to Him coming to the soul in particular. All the lowliness of Jesus in His Incarnation is emphasised in His coming to the soul. But it is through that lowliness of the Beloved that the Bride attains to the joy of true communion. True com- munion between the human soul and God would not be possible if there were not some special provision made for their meeting ; if God had not prepared the way through 1 Cf. S. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, xxx. CHAP. I., v.12 57 His Own condescension and love. Hence the soul is exalted by being loved of God, while in lowliness He stoops to man. The Incarnation of the Son of God expresses both. And further, all that the Incarnation declares is apprehended as we approach the Blessed Sacrament. In the Holy Eucharist our Lord is present, fulfilling to His Own the wondrous purposes of His Incarnation; and this He does in incon- ceivable lowliness. Could we find, or imagine, anything more wondrously lowly than the Coming and Presence of the Beloved in the Blessed Sacrament! Could there be any possible accommodation to human frailty and unworthiness more lowly than that? Then think how royal He is in His love! He has no need to consider Himself; so royal is He that, in the Feast of His love, He seems to regard only the need of the Bride. All His care seems to be to draw forth her love and every expression of true devotion of which she is capable. Do we wonder at that? Is it strange to us that our Lord should seem to forget Himself in His desire to win the soul’s love and quicken her devotion ? It is not strange ; rather is it His Own royal way of develop- ing her power to give love in order that she may be capable of receiving more love. He glorifies her, to make her more lovable in His Own sight, that He may enrich her the more. It is this hiding of His power which is so wonderful ; the unloving perceive it not: their Communions are empty and poor. The loving do perceive it, and the inward joy of their souls is expressed to Him in the tenderness of renewed devotion, so that His purpose is attained. He manifests His love, He enriches the soul, in order that in strength and purity her devotion may be offered for the sole delight of His Sacred Heart. This will become more evident to us as the desire of His Heart when we seek in prayer and Com- munion not ourselves but Him. The great and wonderful longing of the Sacred Heart is not disclosed to any who will not forsake themselves in loving Him. “*While the King sitteth at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.” The first thought is that of Communion. Clear and true is the thought given to us, and holy souls have always felt that in the mention of the 58 VIA MYSTICA Feast, under any aspect of the spiritual life, we are dealing with the most natural way of proving and exchanging affection and devotion. And then it is communion with the Beloved, not with one who is a stranger, but with one who has made Himself—we may even dare to say—familiar to the soul. In all His kingliness, in all His royalty of | love, He is yet familiar to us. And more, this communion with Him must not be of a merely transient nature, it must be a sustained communion. There will be, of course, special occasions of particular realisation, as when we make our Communions, or when we come into some wonderful experiences in meditation and prayer; but we must en- deavour to remain as far as possible recollected, honouring our Lord by interior acts of love and adoration. Recollec- tion will lead to sustained communion. It is communion in which the soul will have experience of His love, not in one way, but in many ways. Aye, in all the ways in which our own life, our own troubles, our own joys, our own diffi- culties, or successes make possible to Him. And again, the soul enters into deeper knowledge of Him through love. There is no knowledge which can be compared to the know- ledge attained through love. In the loving soul there is developed an intuitive perception through which she becomes more and more acquainted with the realities, the treasures, the richness of our Lord’s life. And such communion is necessary if the Bride-soul is to know her Beloved lovingly and truly. But we know how often this is not secured. We are too hurried in our prayers to be able to secure the fruit of loving devotion. We do not stay long enough to realise anything of our Lord, and the result is that when we leave our prayer there is no savour in our souls. We do not fight down the listless moods, nor persevere when prayer is profitless ; we do not go on, content to be with our Lord. Some who ought even to be accounted spiritual persons are so wanting in the appreciation of lengthened devotion as to offer positive discouragement to others who would seek it. We cannot, any one of us, measure the necessities of another soul; but we ought to be wise enough, generous enough, charitable enough, to CHA P26 5 tu. 12 59 perceive when it is anxiously pursuing a spiritual course and seeking the Beloved, and not hinder it. We should be checked in such want of charity by our own love for Him. There are many, especially, who have not gone very far in spiritual ways, who really need the opportunity for longer prayer, and to deny them, or to hinder them, is indeed to do them an unkindness, a disservice. And if our want of charity proceed not from want of thought, but from jealousy, and envy of another’s good, no word of condemnation could be too strong. The fruit of such unloving conduct will be bitter indeed, Oh, this crowding of life till prayer becomes hurried and pressed into a corner, as it were! How can souls know the benefit and joy of Communion! And yet there are many who through no fault of their own have little time apart for prayer. Some of these are in the highway to the goal of the Saints. The Beloved has ways of compensation for all such souls, and marvellous is their progress through all difficulties. Such heroic souls attain to great things in the spiritual life ; while others with more favourable opportunities make little progress because, through carelessness, laxity, and want of love, they hurry their prayers, or crowd their lives till there is no time for lengthened prayer. We need to be as restful and as recollected as possible in prayer and Communion, in order that we may understand the inner ways of the Divine Love. It seems sometimes that God tries the patience of His children, tests their love, by withholding the richer manifestations of His love, until they have shown themselves eager, earnest, and persevering; until for very love they say with Jacob of old, ‘‘ I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.”’ Patient, persevering prayer is essential to a life of holiness ; without it there can be neither the spirit nor the achievements of sanctity. We have but to mark how the Saints have won through prayer. And above all, we have the example of the Beloved Himself; how constant He was in prayer, and how careful to secure the time for His Apostles that they might rest in prayer: ‘‘ Come ye, your- selves, apart and rest awhile.” We cannot be independent 60 VIA MYSTICA of that which He made the very chiefest concern of daily life. “My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.’ The fragrance of pure devotion cannot be given forth when communion is not sustained. ‘‘ Good,” exclaims S. Bernard, ““is that odour of humility which ascending from the vale | of tears, and impregnating all the regions round about, perfumes with grateful sweetness the royal chamber itself.” * And that this sweetness may be rightly diffused, we should bear in mind the great importance of calm restfulness in prayer. If we seek lovingly to sustain the habit of prayer and to be generous of the time which we set apart for it, we quickly perceive how our carefulness is repaid. God Himself perfects the soul in the very graces which prepare her to receive His communications. In the Presence of the Beloved, alone with Him in secret communings, we understand our- selves, while our hearts expand to Him—meekness, lowliness, and humility attain in His holy Presence to an even holier sweetness ; holy aspirations rise lovingly from the soul that is growing in humility. How can we fail to grow in that grace while our one thought is the Beloved and how with all our being we can but glorify Him in self-forgetfulness ! And this humility takes to itself all motions of penitence— not merely penitence for known transgressions, but that which we feel in conscious unworthiness in the Presence of our Lord Who accepts the unspoken sorrow of our hearts. So while in the Presence of her Lord, feeling His love, thrilling beneath His touch, the soul’s own love goes out to Him in all the pure richness of hidden graces. The whole royal chamber, which is the inner sanctuary of the soul, is pervaded by a rich fragrance which His coming has drawn forth. How joyful is thus the inner consciousness of the soul as she gives her best in secret for the Beloved ! But we hinder ourselves from attaining to this joy of pure love as often as we give the first thought to ourselves, and to the sweetness we expect from our prayers. If we love truly, our highest delight is to give all to the Beloved, and to surround Him with the songs of love in the inner sanctuary a Ser GHA Retlpavre ls 61 of our souls. We think too little of the fact that He takes pleasure in us, and therefore we lose the purest joy of prayer. If we remembered this more, we should seek more lovingly to grow in those graces which please Him. Such, in varying degrees of devotion, we may know for ourselves in times of meditation. But most of all after Communion, or when before the Holy Sacrament we can realise what it is to possess Him alone. It is safe to say that our Lord Himself seeks to draw us into this more perfect communion. Are there not occasions when the beauty of sustained communion is made plain to us? How easy it is for us, for instance in Retreat ; and how difficult afterwards when the world has rushed in upon our souls once more, when we begin to feel the power of distractions! Yet how often the after failure is through our own fault. The soul’s feast with the Beloved need not be so interrupted as we too often permit it to be. Oh, as we love Him, and understand His love to us, what a marvel it is that we can endure to leave His Presence! And yet more to be wondered at is the poorness of love which can be so insensible of His Presence that we can permit ourselves in thought to leave Him, and even to welcome the intrusion of worldly or selfish considera- tions. True, there are all the claims of active duties, and in performing them we are only too likely to lose the joyful sense of being with Him. But He Who is our refreshment in seasons of rest is also our joy in all our activity; and we are to find the joy of devotion sustained in our hours of work. How can we show our consciousness of His Presence in the ways of work and duty and temptation? By the same means as we prove the effect of His Presence in Com- munion : “‘ My spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.”’ Are the graces of holy humility, of meekness, gentleness, charity, giving forth their fragrance ? Are we so inwardly recollected that the perfume of these graces is ever given forth to Him as that in which He may take pleasure ? This is to be desired. Love will teach us to sustain our offering through all seasons ; and the Beloved will not permit us to continue long without proof of His delight to encourage us to yet holier devotion, 62 VIA MYSTICA Verse 18. “ A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me ; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” The myrrh of this verse is generally understood to refer to the Passion of our Lord. And indeed no other reference is possible, S. Bernard, addressing his monks, says : You also, if you are wise, will imitate the wisdom of the Bride ; you will not allow that bundle of myrrh which you hold so dear, and which is the fellowship you have with the sufferings of your Master, to be torn away from your heart, even for an hour ; you will retain always in your memory all the bitter pains which He bore for you, and medi- tate upon them continually, so that you too may say with the Bride ; ‘* A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” } This verse reveals the growing love of the Bride-soul. It is love which develops in tenderness as it becomes strong in reverence. In the previous verse the Bride speaks of the Beloved as ‘“‘ the King ’’—‘“‘ while the King sitteth at His table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof ”’; and at once she says, “A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” Now, taking these as indications of spiritual development, the two verses are not to be taken as merely conjoined ejacula- tions ; the second is most distinctly an outgrowth from the first. Whereas in the first the mention of the King implies the reverent awe of the Bride, so the second, where she speaks of Him as her “‘ Well-Beloved,”’ implies that she has grown into the knowledge of His love—that is, into the knowledge of Himself through meditation and Communion. And now after that time of contemplation and Communion in which she has realised the intimacy of love in prayer, and through the experiences of her own spirit, she employs a new form of speech, a new expression, which, apart from experience of Communion, would be impossible: ‘“‘ My Well-Beloved.” No soul can employ such words of her Lord unless she has grown into the knowledge of Him through the very closest association in meditation and prayer. We notice this same development of devotional thought and expression in the words of the Saints, and sometimes in 1 Ser. xiii. CHAP. I., v. 13 63 the prayers of the Church. And it would be unfair to con- demn any language of devotion as being over-bold before considering the deep reverence out of which it invariably springs. Exception is sometimes taken to the way in which familiar terms of love are employed throughout the Song of Songs ; but the difficulty is removed when we perceive how much the soul understands through the clear insight of pure devo- tion. In this verse we see how reverence may spring to affection and justify an expression of ecstatic love. It is the Passion that is spoken of, but the Passion under- stood in love—in the sympathy of suffermg; the Passion understood in that wordless, voiceless sympathy in which the soul realises the unmeasured capacity of the Sacred Heart. The Passion is to be taken as here including or admitting all that our Lord suffered, the whole pain of His earthly life, all of which the soul remembers in meditation. Our Lord’s Passion sums up the whole experience of His life, and there- fore S. Bernard tells us how we may rightly include the sufferings of His whole life when considering His Passion : As regards myself, I, brethren, from the beginning of my con- version, set myself, in place of all the merits in which I knew that I was wanting, to bind up this little bundle of myrrh for my individual needs, collected from all the cares and bitter experiences of my Lord, and to keep it always close upon my breast ; in the first place of the privations of His infant years ; then of the labours He underwent in preaching, His fatigues in journeying to and fro, His watchings in prayer, His fastings and temptations, His tears of compassion, the snares laid for Him in discourse ; and lastly of His perils among false brethren, of insults, spittings, blows, abuse, scorn, piercing by nails, and other such things which He suffered for the salvation of our race, which in the Gospel history, as in a wood, may abundantly be gathered. And among so many branches of that fragrant myrrh, I think that cannot be passed over, of which He tasted when upon the Cross, nor that where- with He was embalmed in the sepulchre. In the first of these He applied to Himself the bitterness of my sins, in the second He pro- nounced the future incorruption of my body. As long as I live I will proclaim loudly the abundance of the graces which come from these ; I will never forget those mercies since it is by them that I have been restored to life. ‘‘ A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me ; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” 4 1 Ser. xliii. 64 VIA MYSTICA S. Bernard, in this application of the Passion to himself, prepares us for the beauty of the thought underlying the words ‘“‘ unto me.’ In them is expressed the deep realisa- tion of our Lord’s love, His pains, and their worth. The experience is wholly spiritual and wondrously beautiful, notwithstanding the pain through which we may attain to it. But before we can know it, there is needed on our part love simple and pure, in which the suffering of the higher life is accepted as the very condition of the most perfect knowledge, most tender sympathy. The sufferings of the Beloved, while they show His love, pass also to the soul herself, as channels for the infusion of His love. And as we prove it we shall say with the Bride in ever-deepening love, ‘‘ A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me.” This is indeed an experience common to the Saints, but so simple, so single-hearted is the Bride, that she knows nothing beyond her immediate joy in the Beloved—* unto me.’ Whatever He may be to other souls, He is that to me! There is a degree of spiritual life in which we are simply aware of what He is to us, regardless of all the world beside. There must be that holy individuality of relationship with Him, otherwise we could not know Him in that wondrously intimate sense which the Bride here speaks of: “‘ A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.”? We must notice how closely He must be embraced, if the effects of His most sacred Passion are to be found in us. As myrrh communicates its own fragrance, so does He communicate the virtues of His Passion to those who, as Julian of Norwich would say, ‘are oned to Him in love.” The result is the transformation of the soul into His likeness. But notice, it is not a super- ficial resemblance, but a substantial change within the soul herself. We need not marvel at that; the power of Divine Love is such that, when infused into the soul, it transforms it into His likeness and thus the soul becomes Christ-like. We may then consider what are the sufferings of the higher life as they are felt by us, each for ourselves. There is the pain of contrition, advancing, deepening. There is the pain of detachment, becoming more and more spiritual as the CHAP al gu.a13 65 life goes on. There is the pain of continued mortification, which seems to be so necessary that not even to the last hour of our life can we be wholly free from it. There is again the pain of sacrifice renewed from time to time in the life. There is, above all, the pain of love as the soul advances in the ways of union. We realise through all these a close and tender association with the Beloved in His suffering. Our own pain admits us to the secret agony of His love for us, while His tender sympathy makes the experience too precious to be forgotten. While we endure in union with Him, suffering only the more courageously as we repose upon His Heart, He imparts to us the fragrance of the myrrh of His Own Passion. We may take all the necessary pains of life and treasure every one; yea, bind them together with the strong band of love that they may be indeed to us a “‘ bundle of myrrh.”’ We are to hold this close, until we find more and deeper love for His Passion, till we find through the experience of our own souls inwardly, something of that indestructible fragrance of the myrrh of His Passion. ** A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me.”’ Then the Bride says, ‘‘ He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.’’ What is the meaning of the words “ all night”’ ? The night of this present life. Most truly it is a night in which we are but longing for the day. We cannot help feeling how dull and heavy and dark this life tends to become to us who are struggling in the ways of the higher life. Yes, notwithstanding the joy and glory of Divine Love around us, there is a sense of surrounding darkness, and we get intensely weary of it sometimes. But we are taught that even this darkness has its uses; the whole course of the higher life is a progress through the dark night of purgation through which the soul is guided to perfection of union. It is through all these hours of night that we are to keep that bundle of myrrh held closely. We are longing for the day, but through all our passionate yearning our souls must remember that all their experience of the love of Christ, through the Cross, is needful if we would be ready for the morning. After the night comes the day, and we are to be ready for it. We can only be ready for the Resurrection if we have been partakers F 66 VIA MYSTICA of the sufferings and death of Christ. ‘‘ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His Resurrection.” The long night, dark as it may be, has its consolation and peace. There is a suggestion of not only a lifelong com- munion and participation in the Passion, but also a certain peace, stillness, quietude, within all the facts of pain and distress ; and this is ours to know in very truth. The whole idea is to be realised not in a violent movement of soul, but in restful contemplation of the Passion and in restful realisation of our own participation in the Cross of the Beloved. And again, if we so earnestly desire the Day of the Lord, does not He desire it with us? If we are waiting through the long night, does not He anticipate the day ? If we clasp the bundle of myrrh and treasure every thought of His Passion, does not He regard our devotion? Does He not come to us to be thus closely held by us? And does - He not bid us wait for that day ? Did He not in the day > of His Passion desire it? Let us be patient in our love, knowing that when we are entering the realities of His Death, through our own love of mortification, we are ever near to Him in His love. But no shades of gloom should spoil our devotion ; rather are we to try and enter into the glad hopefulness of our Lord’s love. He comes to impart that hopefulness through the very fragrance of love which comes from the contemplation of the Passion. ‘‘ A bundle of myrrh is my Well-Beloved unto me; He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” Verse 14. “* My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedt.” When the soul has learned to value and practise mortifica- tion, and to regard suffering as itself a means to the under- standing of the Divine Love, she is prepared for a further step in the way of the higher life. She has made it possible for herself to understand the deeper and fuller revelation of the Divine Love. Just as our Lord’s Own Risen Life springs from the pain of the Cross, so the higher graces of the spiritual life are developed by those ways of discipline by which we CHAP. I., v.14 67 are made partakers of His sufferings. If we have proved His love through our pain, we shall rejoice the more as that same love is shown to us in the glow and warmth of higher spiritual experiences. The history of any advancing soul should bear out that truth. The higher experiences of faithful souls most generally follow the right use of pain and discipline. If the higher graces are to be permanent, they must be prepared for in mortification. This fourteenth verse guides us in the way of that higher understanding and experience of the love of our Lord. If the thirteenth verse speaks to us of the Passion of Jesus, this fourteenth verse speaks of His Resurrection, and so the Fathers and others generally explain this passage. We must notice first that which is simply a verbal difficulty. ** A cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.”” Now the camphire is, according to the Revised Version, and also according to the best writers, to be understood as a particular flower or plant of the East, the henna, bearing a sweet- scented, golden-red flower. But S. Bernard and others understand the word to mean a cluster of grapes, and not flowers. But the difference probably arises from some confusion in the ancient rendering of the Hebrew. “* My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.”” We have already remarked upon the force of the words “‘ unto me.”’ We saw in them the evidence of close communion and loving insight ; the sense of personal relation to the Beloved is so supreme that the soul for the time being is lost to all consideration of lower concerns. Other souls may have the same experience, but she knows nothing and thinks nothing about them; she is lost in the single experience of devoted love to her Lord. The repetition of the words in this verse impresses the equally personal sense attaching to the higher teaching which follows. ** My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire in the vineyards of En-gedi.”’ This presents to us the living beauty of the Lord’s Risen Life. The golden red of the flowers suggests the burning love of the Redeemer as He comes forth from the grave glorified through the Passion—as He comes 68 VIA MYSTICA forth, we may almost say, enkindled with the flame of the Divine Love! The very hue of the flowers suggests the thought of fire, and we may therefore think of the flame of love with which our Lord was enkindled in His Passion. The sweet perfume of the flowers leads to the thought of that Divine fragrance of His Life which diffuses itself both through the soul and through the Church. It carries back the mind to the third verse, ‘‘ Thy Name is as ointment poured forth,” only here the fragrance is, so to speak, more active than in the third verse. It is exhaled from the living Heart of the Beloved, as the fragrance of the camphire is exhaled from the heart of the flower alive in the warmth of its burning colour. The whole idea is fresh and living, and so answers most perfectly to that which we can conceive of the freshness of our Lord’s Risen Life. ‘‘ This,” says the Bride, ‘“‘ is my Beloved unto me.’ And thus she expresses that wonderful sense of His Life and love which has been borne in upon her in times of contemplation and com- munion. Could any figure express more truthfully that sense of His pervading love which holy souls experience ? Could anything describe more simply and naturally the soul’s delight in the grateful refreshment of His Presence? No language could better convey such richness of thought, and it is so entirely in accordance with God’s way in Holy Scripture. The Holy Spirit has caused to be conveyed to our souls the richest treasures of Divine thought through familiar language, or the simplest allusions to natural order and beauty. There is a further thought suggested by these similes drawn from the beauties of Nature. Because they are familiar objects in our earthly state are we to understand that what is here spoken of is the experience and delight of the Bride-soul in this life? If the truth were conveyed to us through some more Divine and Heavenly symbol, we might suppose the experience suggested was not intended for the soul in her waiting time in this world; but, because familiar objects of earthly life are used to convey the truth, we may infer that we are to know this as an experience of the love of our Lord even here. If it seems a high thought, CHAP. I., v. 14 69 expressing a high degree of charity, we are not therefore to regard it as beyond us if we are faithful in love. The great charm of this wonderful Book lies in the simplicity of its highest thoughts ; it is love in the present that is taught. If with S. Bernard we understand a “cluster of grapes ”’ where our version reads “a cluster of camphire,” we must take it as referring to the fruit of the Passion, the results of which are found in the Risen Life of our Lord, and preserved by Him for the souls He loves through the power of His risen life. But again, it is the rich wine of His love which is poured forth. That seems always the idea conveyed under the figure of grapes. If in the hour of His Passion He could say, “I have trodden the wine-press alone,” so in the Resurrection He can say, “‘ Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly.” So again, if the sweet fragrance of the cam- phire suggests the pervading fragrance of the Divine Love, this thought of the cluster of grapes suggests that further operation of Divine Love—namely, Divine inebriation. ** Blood of Christ inebriate me.’’ And indeed, as a mere matter of experience, it is scarcely possible to separate the two thoughts of the fragrance and of inebriation, because spiritually their effects are the same. Howsoever we speak of it we are but labouring to express that which must for ever remain inexpressible. No one will ever utter the last word concerning the operation of Divine Love. And “ all this,’ the Bride says, “is my Beloved unto me.” How much of the soul’s most sacred experience is here intimated ! It is no mere poetic fancy, but the expression under the guidance of the Holy Spirit of one of the deepest truths of the soul’s life. And we are to prove it for ourselves, inasmuch as it belongs to this present life. By what we already know from experience of this wondrous interior working of love, by so much do we know the greatness of the spiritual work before us. If in this life so much can be known, how great is the glory of love which is yet hidden from us! We can but treasure all that He gives us now, not selfishly, but with holiest desire for the glory of the Beloved, while we wait His Own loving assurance of His desire towards us. 70 VIA MYSTICA Verse 15. ‘* Behold, thou art fair, My love ; behold, thou art fair ; thou hast doves’ eyes.”’ This verse is the utterance of the Beloved to the Bride— ‘* Behold, thou art fair.’ We cannot escape the conclusion that the Beloved is directing the soul not only to listen to His word of commendation, but to recognise within herself the glory, the grace, which pleases Him. There is nothing contrary to holy humility, because there is nothing untrue in this; it belongs rather to the eternal recognition of love between our Lord and the Bride-soul. In Heaven, in the glory to come, souls will know and understand their own beauty of sanctity, and it is sometimes given to souls even here to know a little of the grace communicated to them through their intimate communion with the Beloved. ‘© Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair ; thow hast doves’ eyes.” This is the highest word of com- mendation He has yet spoken to her. It indicates a growing beauty in the Bride. But in what does that beauty consist ? Surely in the evident transformation of the soul into His Own likeness. This is ever the effect of the Divine inter- course ; for to be with God is to become the subject of His transforming, glorifying light, and more, the soul is inwardly purified and transformed through the operation of His love. God, then, acknowledges His Own work.- He loves more wondrously the soul whom His Own love has beautified and made lovable. The truth of this is understood with increasing joy as we surrender ourselves to that Divine operation. We do indeed acknowledge that we are unworthy of the infinite love of Christ, and it comes as a sort of relief to us to know that as our Lord looks upon us, so His love works in us that which is in His sight eminently lovable. Realising this, we can but give ourselves to Him without question, whether in days of brightness or of discipline, know- ing that He will never depart from the purpose of His love. The Beloved praises the soul for her beauty! What perfection is implied by that one expression, ‘‘ Thou art fair’?! What purity of soul, what perfected humility is understood of the soul whom God praises! We think of GHA Palo 0..A5 71 the Saints to whom God could thus speak. In them we see the ideals of spiritual beauty to which He would Himself raiseus. Isittoohigh? Can we speak of being transformed into the likeness of His Own perfect beauty, and say that the likeness to the Saints is too high ? We need not shrink from that spiritual ideal, or fear because our own unworthi- ness forbids us to expect that He will so speak to us. The Beloved is ever ready to meet the soul with the tender praise of love, and He does convey His delight in her growing beauty. The knowledge of His loving approval is con- veyed to her in the secret ways of His love when she is most detached and simple in her offering. But at the same time His praise is to be understood not only because of what she is, but also according to His eternal purpose of love. Thus He praises the soul who is growing as well as the one who is already perfected in beauty. He would praise the soul to encourage her, and not simply to reward her. Now this is the very poetry of the spiritual life. It is the mission of poetry to convey truth in a language of its own, and it is the only language in which certain high spiritual truths can find utterance. We find many a high thought of Holy Scripture clothed in finest poetic language, only because such language is more luminous than any other could be. And so the Holy Spirit has employed it in this marvellous Book, this manual of the higher life, to convey to us thoughts and conceptions of Divine Love, presenting them to us in such a way that we are able, as it were, to look deeply into them—aye, and sometimes beyond them—into that region of Divine mystery where Love abides. The Holy Spirit by some inspiring thought raises the human soul to a height where, for a moment, the veil is lifted and eternal realities are displayed. ‘‘ In Thy light shall we see light.” Times of such pure devotion stand out very clearly in our spiritual history. We treasure for ever all that was given in them. We would forgo all else rather than lose the fruit of those experiences of Divine Love. They are more than moments of delight; they are moments through which we receive some deep impression, the true value of which we shall know hereafter. 72 VIA MYSTICA But we not only are moved by the praise which the Beloved bestows ; we are instructed by His words in some deep truths of spiritual life. ‘“‘ Thou hast doves’ eyes.” This expresses all the simplicity of love with which in the perfection of hidden graces the soul looks upon her Lord— the simplicity which grows with sanctity. Again, the — expression may be understood in reference to the soul’s longing gaze heavenward as she waits the fulfilment of the Divine Will for her in this life. Every look, every desire of the soul in whom is the growing love of God, is for Him. She has no thought for the world or for herself. And so the words may be understood as containing the secret of the soul’s fairness, for which the Beloved praises her. We have already seen the reason in the operation of the Divine Love ; now we advance to a more clear theological explanation. The allusion to the “‘ dove ’’ may lead us to think of the Holy Spirit indwelling the soul and enabling her to behold the glories of the Beloved, and to understand them. So our Lord declared that He would do: “He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.” It is the office of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ inwardly to the faithful soul, to impart that Divine Wisdom which is the very science of the Divine Love. And so under His guidance we can realise each fact in our relationship to God in the joy of most loving intercourse. In this way we shall come to value every devotional act by which we emphasise now one and now another of the Divine operations; it will save us from that dangerous one-sidedness in our devotions to which we are apt to incline, either from carelessness, or needless eclecticism, or exaggerated fancy. We should exhibit the ** proportion of the Faith ” in perfectly ordered devotion. And further, if we take these words as of the Holy Ghost, we see how by His aid the longings of the faithful soul are rightly directed. As the Holy Spirit “ searcheth all things, even the deep things of God,”’ so He guides the soul in her intuitions of Divine things, inspires in her the longing after them, and then directs her gaze to them. There is a general need for greater carefulness in devotion to the Holy Spirit. The neglect of this is widespread, and it cannot be CHAT {Uae nl 6: 117 fies: justified, explain it as we may. : But if we reflect a moment, we shall see that all we most desire in our relation to God— love, binding us to Him in perfect union ; wisdom, imparting to us the treasures of God; knowledge, enlightening our understanding that we may direct our paths aright in this world unto the life eternal,—is ours only through the opera- tion of the Holy Spirit. We may permit ourselves to contemplate the Saints in whom. the Beloved sees the very fairness and beauty which He praises in this verse. In every one He sees that evidence of the Spirit’s work and life, which is an essential joy in the relations of the Ever-Blessed Trinity. As in the relations of the Godhead the Holy Spirit perpetually expresses the Love of the Father and the Son in ceaseless harmony of opera- tion within Themselves ; so He works within the holy soul, binding her more closely into the life of God. And again, we may say that God so looking upon souls realises in them the extension of His Own essential, everlasting joy. Even here holy souls are exalted through particular apprehension of the Divine Mystery of the Holy Trinity. The knowledge of this mystery while it illuminates the soul fills it with a great joy; but the fullness of it is reserved for those to whom is granted the Beatific Vision. Very beautiful must be the soul in the sanctity which clothes her for eternity! What holy gladness she must know within herself! What joy to know that for ever she will wear that fairness, and that too, not for her own sake, but for the sake of the Beloved, Who there will delight to praise her for her fairness—the fairness of His Own gift, His Own likeness in her. Verses 16, 17. ‘‘ Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant ; also our bed is green; the beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.” It will be well to consider these two verses as one. The natural division will then be at the word “‘ pleasant,’ and two very useful considerations will follow. ‘‘ Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea pleasant.” Were it is the Bride who speaks, addressing her Beloved in the words she borrows 74, VIA MYSTICA from Him. He has but just now addressed her as “‘ fair,”’ and she can find no better words for her own expression of delight in Him. No words could be, to her mind, so reverent as those which came from His Lips. In the previous verse we saw one aspect of the Holy Spirit’s working in the soul, giving beauty to her. Here we see how He enables the soul to know her Lord. He has made her beautiful in the Eyes of the Beloved—that was but one part of His work; the other is to manifest the Beloved to her and to call forth from her those words of reverent regard. Now the Holy Spirit directs her praise of the Beloved : “‘ Behold, Thou art fair, my Beloved.” We need not consider the question whether the Christ were in Person beautiful. The natural view would be to regard Him as “‘ fairer than the children of men.” The East and the West have been divided on that question. The Eastern Church has taken generally the view that those passages which speak of our Lord as being ‘*marred more than any man”’ are to be taken literally. The Western Church has rather taken them as expressive of our Lord’s wonderful humility and self-abasement, and certainly that seems to agree better with our own feeling. To speak of our Lord as “ fairer than the children of men,”’ is the only thought of Him that our love can entertain. However we regard our Lord, to the soul who loves Him He must be beautiful beyond the sons of men. ‘* Thou art fair,”” she says. The Holy Spirit reveals the beauty of the Beloved, and the Bride-soul delights in it. And surely our love for Him gains by that vision. We love that which by its inherent beauty attracts and holds us. The beauty of the Beloved is more: it is that perfect beauty for which our heart must faint till it be found. There is in the beauty of our Lord that which satisfies the soul’s innate conception of pure beauty. It is the beauty of perfect love, and until we know it we do not know what love is. That is to say, we do not know love in its perfection until we know the beauty of the Beloved; it is therefore beauty which takes all our love into itself. But who, after all, can tell that beauty ? It cannot be told even though our perception of it be growing clearer through the continual aspiration of love: Slowly CHAP Le 002 16, 17 75 perhaps, but surely, definitely, it is growing within us, so that we think of Him more simply in His perfect beauty, and realise in Him the Ideal of Love. “Thou art fair, my Beloved.” The deeper the soul can go into the knowledge of that fairness and beauty, the more naturally does she speak of Him as her own—‘* My Beloved.” The wonderful personal love and devotion, which is inspired by the beauty of Jesus, is by us understood in the way in which we can use the word and say ‘‘ My Beloved.” It is a word capable of most beautiful expression of great self-abandonment in devotion ; and yet we cannot always use it with the same fullness of meaning, the same force of love, or the same sensitiveness of communication between us and the Beloved. At one time we can use it quite simply and naturally, because our hearts are full and our love is strong ; while at another time we shrink from it as being too familiar, seeing that we are yet so backward and imperfect in the ways of love. There are times when to say to Him *“ My Lord,” *“‘ My Beloved,” seems more than we ought to do. We feel how poor and insincere has been our response to His love, how mean and unworthy have been our sacri- fices, how half-hearted our service ; and then we fear to say ‘*My Beloved.” Or, again, we feel that the world has held us too closely and claimed too much of our time and affection. How can we turn so wholly to the world one moment and the next say to Him “* My Lord, my Beloved ”’ ? These reflections should lead to holier humility and purer aspirations ; and we shall yet again be able, with holiest love and sincerity, to say “ My Beloved.” But the Bride goes further and says “* Yea pleasant ”’ ; and this seems to sum up her experience of communion, of rapture, and all the mystic tenderness of His communica- tions. Perhaps, too, we may see here the immediate effect of His Own words of praise, “‘ Behold, thou art fair.” Certainly when He says of the Bride-soul, ‘‘ Thou art fair,”’ we are to understand that she has been exalted to some degree of ecstasy. ‘The soul will be always exalted in love according to that which the Beloved wills to communicate to her. The passage before us implies that He has so 76 VIA MYSTICA revealed Himself to the Bride that the vision of His beauty has held her in a state of rapture, or ecstasy, in which she addresses Him, ‘‘ Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea pleasant.” She acknowledges to the Beloved the delight which she experiences. S. Bernard speaks as from personal experience when he says of this identical passage : How fair art Thou unto Thine Angels, O Lord Jesu, in the form of God, in Thine eternal day, in the splendour of the Saints, Thou splendour and image of the Father’s substance, begotten before the morning star, Thou truly everlasting and undimmed radiance of un- ending life! How pleasant art Thou to me, my Lord, in the very seat of this pleasantness of Thine! For when Thou didst empty Thyself, when Thou didst strip Thine unwaning light of its natural rays, then Thy loving kindness shone forth the more, then Thy charity blazed out more brightly, then Thy grace shed its rays further. How bright to me is Thine arising, O Star out of Jacob; how gleaming is Thy ‘coming up, O Flower of Jesse’s root ; how joyous is Thy Light, visiting me in darkness, O Dayspring from on High! How fascinating and wondrous is Thine Heavenly might, in Thy conception by the Holy Ghost, in Thy Virgin birth, in Thy stainless life, in Thy streams of doctrine, in the flashing of Thy miracles, in the revelations of Thy Sacraments ! How brilliantly, O Sun of Righteousness, dost Thou arise from the heart of the earth after Thy setting, how beautiful in Thine apparel! At last, O King of Glory, Thou ascendest to the highest heavens. Wherefore then should not all my bones say, ** Lord, who is like unto Thee ? ”’ 4 We can hardly add to words like these of S. Bernard. ** Also our bed is green ; the beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.’ Very ingenious interpretations are offered of those words “‘ bed,’ ‘*‘ beams,” “‘ rafters.’ But we will content ourselves with a very simple interpretation. It is natural to regard them as expressing yet further the delight, fresh and full, of the soul in the Beloved. Observe how the thought of the passage develops. She has said ‘* Thou art fair, yea pleasant; also our bed is green.” If we take this as conveying by natural imagery the triumphant life which the Bride enjoys, we arrive at a most helpful, though perfectly simple, interpretation. The first half of the verse suggests the enjoyment of the mystic communica- tions of our Lord to the soul, while the other expresses the Ler xiv; CHAR ele ev0 816 tT Lie expansion of the life in Him unto all that freshness of growth and fruitfulness and beauty which we associate with a mn ordered spiritual life. Further on in the Book we shall find the soul herself compared to a “ garden,” and this verse may reasonably be considered as preparing for the more finished thought. The scene is that of a woodland, with its green pathway and undergrowth and towering cedars and firs : the very present- ment of abounding and uplifting life. There is a touch of true Nature poetry which is lost if we begin to force the symbolism in any lifeless way. The whole thought is of life, and we lose the whole spirit of the passage if we obscure that thought. It has been pointed out that the same trees are named here as were used in the building of Solomon’s Temple, but whereas they were but beams cut out and therefore dead, here it is the living trees which are mentioned, suggesting the idea of freshness and growth. In communion with the Beloved the soul finds the true richness of life and is attracted to a holier activity of love, in which all her experiences of joy and sorrow are found to have a place in the perfect understanding of her relation to Him. The praise of true love will be not less real if it rises sometimes out of the darker experiences of her days. The song of adoring love will be richest in melody from the heart that in joy or sorrow can speak to Him as ‘“‘ My Beloved.” CHAPTER II Verse 1. ‘I amthe Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valley.” In reading these words we find it difficult not to associate them with the two flowers so generally known and loved. The rose, indeed, is well known in the Holy Land, but it is most certainly not the flower here mentioned. The Greek and Latin versions alike call it the ‘‘ flower of the field,” or the “flower of the plain.” It is possibly 4 species of narcissus. The lily of the valley, as we know it, is an English plant and unknown in the Holy Land, but there is a very beautiful lily which is found in valleys and elsewhere, and appears to be of a scarlet hue. We must therefore take the verse as it stands, and for the present forget our beloved English flowers, and see if there be not some special teaching for us notwithstanding. At the close of the previous chapter the Bride had spoken of rest with the Beloved, with the implied desire to abide in it. She had spoken in praise of the house or building. Now in this first verse the Bridegroom speaks: ‘ I am the Flower of the plain, and the Lily of the valley.’’ Te seems to call the Bride to activity again; she must not remain in repose, further experiences are needful to her perfection: ** Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest.’’ There are the uplands and the lowlands, the plains and the valleys of the spiritual way, and over these the Bride must pass, and He would show her that the sweet Presence in which she delighted to rest will not be wanting in the difficulties of the way. He would gladden her with the promise of His Own nearness. We know this desire for rest. The Beloved leads us into quiet, restful ways, and we would linger in them: we feel that surely we have endured enough. The roughness of the CHAR ALis ont ; 79 way, and the weight of the cross, have hitherto been quite as much as we could bear; the conflicts of our souls, the difficulties of spiritual attainment, have been, we think, sufficiently great. Now that our Lord has brought us into still, restful places we desire only to enjoy the peace; for surely, we think, the struggle is over! And then He bids us rise and encounter fresh trials. But never without en- couragement. ‘ I am with you all the days,’’+ and again, “‘ My presence shall go with thee.” * And this Presence He promises in words that suggest delight: ‘‘ I am the Flower of the plain, and the Lily of the valley.”” What, we ask, always delight ? Can this be when we have left the calm restfulness to face the struggle again? Yes, and we shall find it when we least expect it. He leads us to the plain. This seems to imply the open- ness of the Christian life ; it is free, expansive, and in it we may fulfil our Lord’s injunction, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.”’? Again, the plain may suggest the place of conflict, such ground being often chosen by armies ; but this need not be pressed, though we may observe that open- ness and freedom in the spiritual life may be won through conflict. We will rather consider the plain as indicating a state of growth wherein the soul is nourished by the dew of Divine grace, and the light and glory of Divine love: “* Iam the Flower of the plain.” He is the very glory and beauty of the life so lived ; He wills to be everywhere in it. The flower mentioned in the verse grows, not in patches here and there, but springs up from numberless scattered roots, giving a soft tone over the wide spaces, a veil of beauty cast over the whole plain. What a picture in nature of the life lived in Jesus Christ! Jesus in everything: the acts of grace and love, meekness and humility, lowliness and service, prayer and worship, alike presenting Him in the life, so that it wholly resembles His life of perfect beauty! That is what He wills to be to usandinus. To this He calls His Bride. She is to enjoy His Presence, and delight in Him, amid the activities of her life, as well as in the sweetness or raptures 1S. Matt. xxviii. 20. 2 Exod, xxxiii, 14, 3S. Matt. v. 16. 80 VIA MYSTICA of restful devotion. So, when He calls us forth from the resting-places, it is not to lose Him, but rather to find Him in most blessed and intimate ways of companionship as we meet the insistent demands of daily life. “ The Lily of the valley.” This flower grows in many different places, and where the conditions are rough and unattractive. The Bride was to experience something analogous to this. He would lead her through deep and obscure ways of the spiritual life; she would be sometimes hidden; there are the lowlands and the valleys as well as the hills. We do not welcome these experiences, we rather shrink from them ; yet who of us has not known them, and felt their darkness and loneliness? In ordinary travelling we may at first welcome the shade of some deep valley ; it is perhaps cool and restful, though presently it may strike us with a sense of weird loneliness. So in the spiritual life ; we scarcely recognise it at the first, but as we go deeper into the valleys the loneliness oppresses us and we cry out to our Lord. Still the Beloved calls the soul to enter, and promises His Presence with her. “I am the Lily of the valley.”’ Is He the Flower of the plain, He is equally the Flower of the valley. But notice, it is not a white flower this, but red. And what is this but the promise that His Presence will always be manifested in love? We shall find His Presence, and we shall find His love, perhaps even more wondrously tender. If, as it appears, the flower of the plain be white, and that of the valley be red, may we not say: over the soul in the open ways of the world the Beloved throws the mantle of His purity, but in the shadowed ways He casts about her the mantle of His love ? How transforming is the Divine Love! It both changes our surroundings, and it changes us. The knowledge gained through all experiences is that of love, which more and more enriches the soul and quickens its powers. Being with the Beloved in all ways of life, we find His love so entering into our conscious life that it becomes within us the power of loving. Perhaps, having followed thus far an interpretation suggested by strict recognition of the flowers so far as we CHALLE Ye o.e2 81 can identify them, we may permit ourselves a little licence and see if our beloved flowers—the rose and lily of the valley —suggest anything further. The passage is capable of wide application ; and, because there is nothing in nature more beautiful, we may always find in the flowers of our choice some revelation of the glory of Divine Love. The rose will then suggest to us the love of Jesus in its royalty and glory. The lily will speak of the wondrous purity of the Beloved. And this holy purity is imparted to the soul through the discipline of the way; and it is, moreover, to be first sought, because without it we cannot share the royalty and glory of His love. If this seems to reverse the order indicated by placing the rose before the lily, it need not trouble us ; for the development of graces is harmonious, and we cannot readily separate them. All discipline but prepares us for the enrichment of Divine Love. Our Lord imposes upon us His Will. Even in securing for us the desired stillness and rest, He places us under obedience ; there is at all times the call to renewed surrender of the will, to submission in love. It is the sure and safe way for us, no matter what the experience may be. Let us always respond with ready love. There can be no happiness for the soul except in union of will with Him. Upon our identification with that Will depends all the joy of eternity. Verse 2. “ As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.” Dr. Thompson ! says of the Huleh lily : It is very large, and the three inner petals meet above and form a gorgeous canopy, such as art never approached, and King never sat under, even in his utmost glory. . . . This flower delights most in the valleys, but is also found on the mountains ; it grows among thorns, and I have sadly lacerated my hands in extricating it from them. Nothing can be in higher contrast than the luxuriant velvety softness _ of the lily, and the crabbed, tangled hedge of thorn about it.? This description will assist us in our consideration of the verse. It is the Beloved Who speaks in praise of the Bride. 1 The Land and the Book, i. 304. 82 VIA MYSTICA He never withholds praise when opportunity serves and her humility is not in danger. But in any case it presupposes a high degree of perfection on the part of the soul. Only very advanced souls could be assured thus of their spiritual fairness without danger. It is supernatural beauty that is here indicated. It is seen in contrast with that which is. erabbed and tortuous and ugly. It is beauty triumphant over that which threatens to mar and spoil it. But it is beauty that is even protected by that which appears inconsistent with it. There is scarcely a verse in this wonderful Book which illustrates so strikingly the state of a soul amid the contradictions of the world, which are as thorns in its way. ** As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.” This has been understood of the Church growing up in beauty amidst the alien powers of the world. Jesus, in saving His Church, was Himself wounded by the thorns. As the Bride’s love for her Spouse is signified here, so also is His love for her. For he that would gather a lily amongst thorns necessarily suffers their pricks ; which is evidently true of the Bride- groom Himself, for He, gathering that lily from the midst of the reprobate, suffered the prickings of the thorns, whilst He underwent the rendings of the persecutors as He was assembling His elect by His Own preaching and that of His disciples. Whence it is written, ** Whoso breaketh a hedge (the synagogue of the people) a serpent shall bite him.”” The Lord acted like a hunting dog, which, pursuing wild game, thrusts its head amongst the prickles of thorns, fearing no wounds, so that it may take its prey. He drew forth the Church lurking like a wild beast amongst the thorns, that is, amongst the reprobate ; but He endured the piercings of the thorns even to bloodshedding, in token of which He wore a thorny crown upon the Cross. But it is chiefly in its application to the soul that we are considering this Book; we cannot, therefore, linger by the way, though arrested by other very interesting thoughts. The fairness of the soul in her supernatural beauty is seen in clearest contrast to much in the life about her. The thorns which encompass the lily seem to indicate the malice and ~ ill-will, particularly of individuals. Much of the discipline through which the soul attains to the beauty of sanctity is + Cardinal Hugo, quoted by Littledale, CHAR AL 20.92 83 felt and endured in daily contact with unhelpful, unsym- pathetic companions. It even appears that God places His best loved ones where most of all they suffer from the hardness and cruelty, the malice and hatred, of others. We recall the experiences of the Saints, and lo! they whom we esteem the greatest, and account the most perfect in holi- ness, are they who lived amidst trials of the worst kind. Let us hear 8. Bernard : The thorn is sin, the thorn is punishment, the thorn is a false brother, the thorn is evil hard at hand. ‘‘ As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.”’ O shining lily, O frail and delicate flower, the unbelieving and destroyers are with thee, see then that thou walk cautiously amongst the thorns. The world is full of thorns, They are in the earth, in the air, in thy flesh. To be amongst them, and not to be hurt by them, comes of the Divine power, and not of thine own strength. ‘* But be of good cheer,’ saith He, ‘‘I have overcome the world.’ Therefore, although thou seest the prickles of tribulations, like those of thorns, aiming at thee on every side, let not thine heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, ‘‘ knowing that tribula- tion worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.’ Consider the lilies of the field, how they flourish and bloom among the thorns. If God so guards the grass which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more His love and dearest Bride.! Some in the way of perfection have the hard trial of feeling that all among whom they live are hardened against them. The faithful soul will not shrink even from this. They will suffer and be silent, seeing but another way of conformity to their Beloved. Verily, they are in the midst of thorns; but how beautiful is the purity of their lives, and the graces which adorn them! Though surrounded by every form of contradiction, though persecuted by those who have no spiritual perception, and even treated as inferiors, they still grow in beauty; they are ever aspiring. And when in the power of love they have grown beyond the reach of their enemies, they expand in the full light and glory of Divine Love. And then how royal they are in their beauty above the thorns which still press about their feet. As long as they are in the world they have this trial, the nearness of the suffering and the closeness of the enemy. But souls 1 Ser, xIviii, 84 VIA MYSTICA strong in love have learned much under the trial of past days. They are careful in all that concerns the interior life; not trusting the world, they contemplate Divine things: they live with God. They even rejoice in the effects of persecu- tion. They who are thus preserved increase in grace and develop in beauty. They are humble, for there is nothing to gratify pride; they are meek, for they are kept in silence ; their purity is unstained, for they are separate from the world ; their charity enlarges, for they understand even their trials in the way of Divine Love. And so they grow up as rare flowers, wondrous in supernatural life; and only the more so because of the thorns which encompass them. If, following the description of the lily which we have borrowed from Dr. Thompson, we consider the three inner petals meeting above as a canopy, we may see in them the three great virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, which have grown strong under persecution, meeting around and above the throne of the indwelling Lord. By so much is the soul glorified by the Beloved. This verse may also be taken as descriptive of the in- terior life. How we feel the pain of interior temptation and discipline! It would suffice, we think, to have only the outer trials, but it is far otherwise. Without the secret trial there will not be the perfect beauty. In some way it must come, as every true lover of Jesus knows. How sharp the pain when a soul tries, through mortification, to progress in the way of perfection! How great her fears! How keen the weapons of the enemy ! How subtle his efforts to wound her, to hinder her, to cast her down, and to weaken her faith ! Great and loving souls know all this, but less perfect lovers are distressed and often hurt by it, fearing they have been misled as to the ways of Divine Love. But the result of all the trials, when courageously borne, is perceived in the spiritual beauty developed within the soul—a hidden beauty, sought and cherished by the Beloved. In this Book of the higher life the hidden beauty of souls is often mentioned. The Beloved seeks it. He delights in the graces which are treasured for Him in the secret of the heart. There is a hidden glory at the centre CHAP Fil v.76 85 of the flower. Who that looks into. the very heart of the lily does not marvel at its interior beauty? The lily has its centre or heart of beauty; the soul has her heart of love where the Beloved seeks to rest in the beauty He has per- fected. Through all the hard conditions of the spiritual life He is ever guiding her to that end. He desires to have her unspoilt and unhurt by the world, that:He may delight in her perfections. ‘To such will He come with marvellous proofs of His Own love; as to the Saints, so still to the humble and the loving. Verse 3. ‘‘ As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.”’ These are the words of the Bride. She is careful to employ the title of love: ‘“‘ My Beloved.”? When considering the previous chapter we observed how she advanced with reverence to the use of it, only slowly realising her right to address Him thus. But having so done, she retains it. So 8. John of the Cross says of that title : The soul may then with truth call Him Beloved, when it is wholly His, when the heart has no attachments but Him, and when all the thoughts are continually directed to Him. ... Some there are who call the Bridegroom their Beloved, but He is not really beloved, because their heart is not wholly with Him.! It is this entire detachment in love which underlies the words of the Bride in this place. Such a thought could not spring from a heart in which His love was not supreme ; which did not know the kingliness of her Lord in love; who did not perceive how supremely He rose in love above all that could claim regard and affection in the world: ** Whom have I in Heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” * There is here the recognition of our Lord as Son of Man. Whien He took our nature He shared our life, and is supreme init. He is ‘‘ among the sons’ supreme, in that from Him is given all that can refresh and delight the soul. Others 1 Spiritual Canticle, i. 18. Ps. ixxiii25. 86 VIA MYSTICA may help in their degree—they may brighten our lives, and minister to our happiness in many right ways; but to rest in their shadow would be to expose the soul to many dangers. The Bride confesses and extols the supremacy of the Beloved ; for she has proved His love above and before that of others. ‘*T sat down under His shadow with great delight.’’ The thought is here of great restfulness. It belongs to the higher spiritual life; but it is restfulness regarded as a privilege which the Bride has merited through her great love, for this sitting down under the shadow of the Beloved is the act of the soul in contemplation. So S. John of the Cross : | The Bride-soul, rejoicing in her Beloved, drinks of the clear waters of the highest contemplation and of the wisdom of God; is refreshed by the consolations it finds in Him and is also sheltered under the shadow of His favour and protection, which she had so earnestly desired. There she is deliciously and divinely comforted, refreshed and nourished.! The idea of resting in the shade is often presented in Holy Scripture and denotes Divine care and refreshment, and fittingly describes the state of mystic contemplation. We understand the delight of spiritual rest and refreshment, the tasting of Divine sweetness, the penetration of Divine joy. But withal we perceive that true contemplative de- votion is not spiritual idleness, for the soul, both within itself and in communion with God, is active as well as passive. It is true there are many movements of Divine Love towards the soul which are received passively ; but such grace is not given save to those who have been actively exercised in love. And further, we may say that what God imparts to the soul in contemplative devotion is not received alto- gether without the cognisance of the individual. So the Bride says, “‘ Isat down under His shadow with great delight.”’ This at least suggests the action of one moved by great personal devotion to the Beloved. We may admire and love Him a long while before we know very much of this secret rest in His love. It may be we have wandered through 1 Spiritual Canticle, xxxiv. 6. CHAP. IL., v. 3 87 the wood, as it were, from tree to tree—never, indeed, without love to Him, never unconscious of the attraction of His love, but yet without the understanding of all that He wills to be to us in His love. But, if love be growing within us, we shall not long content ourselves away from His shadow. He will not fail to draw us thereto if He finds in us the will, the desire. He seeks that union with us which this perfect rest implies ; and as we attain to it we kiiow something of the delight which the Bride experienced. It is not simply delight such as we may have known in earlier stages of the spiritual life; rather is it a calm delight in interior restful- ness. There is a deeper satisfaction than ever we felt in the early days. It does not pass away so quickly, if indeed at all. It is a more settled joy and peace which not even outward trials can destroy. This is that which the Saints have preserved under the greatest affliction and suffering. Outwardly there may be trials, but inwardly, delight in the knowledge that between the soul and the Beloved there is no difference of will. And yet, beautiful as this may be, it is not to be thought of as the highest state, even in this life. Like many an experience of holy souls this is but a step, as we shall see when considering the next verse of this chapter. The perfect state of love is yet before us. But we cannot know that perfection save through the right use of all that is given in the steps of our attainment. There could not be the most sweet and perfect rest in our Lord without the knowledge gained beforehand. Often, it may be, we have been held very consciously within His Presence: we have sat under His shadow, and have been refreshed ; and we can seek a renewal of it. We might know more of the delight of the Beloved if we would seek to understand what is implied in our words and acts of love. We are accustomed to certain words and acts and terms of devotion, but we do not always comprehend their meaning. We should test ourselves here, and attach true values to our words. We shall find much to rejoice in, even though we discover the poverty of our own thoughts ; and the gain to devotion will be great, for our words will express the truth of our love. “ His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Here we understand 88 * VIA MYSTICA something more than the consolations which belong rather to the suffering side of our life, great as they may be. The fruit spoken of appears to be of a more enduring and eternal sweetness. The revelations of Divine Love are often so interior that the delight which they cause seems not to belong to the present life, but rather to be given as a help | in that spiritual training by which the soul is being prepared for her eternal employment of love in Heaven. In His infinite goodness God permits the soul to behold for an instant the glory of some Divine mystery ; and there is an immediate response of love, and afterwards a surer ascent of faith. ‘This may be understood here of the fruit that is sweet to the taste of the Bride-soul. It is superior to other consolations, for the soul is enriched, what we receive becoming an element in our consciousness of God. But, true as this is, have such experiences nothing to do with the present? Are they too mystical and interior for everyday life? Rather, do they not make the present lighter? Are they not as rays from Heaven, assurances of that inheritance of the Saints which is ‘‘ incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” 4 We bear the daily burden only the better for such experience of love, while the things of eternity increase in importance to us. If we are faithful to the graces we receive, they are fruitful in patience and calm strength for the work of life. The soul becomes settled in love, and nothing else will matter; we can love and wait. The next verse will mark for us yet more of the wonderful goodness of our Lord. It tells of great consolations. We are led to the consideration of them before we are confronted with the facts of interior discipline. We are thus encouraged by the one that we may be found courageous for the other. Verse 4, “He brought me to the Banqueting House, and His Banner over me was Love.” This verse marks another step in the way of the higher lite, and to the end of verse 7 we shall be occupied with the revelation of interior things; from that verse we shall be 11S. Peter i. 4. CHA Re Ll oA 89 led to consider again the discipline of the soul amid the difficulties of the spiritual life. Verse 7 marks a natural division in the construction of the Book. We are first of all encouraged by the Holy Spirit with the knowledge of higher things, that we may understand better the purpose of love in the harder experiences of the way. Very beautiful were the experiences of the Bride described in verse 3. When resting under the shadow of her Beloved she enjoyed the sweetness of Divine revelations of love ; but she was led further: ‘‘ He brought me to the Banqueting House ’’—that is to say, the House of Wine. This at once suggests an allusion to the Blessed Sacrament ; but we need not press it. Wine alone is suggested by that which is undoubtedly the right reading; we must therefore seek a more direct explanation. Wine is most certainly to be ex- plained as love; so the House of Wine must mean that state in which the soul is simply and wholly conscious of the love of the Beloved. This is S. Bernard’s view. Generally, we may say, the state described is that of ecstasy. But S. Bernard shall instruct us : If anyone, while in prayer, should obtain the grace to be drawn out of himself, as it were, and into the sphere of the Divine glory, from whence he returns after a time fired with an ardent love of God, inflamed with a burning zeal for righteousness, and also filled with extreme fervour in the pursuit of all spiritual occupation and studies, so that he can say: ‘‘ My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned ” (Ps. xxxix. 3), that soul will evidently have a not unfounded claim to say he has been brought into the banqueting house, because out of the abundance of his charity he has begun to manifest and utter the effects of that inebriation which, unlike any other, is in the highest degree salutary and good. For there are two kinds of ecstasy in holy contemplation: one of the understanding, the other of the heart ; one in the light of the understanding, the other in the fervour of the affections ; the one a blaze of discernment, the other a rapture of devo- tion ; and the glow of piety, the heart aflame with holy love, the access of sublime adoration, are all derived from the banqueting house of the King, equally with the clear vision of the eager spirit ; and everyone, whosoever he may be who rises from prayer endowed with the fulness of these priceless gifts, may say with truth, ‘‘ The King hath brought me into His banqueting house.” 1 1 Ser. xlix. 4. 90 VIA MYSTICA There is a certain fitness in all this considered in relation to the previous verse. We remember how Esther invited the King and Haman to the banquet she had prepared for them ; but it was at the banquet of wine that she made her request to the King.t. Assuming that this was according to the custom of the time, we infer that the banquet of | wine followed after other enjoyments, and so, spiritually, it succeeds the experience of the soul described in the previous verse. S. Bernard’s words are sufficiently plain, and for our consolation they may be fairly applied to experiences which are not the highest possible. So S. John of the Cross, writing of various degrees of this high love, alludes to seven ‘ cellars,”’ corresponding to the gifts of the Holy Ghost, each more interior, until the last is reached. This last he describes as being rather beyond what is possible in this life. ; This partaking of the wine of love reminds us of the prayer so often used: ‘“‘ Blood of Christ inebriate me.” How is it that the soul is made to partake of this wine of love? S. John of the Cross says simply: “‘ Of my Beloved have I drunk,” and explains it thus : As a draught diffuses itself through all the members and veins of the body, so the communication of God diffuses itself substantially in the whole soul, or rather, the soul is transformed in God. In this transforma- tion the soul drinks of God in its very substance. In the understand- ing it drinks wisdom and knowledge, in the will the sweetest love, in the memory refreshment and delight in the thought and sense of its bliss.? The Saint’s words in their simplicity express the truth known to some, the truth of this refreshment in love, which is in reality refreshment in the Beloved. We cannot separate, except in words, the consciousness of love from that of our Lord’s Presence. His Presence is love, and love is His Presence ; and that expresses much that we know within ourselves. This is, however, not to be received through our own power. When reading of some high experience of the Saints, or when we have intuitions of things as yet beyond us, 1 Esther vii. 2-4. 2 Spiritual Canticle, xxvi, 4. CHAP. -IT., 2%." 4 91 immediately we desire it for ourselves. This is right and good in itself, but we can do no more than dispose ourselves for the favours of God, in humility, in faith and love. When He will, our Lord will visit us, and will lead us to the state He desires for us. Our part is not to force our souls beyond our strength, but to love simply, faithfully, constantly, self- forgettingly, to accept from hour to hour what He gives, to be led by Him from step to step. We should not for an instant doubt His Will to raise us. Our Lord will not permit us to remain on any step lower than that for which He finds us prepared. And so the Bride-soul may go forward as the Beloved leads, with ever increasing wonder of love; and that interior wonder of the soul will always be accompanied with increased humility—the assurance of safety. It would appear to be a secret consciousness, secure from spiritual pride. Where there is spiritual pride the soul can make no advance; but where there is humility there is often within the soul a wonder of love, and she is raised, advanced beyond her understanding: she cannot immediately apprehend all that she is aware of in the revealed love of her Lord. She beholds somewhat of the glory of His life and the marvels of His love, and cannot believe they are for herself to receive. In her humility she shrinks from anything so suggestive of greatness to herself, or the thought that the Beloved wills to share with her all His Own possessions. Yet through all this humility of love she is receiving from Him, and her transformation is the greatest proof of it. ‘His Banner over me was Love.’’ Here the comments of the Fathers are somewhat confusing where they follow the Vulgate rendering: ‘‘ He set love in order over me”’; or, ** He hath ordered me in charity.” Others follow our own common rendering, and we have the Banner which He displays over the soul within the House of Wine. This suggests a beautiful and helpful meaning. Notwithstanding the great and wonderful experience of His love in the House of Wine, there is yet the uplifted Cross. We can never forget the Cross, never persuade ourselves that we have passed the way to Calvary, never think we have attained to the reward of our suffering, never suppose that now we 92 VIA MYSTICA may lay down the Cross, and reach out our hands to take the Crown. We die upon the Cross, and the Crown is bestowed upon those whose humility forbids the thought of taking it. It is a beautiful expression of the Holy Spirit’s loving care that He has inspired within this verse a definite reminder of the Lord’s Passion, and our own share in it. That Banner is the Standard of Jesus Christ—the Cross. And this leads us to observe (1) that these high experiences of the soul belong to this life, because, even if the Cross be a symbol of glory in Heaven, it is most certainly with us here. This is evident from the Saints who have enjoyed abundant and marvellous graces, even when in greatest suffering. Often their consolations appear to have exceeded their pain. And (2) the Cross is the symbol of love. To the worldly and unspiritual the Cross is something to be endured with courage, but not to be chosen as the symbol of love. It is only when we can feel, not only the attraction, but also, and above all, the inspiration of the love of Jesus, that it becomes the symbol not of His love only, but also of our own in Him. Thus the whole verse will read naturally : ‘**He brought me to the Banqueting House, and His Banner over me was Love.” It could not be, inthe highest sense, the House of Wine, of Love, if the Cross was not exalted. If our earlier thought be correct, that we are to see in this House of Wine that which must follow upon earlier consola- tions, we must acknowledge further that there could not be that privilege had there been no mention of the Cross. This may suggest self-questioning. If we are without love of the Cross, and the love of the Sacred Heart, as shown in the Passion, is not becoming, to some extent at least, the love of our own hearts, is our devotion quite as we imagine it to be? If we have to confess so much let us not, as yet, expect to be led to the House of Wine; that most interior gladness is not assured to us. Let us at once seek to grow in that love of the Cross, not merely by contemplating the Mystery of the Passion, but by identifying ourselves with our Lord Beloved in His work of love, in such wise that the Cross may be the symbol of owr love as of His. When in our self-oblation we have been tested, proved, and exalted in CHAP: -IT.,. o. 5 93 love through the Cross, He may even lead us to the House of Wine. He ever rewards with greater love those who perse- vere in love; He fills full the soul out of His Own treasure. Verse 5. “* Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.” Once more the variations of translation make interpreta- tion difficult. The LXX and the marginal reading of A.V. give instead of “ flagons,” “‘ raisin-cakes’’; the Vulgate reads: ‘‘ Stay me with flowers.’’ Passing by some instruc- tive comments upon this latter reading, we will try to keep to the line of interpretation which we have so far followed, and regard the passage as it concerns the individual soul. It is the Bride who is speaking to her companions, the maidens attending her, of her experiences under the shadow of the Beloved; and she continues as though uttering a plaint, or making an appeal: ‘Stay me with flagons.” If this were an address to her Beloved we might regard it as a petition for the increase of His favours. But as addressed to her companions the Bride is asking for that which must be understood in the light of the words which follow : ‘ for I am sick of love.’ WLanguishing from that malady which, as S. John of the Cross says, is incurable save by Him Who has caused it, she craves for support in that which, by reason of its very sweetness, is insupportable. There is nothing so insupportable to the soul in this life as an excessive experience of Divine Love. Saints like S. Francis Xavier are said to have cried out to their Lord to restrain the ardour of His love, because they could bear no more and live. The Bride, then, experiencing somewhat of this wonderful love, appeals for sympathy from those who show the graces dear to her Beloved ; and who by reason of those graces are in some degree like Him. S. Bernard sees here a reference to the graces which the Beloved bestows on all who are: His. Hence the Bride finds comfort in the fellowship of those who can from their own experience understand her joy. But she knows well they cannot satisfy her, or relieve effectually - the pain of her longing; for she sustains the thought of what He is to her. She had said: “ As the apple tree among 94, VIA MYSTICA the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons *’—and now, ‘comfort me with apples.”” He alone giving the fruits of His love can satisfy her. : Such consolations could not be given by her companions, although she addresses her plaint to them, for they were less advanced in spirit than herself. We may think of her as all the while eager in the secret prayer of love, asking her Beloved not to withdraw, but rather to strengthen her with His consolations. Thus it may be with a loving soul until sufficiently advanced to be indifferent to human sympathy. To the Saint this may be an imperfection ; but it is one that arises from the most natural fact of human affection. The soul sees in the love and sympathy of others a reflection of the graces which have appealed to her, and which have filled her, from the Beloved. It marks a time of much grace and interior blessing; also it is, as yet, an imperfect state. The state of perfect detachment in which the soul looks for no human consolation is one of such perfect love that not for an instant can she look away from the Beloyed, lest she should seem to slight Him. This high attainment in the way of detachment is ob- servable in many of the Saints ; although even short of that attainment there may be wonderful experiences of Divine favours, as this passage clearly implies. We should rejoice in all such graces, but always with hearts fixed upon the highest. We shall be encouraged by the hope set before us to forsake all for the sake of the Beloved. This is not to disparage human love and sympathy, only to warn souls of the danger of loss where it is too eagerly desired. ‘For Iam sick of love.’”’ This sickness, or languishing of love, should be reverently and carefully noted. It is a most real, and indeed natural experience where love for our Lord is deep and true; it is not always observed even where it exists. It is a sign of spiritual health—paradoxical as it may appear. Only they who have felt the power and winning sweetness of the Divine Love, and are responding to it, can know the intense desire for the Beloved which the Bride here calls sickness. It is no weak sentiment on the part of some spiritually-minded persons; but rather CHAT IT} fu... 6 95 the feeling of strong, brave souls who do not shrink from suffering, and discipline, and toil. The Bride who de- clares here that she is “‘ sick of love’ is yet ready to brave dangers, and persecutions, and contempt for the sake of her Beloved. (Cf. chap. v. 7.) This is likewise true to saintly experience. It is not a time of idleness with the Bride-soul. Her great desire is that her Beloved should know her state. Her languishing is proof of her love. Some, indeed, with this longing of soul are inclined to accuse themselves of having no love; whereas the truth is that their love is deep and true, and they are able in the reality of that love to perceive the immensity of the Divine Love, and aspire to a more perfect response. She makes her plaint as in the preceding words, partly that He may know, and strengthen her with yet greater love. And more, in this state the soul expresses her deep desire of love, and reveals the pain of her longing through the means existing within herself. Thus ‘‘ the soul employs its affections, desires, and groanings as messengers well able to manifest the secret of her heart to the Beloved.” 1 Where there is felt this longing of soul, . there is also a certain eagerness of expression in all loving ways of devotion, that its true condition may be constantly represented to Him. And this because it proceeds from His Own gift of love is pleasing to Him. There should be no falling back in fancied weakness. The soul’s sickness is her health, her weakness is her strength. ‘‘ When I am weak, then am I strong.’? When I am weak in the loss of all things but His love, then am I strong to do all things. This is to . be strong indeed. Verse 6. “* His left Hand is under my head, and His right Hand doth embrace me.”’ | This verse must be taken in conjunction with that which precedes it. It helps us to understand why the Bride is so moved with the longing and pain of love. Such suffering is always allied to wonderful interior experience of God, the Beloved, Who holds the soul in great security and delight, 1 §, John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle, ii, 1, 96 VIA MYSTICA It is, however, the sense of security which she values almost more than the delight ; for there is reality in love which is more than we can apprehend through the senses. Feeling this reality, the soul reposes in the restfulness of His love, wherein she receives such marks of His tenderness as are almost inexpressible. We may speak of them only with deepest reverence; we shrink from the mention of them. They may be our own experiences, or we may know of them as declared by the Saints ; but they are too rare, too intimate to bear exposure to the world. In matters so interior we must ever fear lest the bare mention of them should mar the purity of their impressions upon the soul. How the Saints have guarded the treasures of their inner life! But surely they were less in danger of losing them than we are ; in their simplicity they lived in the Divine Love, environed by it, penetrated by it, filled with it, inflamed by it; hence their experience of it was high and rapturous, and constant beyond anything that is commonly known. Nor was it any marvel to them, except as they humbly regarded them- selves as the unworthy recipients of graces. ‘* His left Hand is under my head, and His right Hand doth embrace me.”’ Before we can experience so much in ourselves, we need to be more like the Saints in their simple abandon- ment to the love of God. The question must be asked: Do we know the blessedness of such abandonment? We show too great reserve with God. We behave as though we could not trust either His love or our own. We are not simple. In our fear of emotional unreality we incline towards a stiffness in devotion which is but the evidence of our self-consciousness. True abandonment is a sober move- ment of the loving soul, simple and entire, which bears it to the Heart of the Beloved. In our practice we are too often like children who only half trust the arm that holds them, and so we deprive ourselves of His fullest consolation. We are so accustomed to reasonings and questionings with our- selves and others, that we fail to trust our hearts with God : but where the highest concerns of our souls are in question we should trust our hearts while we reverently exercise our reason: reason and love should assist one another. As CHAPS IT. eu.46 97 reason can be illuminated by love, so love can be aided by reason. The truth contained in this verse will be proved by the soul rightly abandoned to the Divine Love. Many beautiful things have been spoken and written about it. The ‘‘ head ” has been explained as the “ guiding principle of the soul,” and so may be understood generally of the soul in its most pure, most direct, and most simple life. When it is said, “ His left hand is under my Head,” it means the support which the soul in the simplicity of love experiences in God. The ‘left hand ” suggests restful support ; the right hand would rather suggest action. The more we rest upon God, losing self-consciousness in His love, the more we experience the infinite peace of that Divine support. The Divine contact assures us : and we know the disquieting things of earth, the distresses and pains of this life, can never make that rest less sweet. It is largely owing to these things that the Bride now experiences the tenderness of the Beloved. He came ** to bind up the broken-hearted,” and that most tender ministry is exercised by Him, not by means of merely passing move- ments towards the soul, but rather by the enveloping of His love, on which, as 8. John of the Cross expresses it, *‘ the soul is clothed in God, bathed in the Divinity.” ! This somewhat lofty conception of the Divine action upon the soul does help us to understand how the soul rests, and how she can say, “ His left Hand is under my head, and His right Hand doth embrace me.” There are particular times, no doubt, when we know this of ourselves ; but it is best understood by those who, what- ever their state, rest as by inward habit upon God. It is within our reach and will enter into our experience as we truly “abide in Him.” How wonderful is that support! It belongs to that reality of spiritual life which God has ever set before the faithful soul : ‘‘ Underneath are the everlasting arms.’’* So Moses, inspired by the love of God, presented the truth of it to those who were but beginning to understand. It is the truth which ages of spiritual experience have crystallised for us, and we should guard it with care. 1 §, John of the Cross, S.C., stanza xxv., note 1. * Deut. xxxiii. 27. H 98 VIA MYSTICA ‘His right Hand doth embrace me.” The Vulgate has shall embrace me, and the greater number of interpretations, often beautiful, are based upon that rendering. They make a distinction between the motion of the left hand, present, and the right hand, future. But undoubtedly the correct reading is that of both the A.V. and the R.V. of our Bible, which renders the whole verse in the present tense. Such words must be treated with utmost care and reverence. They refer to that which is known as “spiritual touch.” It is true that in the lives of the Saints, and in ways of verified spiritual experience, we meet with wonderful and rare acts and communications of which loving souls are profoundly conscious, and which might be pressed in illustration of this passage. But while we admit that they have their place, and that where they are felt they could not be separated from devout meditation upon these words, they are, as experiences, too high to afford that practical help which is the need of ordinary souls. ? We must seek a fuller and richer meaning which will include both those advanced experiences and also that which will be of more practical use. It has been said that God communicates Himself by an inward and spiritual touch, touching with loving inspirations the recesses of the heart, and our Lord joining Himself to the soul with such gentleness and affection as cannot be expressed but by those similitudes which the Book of Canticles makes mention . . . for God interiorly embraces him with the arms of charity and cherishes him, giving him inward testimonies of His presence, of the love that He bears him, and of the care that He has of him, with great tokens of peace and very familiar friendship. We understand the words of the Bride to mean, therefore, those interior communications of the Divine Love which she receives in the innermost of her being, and they appear to be given after she has proved the support of the left hand. Thus in a very practical way we see how the simple abandonment of love is the first and most necessary step. Highly mystical and spiritual as it is, this verse is most practical in appli- cation because of its simplicity. Where there is simple 1 Devine, 4 Manual of Mystical Theology, p. 441, CHAP 507 99 abandonment of soul in love to God there will follow some higher experience wholly in accord with those Divine expressions of love to which the Saints bear witness. And there is also joy in this; and first a joy of strength through union with God, and secondly a joy of affection. A further thought may be permitted here as we reflect that the Hands of the Beloved Who thus supports the Bride are pierced. His Wounds attest His love. If, on the one hand, we see in that fact the highest love, on the other, we marvel the more at that strange attitude to- wards Him which discourages simplicity, abandonment, and trustfulness. Verse 7. «