Commentary on the Song of Songs

Commentary on the Song of Songs

continued

Book II

The Song of Songs, in which that wisest of kings Solomon describes under the figure of the bridegroom and the bride the mysteries of Christ and the Church, namely the eternal King and His city, whoever wishes to read, must first remember that the entire congregation of the elect is generally called the Church. Yet now, for the sake of distinction, that portion of the faithful which preceded the times of the Lord's incarnation is called the Synagogue; while that which followed is named the Church. For the old Scripture is accustomed to designate the faithful people of that time by both terms. Both names, however, are Greek: Synagogue means congregation in Latin, and Church means convocation. By this name, it was more pleasing to call the faithful of this time, for a broader knowledge of spiritual understanding. Because it is proper for those who know how to hear and discern to be convoked; while stones or any other insensible things can be gathered together. However, both parts of the righteous, share the same faith and love of Christ; although they have different sacraments according to the reckoning of times, as the apostle Peter testifies, who says: Why do you tempt God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they (Acts XV).

For just as we, now that the mystery of the Lord's incarnation, passion, and resurrection has been accomplished, hope and believe to be saved, so too the earlier part of the Church, still expecting the future incarnation, passion, and resurrection of the Lord and Redeemer, believed that it would be saved through His grace, which it ardently desired to come. Thus the voice of this part resounds first in the song of love; to whom the holy prophets very often both pointed out the way of living and promised His advent, who, like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber, would grant the entire world the grace of a new blessing, began, surpassing the voices of the heralds, to desire more the presence of its King and Savior, saying:

Chapter 1

[Song of Solomon 1:2] -- Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth. Which is to say openly: I beseech him not to always send angels, not prophets, to instruct me; may he himself, who has been promised for so long, finally come, and enlighten me with the light of his presence, and, as if offering a kiss, comfort me by speaking with his own mouth; but also receive patiently the touch of my mouth, that is, not disdain to hear and instruct me when I inquire about the way of salvation. This desire of hers is known to have been fulfilled when, as we read in the Gospel: Jesus sat on the mountain, and his disciples came to him, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt. V). And again, when he reminded his disciples of the dignity of his presence, that is, of his coming in the flesh, saying: Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many kings and prophets desired to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Luke X). He also then opened his mouth to promise the unheard-of joys of the heavenly kingdom, when he had so often before opened the mouths of the prophets, who were promising his coming to the world.

But when the Synagogue, desiring the Lord to come, said through the prophets who proclaimed him, Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth, that is, may he himself impart to me the gifts of his doctrine, she suddenly turned her words to the very one for whom she was burning with desire, adding: For your breasts are better than wine. As if she were openly saying: Therefore I desire you to come, to be refreshed by your eyes, because the sweetness of your presence incomparably surpasses all the gifts which you sent through the heralds of your coming. Indeed, he says that wine represents the fervor of legal knowledge, and the breasts represent the rudiments of evangelical faith. About which Paul says: I have given you milk to drink, not solid food (I Cor. III). And again: For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified (I Cor. II). Thus, the breasts of the bridegroom are better than wine, because the rudiments of the New Testament immediately render those regenerated by water and the Spirit ready for the entry into heavenly life, which the long observance of the law could by no means accomplish, not even in those who, inflamed by the taste of heavenly sweetness, could truly say to God with the Psalmist: And your cup that intoxicates, how glorious it is (Psal. XXII)! The Apostle confirms this, saying: For the law made nothing perfect (Hebr. VII).

But if the breasts of Christ, that is, the beginnings of the Lord's faith, are better than the wine of the law, how much more does the wine of Christ, that is, the perfection of evangelical doctrine, surpass all legal ceremonies! If the sacraments of His incarnation lead to life, how much more do the recognition of His divinity and the glory of His vision! For the bridegroom himself signifies that he has not only milk, but also wine, when he says later: I drank my wine with my milk. How much his wine excelled the wine of the law, he mystically signifies in the Gospel, where, when the old wine failed at the typical nuptials of the Church, he himself made new wine from water, truly worthy of greater praise. And rightly does he call the bridegroom's breasts by a member of a woman's body, to manifestly speak figuratively from the very beginning of the song. Just as in the Apocalypse, which is also a typical book, when John says about Him: I saw in the midst of the seven golden lampstands one resembling a Son of man, dressed in a long robe (Apoc. I). He adds, And he was girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. Nor does the bridegroom himself, that is, our Lord, refuse to transfer to himself the figure of the female sex, when through Isaiah he says: Shall I, who cause others to bring forth, not bring forth myself? says the Lord. If I who grant generation to others, will I be sterile?

And again: As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you (Isa. LII). And in the Gospel to the unbelieving city: How often have I desired to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing (Matth. XXIII)?

Song of Songs 1:3

The fragrance of the finest ointments. The finest ointments are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, by which the breasts of Christ have a fragrance, because the holy teachers, the ministers of the evangelical milk, progress in the love of virtues through the anointing of the Spirit. And indeed the ointments were good, with which the prophets and priests were visibly anointed under the law; but those ointments are the finest with which the apostles and their successors are invisibly anointed. Of these Paul says: And He who anointed us is God, and who sealed us, and gave us the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Cor. 1). And the apostle John: And the anointing which you have received from Him, remains in you (1 John 2). And you do not need anyone to teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about all things, etc. (Ibid.). Also, they are fragrant with the finest ointments when they spread the reputation of their good works or preaching far and wide; just as they themselves say: But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ Jesus, and manifests the fragrance of His knowledge through us in every place (2 Cor. 2). Moreover, he gives the reason why His breasts are fragrant with the finest ointments, while he adds:

Song of Songs 1:3

Oil poured forth is your name. Nor is it to be wondered if his limbs exude with ointments, for he himself received his name from oil, so that by anointing he is called Christ, that is, the anointed one. That anointing indeed of which Peter says: "How God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power" (Acts 10). For indeed, the Holy Spirit is accustomed to be understood by the name of oil, as the prophet testifies, who in the praises of the same bridegroom says: "God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions" (Psalms 45). Therefore, his name is not oil dropped, but poured forth, because as his precursor said of him: "God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand" (John 3). He is also rightly considered by the name of poured oil among his elect, upon whom, appearing in the flesh, he lavishly poured out the gift of his Spirit, so that the things once held secret in one nation, Judea, now, by clear grace, flooded the ends of the whole world, fulfilling the prophecy which said: "I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh" (Joel 2). Explaining this, the apostle Peter said: "Exalted therefore at the right hand of God, and having received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured forth this gift which you see and hear" (Acts 2). Therefore, his name is oil poured forth, because it is rightly named for what it is, that is, full of the Holy Spirit, rightly named for what his gift of the Spirit works, anointing the hearts of the elect.

Song of Songs 1:3

Therefore, the young maidens have loved you. He calls young maidens the souls which, reborn in Christ, have cast away the filth of the old man. These adhere so much more to the love of their Creator, as they recognize themselves to receive solely by His grace, both the remission of sins and the gifts of the Spirit, through which they advance in virtues. Hence, they openly profess and say that the Love of God, namely the root of all virtues, has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Rom. V). It is also not to be doubted that the earlier saints loved the Lord with a perfect love, and that their pious throngs can mystically be called young maidens, who trampled the examples of the old sinner through the faith of truth, and pursued the rewards of a new life with undoubting hope. Therefore, one of them, certain already of the future good things, speaks to his soul, saying: Your youth will be renewed like the eagle's (Psal. CII). But these things now more aptly fit the heirs of the New Testament, because they are specifically regenerated to God as sons of adoption through the washing of grace. The more they love Him, the greater gifts they receive from Him, so that as soon as they are freed from the flesh, if they have lived rightly, they ascend to the joys of the heavenly kingdom.

Song of Songs 1:4

Draw me, we will run after you. So far, this is the voice of the Synagogue; that is, of that people who, faithfully devoted, anticipated the incarnation of the Savior, who responded with the prophets preaching for a long time at the beginning of the song: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth; that is, let him appear himself, and speaking mouth to mouth, may he grant me examples of living, and gifts. Then, in the following verses, she indicated what kind of gifts those would be, how much to be loved by chaste souls. Hence, the voice of the Church is introduced, that is, of those who came to faith after the time of his incarnation. For she first prayed for the Lord to come and bring her the kiss of peace; this one, knowing he has now come in the flesh and already ascended to heaven, no longer asks him to descend to her in the same way, but rather desires to follow him to heaven. Which, seeing that it cannot be done by herself, rightly implores the guidance of him to whom she wishes to come. Draw me, she says, we will run after you. As if she plainly says: Indeed, we would wish to run in your ways, to follow the footsteps of your works which you marked living on earth, to reach you presiding in heaven; but because without you we can do nothing, we pray that you deign to give us your hand;

help us running to you with your assistance. Thus, indeed, we can only rightly run and finish the race if we run with you as leader and helper. Hence the Apostle, who boasts, saying: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith (II Tim. II), in another place clearly teaches whether he could direct his steps by himself, or ran being drawn by the Lord, saying: But I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (I Cor. XV). Though it is said in the singular number, Draw me, it is joined, We will run, because the Church of Christ is one throughout the world, and it consists of many faithful souls; who in this place are called maidens, due to the life of new conversation.

Song of Songs 1:4

The king has brought me into his chambers. The eternal king's chambers are the inner joys of the heavenly homeland, into which the holy Church has now been brought through faith and will be fully brought in the future through reality. The bride, that is, the Church of Christ, speaks to the young maidens, the faithful souls, her members newly reborn in Christ. Therefore, I beseech the bridegroom to help us, running after him, by giving his hand, lest we fail; because I have already tasted the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, I have already tasted and seen that the Lord is good. I have already known the good things prepared for me in heaven, revealed by him. And then, turning to the one who revealed these things to her, her king and Lord, she hastens to give thanks for his benefits, saying: [Song of Solomon 1:4] -- We will exult and rejoice in you, etc. Which is to say openly, By no means do we exalt ourselves for the received gifts; but in everything that we live well, we exult, indeed, we will always exult and rejoice in your mercy; remembering always, how much kindness you have shown us, in how you have been pleased to mitigate the austerity of the law with the grace of evangelical faith.

Song of Songs 1:4

The righteous love you. Therefore, not in ourselves, but we will exult and rejoice in you, mindful of your gifts, because all those who are upright in heart have learned that you are to be loved before all and above all. Nor can those who prefer anything to your love be completely righteous, from whom alone they have whatever good they possess. And consider what he said earlier: The young maidens loved you; but now, he says, The righteous love you. And it should be gathered that he called youth nothing other than the uprightness of heart, when those who have cast off the impurity of the old man put on the new man, which is created according to God in justice, and holiness, and truth. Likewise, the righteous love you, because no one can truly love the Lord unless they are upright. For whoever violates the righteousness of justice by deed, word, or even thought, in a wicked manner, vainly say they love the Creator, whose commands they despise. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, as the evangelist John testifies (1 Epistle V). But after the holy Church has been brought into the cellars of Christ, namely through the knowledge and hope of heavenly goods, after she has learned to love him with an upright heart, and to rejoice and exult only in his grace, it remains to show what struggle she undergoes for the same love of him, and what affliction she endures for the acquisition of the goods she has tasted.

Song of Songs 1:5

I am black, etc. Black evidently from the adversity of oppressions, but beautiful in the comeliness of virtues; truly, the more beautiful in the sight of the internal judge, the more harassed and seemingly defiled by the greater oppressions of the foolish. However, the daughters of Jerusalem, to whom she speaks, are called souls imbued with heavenly sacraments, longing for the home of the heavenly homeland. For consoling these in her tribulations, the holy mother says: I am black, but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem. As if she plainly says, Indeed, I appear very vile in the eyes of the persecutors; but before God, I shine gloriously in the confession of truth. Therefore, it does not behove you to be saddened in this exile of labors, who remember that you are citizens of the heavenly homeland, who hasten toward the vision of eternal peace through the adversities of the fleeting world.

Song of Songs 1:5

Like the tents of Kedar, etc. Kedar was the son of Ishmael, of whom it was said: His hand against all, and the hand of all against him (Gen. XVII). The truth of which prophecy is proven today by the nation of the Saracens, who are hated by all and descended from him: and the Psalmist, besieged by afflictions, affirms this when he says: I have lived with those who dwell in Kedar, my soul has been a long-time sojourner. With those who hate peace, I was peaceful (Psal. CXIX). For neither is it read that David suffered any hatred from the Ishmaelites themselves; but wanting to exaggerate the evils he suffered from Saul or his other adversaries, he lamented that he was vexed by the wickedness of the nation, which never sought peace with anyone. On the contrary, Solomon was peaceful both in name and in life. Hence, as Scripture testifies, all the kings of the lands desired to see the face of Solomon, to hear the wisdom that God had given into his heart. Therefore, he says: I am black but beautiful, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon; it is distinguished thus: she is black as the tents of Kedar, beautiful as the curtains of Solomon. For the holy Church, often darkened by the afflictions of unbelievers, seems as if it were an enemy to the entire world, fulfilling the word the Lord said, And you will be hated by all because of my name (Matt. X).

Thus, she is always beautiful in the sight of her Redeemer, as if truly worthy to be visited by the King of peace himself. And it should be noted that Kedar, by its very name, which signifies darkness, hints at either wicked men or unclean spirits. Just as Solomon, who is interpreted as peaceful, also indicates by the mystery of the name itself; of whom it is written, His empire will be multiplied, and peace will have no end; upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, and so on (Isaiah IX). And when it is said that the Church is black like the tents of Kedar, it is placed not for truth, but for the estimation of the foolish, who think it provides a dwelling for vices or evil spirits within itself. But when it is called beautiful as the curtains of Solomon, it is placed as an example of truth, because, as Solomon was accustomed to make tents for himself out of the skins of dead animals, so the Lord gathers the Church for himself out of those animals who have learned to renounce carnal desires. Hence he said to all: If anyone wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matt. XVI). And the Apostle says, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth (Coloss. III). Some, reading this sentence thus, Black am I but beautiful, say that the Church is black in her carnal members or false brethren, like the tents of Kedar;

but beautiful in her spiritual members, like the curtains of Solomon. But if we pay attention to what is written about the Lord, We saw him, and he had neither form nor beauty (Isaiah LIII); which was said not about his sin, for he had absolutely no sin, but about his passion, it is evident that the Church too, not because of sins or the vices of sinners, but because of her temptations and her sufferings, with which she is constantly exercised, claims to be black. This sense is affirmed also by the following words, when it is said:

Song of Songs 1:6

Do not consider me because I am dark, etc. Which is to say openly: Do not marvel at me, O daughters of Jerusalem, that is, souls devoted to God, because I am despised by men, because the heat of temptations, which for my inner beauty I do not cease to endure, has rendered me outwardly dark, whom, nonetheless, the heavenly grace has granted to be inwardly charming. Which is like the apostle Peter: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings (1 Peter 4). And indeed, sometimes the name of the Lord Himself is signified by the sun, as it is said of His ascension: The sun was lifted up, and the moon stood still in its place; sometimes of His chosen ones, as He says: The righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13). But in this place, it is better that the fervor of tribulations be figured by the appellation of the sun, according to what He Himself says about seeds sown on the rock: When the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away (Matthew 13). Which, later explaining it, He says thus: When tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away (Matthew 13), clearly declaring that tribulation and persecution are figured by the term "sun.

Just as those who reside quietly at home often have whiter limbs, while those who work in the vineyard or garden or any other outdoor labor often have darker limbs due to much sun, so does the holy Church, the more earnestly she girds herself for spiritual combat, perceive fiercer snares of the old enemy rising against her. And just as the sinner is often praised in the desires of his soul, and he who commits iniquity is blessed, so sometimes the just man is reproached in the virtues of his soul; and he who acts rightly is cursed, as Paul attests, who says: We bless when reviled; we endure persecution; when slandered, we entreat (1 Corinthians 4). But He Himself, whose cause it is for which it happens, teaches the faithful that this ensnarement of blasphemy should be of little account, indeed that they should rejoice in it, saying, "Blessed are you when men curse you; and if they persecute you and say all manner of evil against you, and so forth (Matthew V). Because therefore the holy Church sees itself adorned internally with faith and virtues, but bears witness that it is burned externally by persecutions, it remains to show whence it endured the first rage of persecution. It follows:

Song of Songs 1:6

"The sons of my mother fought against me, etc. It is the voice of the primitive Church, which receives the wars of tribulations from the Synagogue itself, from which it derives its carnal origin, as the Acts of the Apostles most fully teach. In this sentence, firstly, it must be noted that the bride of Christ rightly asserts that she has been darkened by the sun, who used to work as a subordinate laborer cultivating and guarding the vineyard. There was, however, one vineyard of Christ in Jerusalem, namely the primitive Church itself, which on the day of Pentecost, that is, on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of the Lord, was dedicated by the coming of the Holy Spirit. At that time, its guardians were the apostles themselves. But after the persecution occurred, during the time of the blessed martyr Stephen, all were dispersed throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles, it happened that there were many vineyards, that is, many churches of Christ in various places, preaching the word to those who were dispersed here and there. Indeed, by the action of divine providence, this dispersion of the Church of Jerusalem was the occasion for establishing many churches. Hence it is well that our codices have "They were scattered; in Greek it says diesparisan, that is, "they were disseminated throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. And shortly after, "Those who were disseminated went about evangelizing the word of God:

because the Jewish persecutors, indeed wishing to overthrow the Church, unwillingly spread the seed of the word more widely, and by persecuting one Church in Jerusalem, unwillingly caused many Churches to exist widely. So, when the primitive Church said it was darkened by afflictions, because the sons of its mother, that is, the parricidal Synagogue, hated and attacked it, it immediately added how much it had profited from these same afflictions, adding in the person of those to whom the care of preaching was entrusted: "They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept."

Song of Songs 1:6

And as if to say openly, "The bitterness of my persecutors has brought me such advantage and utility, that I have become the keeper of many vineyards, that is, churches of Christ, after the primitive vineyard, that is, the Church which I first began to establish and guard in Jerusalem, was scattered by their multitude. But the not keeping of the vineyard is to be referred not to the mind, but to the place: for indeed at that time, a significant part of the Church withdrew from Jerusalem due to persecution, which nonetheless retained the entire integrity of faith fixed in the heart, and even took up the duty of preaching with devout mouth, as we have said before. Some think that this phrase, 'They made me the keeper in the vineyards, my own vineyard I have not kept,' should be distinguished in such a way that by the name of 'vineyard,' the Church of Christ is indicated; but by the appellation 'vineyards,' the various decrees of the law and the diverse traditions of the Pharisees are understood. And they say, 'They have placed the Church among the vineyards,' who compelled the faithful to be circumcised, and to observe the ceremonies of the carnal law. Among these was he who said, 'And frequently punishing them in all the synagogues who believed, I will persecute them even to foreign cities' (Acts XXII).

Therefore, he did not keep his own vineyard, with no small number of the faithful being scattered by him from Jerusalem, as if hewing down the branches of the heavenly vineyard. Yet the root of it could by no means be uprooted. But because the greater the adversity that tempts the faith of the elect, the more urgently it is necessary that they invoke the Redeemer's help, fittingly the holy Church, after lamenting that the sons of her mother rose up against her, and that her vineyard was shaken by their invasion, mindful of the Lord's promise where He said, 'In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world' (John XVI), with a solicitous heart turned to Him, prays, saying:

Song of Songs 1:7

Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, etc. Well indeed does she call him whom she seeks for protection, the beloved of her soul, because the more serious the danger from which she wishes to be rescued, the more she loves him through whom she knows she will be saved. This is similar to what the Psalmist says, "I will love you, O Lord, my strength" (Psalm 17). Which openly means, Therefore I do not cease to love you with all my mind, because I perceive that without your grace I can have no strength. She also implies that he is a shepherd, saying, Where you pasture, where you lie at midday. According to what he himself testifies in the Gospel: "I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and my sheep know me" (John 10). He who pastures his sheep lies among them at midday, because he refreshes the hearts of his faithful ones with the memory of heavenly sweetness, so that they do not wither in the heat of temptations, and he is accustomed to mercifully dwell in them. Thus also the Psalmist says, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures" (Psalm 23). Hence John says, "He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4). Therefore, because many false prophets go out into the world, saying "Look, here is Christ," or "There he is" (Matthew 24), the Church of Christ must always carefully discern who they are in whom he can be found, both in their profession and in their deeds; and she must implore him with pious words to deign to reveal himself: Tell me, she says, O you whom my soul loves, where you pasture, where you lie at midday.

Song of Songs 1:7

"That I may not begin to wander among the flocks of your companions, etc. As if he says openly, Because the multifarious persecution by my adversaries affects me like the heat of the midday; I beseech you to declare to me, O my Redeemer and Protector, in which places I might find those who are refreshed by the grace of your presence, and what are those teachings among all that align with your evangelical truth, lest, with your help being delayed, I might perhaps stumble upon the congregations of those who err, for without your guidance, I can in no way enter the path of truth. For even heretics can not inappropriately be called his companions, inasmuch as they carry around either the confession or the mysteries of his name. Did not the bride of Christ do this, when the false apostles came to Antioch, namely, his companions, and preached, Except you be circumcised according to Moses, you cannot be saved (Acts XV), already wearied by no small fervor of sedition and question, finally sent Paul and Barnabas to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, to more certainly discern what was the truth of the Gospel? And after the conflict was finished, it was proven among them, whom James, and Cephas, and John, and the other apostles educated, that the Lord Christ was the shepherd and dweller, and that his flock, the Church, was to be safeguarded from the flocks of companions, that is, from the people of the heretics.

Did not the bride of Christ also do this in subsequent times, when the sons of her mother fought against her, that is, when heresies rose up against her from within her, soon diligently seeking what was the truth of faith, by convening the councils of the Fathers? But, because the same bride, that is, the Church of Christ, while seeking the help of his presence in her tribulations, adds on behalf of the weak. That I may not begin to wander among the flocks of your companions, he immediately rebukes the same trepidation with kind reproof, as if saying that evangelical thing, Ye of little faith, why did you doubt (Matt. XIV)? For it follows:

Song of Songs 1:8

If you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go forth, etc. Why, he says, do you speak in such a way as if you could by any means be abandoned by me amidst temptation, and you complain that you have been darkened by the excessive fervor in guarding our vineyard from the enemies, as if by the sun of midday, which I myself have endowed through the washing of regeneration to be already fair among women, that is, among the synagogues of other doctrines, but I have decided that you should be rendered much fairer by the examination of tribulations? But if you perhaps do not know this, do you not now remember that no one is crowned unless he has competed according to the rules (II Tim. II)? Withdraw from my company, and follow after the footsteps of the flocks; that is, imitate the acts of those who err, although I have decreed you rather to be the keeper of my one flock, which was to have one fold and one shepherd.

Song of Songs 1:8

And feed your kids beside the tents of the shepherds. That is, feed lost listeners, having followed the doctrines of foolish teachers, abandoning the words of the wise, which are given by the counsel of teachers from one shepherd. For indeed if you love me, I have ordered you to feed my lambs, that is, the souls serving me simply and innocently with the word of salvation; I have wanted you to devote such care to this duty, that you would prefer to endure all adverse things, even to undergo the torment of death itself, rather than desist from their feeding. But if you do not know that you have been betrothed to me under such a condition, rather feed your kids, that is, those united with erring teachers, yielding to the luxurious and proud; who are rightly called kids, and your kids, namely, who are to be placed on the left in judgment. Yours indeed, because they are not instructed according to the rule of my commandments, but rather according to your errors, that is, those whom you retained before you were joined to me. However, the Lord does not say this by commanding, but rather by threatening, and by indicating what happens to those who, not bearing the adversities of temptations, separate themselves from the unity of the peace of the church. As in the Gospel, when he says: Either make the tree good and its fruit good; or make the tree bad and its fruit bad (Matt. XII). He does not command us to do evil, but teaches what reward awaits evildoers. Because indeed the Lord does not want the holy Church to be ignorant of itself, but earnestly desires it to learn what it has received from him as gifts, and what it must suffer or do for his love, he consequently indicates to it what its state is when he adds:

Song of Songs 1:9

I have likened you, my friend, to my horse-drawn chariots of Pharaoh. For indeed, He calls His cavalry the army of the children of Israel, whom He freed from Egyptian bondage, leading them across the Red Sea into the desert, and brought into the land of the inheritance promised long ago, while the chariots of Pharaoh, which pursued them and wanted to drag them back to servitude, were drowned in the same sea. He calls it a cavalry because just as a charioteer is accustomed to presiding over his cavalry, so the Lord Himself then presided over that people, governing and leading them through the path of salvation. And He compared His Church, which He made His friend through the water of regeneration, to that cavalry: for just as the people were indeed greatly terrified by the approaching chariots of Pharaoh, but were nevertheless saved by heavenly protection, so He has always taught the Church to trust in His protection amidst the threats of persecutors. For even the fact that a pillar of fire then illuminated the people of God, while thick darkness overshadowed the Egyptian troops, so that throughout the whole night they couldn't approach each other; this too never ceases to happen in the night of this age, when the divine dispensation, separating the just from the reprobate with precise judgment, illuminates the just with His grace, but leaves the others in the deserved blindness.

And even this, when they came to the Red Sea, the children of Israel were freed with the waters divided, while the Egyptians, with the waters returning upon them, were drowned with their horses and chariots, is it not evident that the very wave of death, which will face all mortals, carries the wicked to destruction, but opens the path to salvation for the pious? The other events too, which we read happened to the cavalry of God, that is, the people of Israel, during the time of the Egyptian persecution, are found, the more diligently they are explained, the more clearly they reveal themselves as a foreshadowing in the holy universal Church, of which that was a part. And since it is taught in this verse how the Lord protects the Church amidst adversities, it remains to be shown how much the Church itself maintains the love of the same Lord and protector in the face of adversities. It is added:

Song of Songs 1:10

Your cheeks are beautiful, etc. It is said to be the nature of the turtle-dove that, if deprived by the loss of its mate, it does not unite with another. This suitably applies to the chastity of the Church, which, although widowed by the death of its Lord and Bridegroom, is so bound by His memory—knowing that He has risen from the dead and now reigns in heaven—that it cannot accept the company of others, content with the love of Him alone, to whom it hopes eventually to reach. Hence, instructed by the words of an excellent teacher, it usually declares that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. VIII). Therefore, since the seat of modesty is typically in the cheeks, it is rightly said to the holy Church, fearing that it might stray from the way of truth through the examples of the wicked (as it says: Lest I begin to wander through the flocks of your companions), by the response of Truth itself: Your cheeks are beautiful, like those of a turtle-dove. This means, I have adorned you with such a virtue of saving modesty that you may never be corrupted, either by the desire of transient things or by the hearing of perverse doctrines, from the chastity of the faith promised to me. And what is the greatest grace for preserving this sobriety, He reveals by adding the following.

Song of Songs 1:10

Your neck is like jewels, etc. Through the neck, we transfer food into the body to be nourished, and we utter words to reveal the secrets of our hearts to others. Thus, rightly in the neck of the Church, the figure of teachers is designated, who instruct the ignorant with the word of edification, and with the office of the same instruction, transmit the food of salvation to the members of the holy Church entrusted to them. This neck rightly resembles necklaces. Necklaces are ornaments that usually hang on the necks of virgins. Although by the word "necklaces," sometimes all ornaments of matrons are denoted, because the steadfastness of spiritual teachers is fortified and adorned with heavenly virtues, as they show by their deeds what they teach with their words. Little chains are also ornaments for the neck of a virgin; namely, chains of gold interwoven with small rods, and sometimes varied with added silver rods, as this thought proves, which take their name from the resemblance to the sea eel. These aptly signify the woven nature of the divine Scriptures, by which the beauty of the holy Church increases, as each of the faithful, seeing the sayings and deeds of the fathers, strives to shine more and more with virtues. For the gold, from which the little chains are said to be made, is the brightness of spiritual understanding; the silver, with which they are said to be interwoven, is considered the brightness of heavenly eloquence.

What he promises in the plural number, "We will make for you," is about those through whom the sacred Scripture, by the acting and cooperating Spirit of God, was ministered to us; many of whom, at the time when Solomon was prophesying this, were yet to come. Therefore, he surrounds the neck of the bride with golden little chains, interwoven with silver, because he prepared divine apexes to be instilled in those he placed in charge of teaching the faithful in the Church. He surrounds his neck with little necklaces composed of craftsmanship, while every faithful soul, in all that it speaks and acts, indeed in all that it lives and breathes, continually directs its attention to the Holy Scriptures, diligently guiding its mind and words according to their examples. Thus this little verse is connected to the previous one, stating that they are beautiful like the cheeks of the holy Church's turtle-dove, that is, its inviolate modesty persists; because frequent meditation on the divine Scripture does not allow it to err. The ancient translation has this passage: "We will make gold likenesses for you with silver markings until the king is in his resting place. In which assuredly, the brightness of the heavenly homeland is properly expressed by the name of gold, whose likenesses, and not that incorruptible brightness itself, are shown to us in this life through the Holy Scriptures, the Apostle saying: "For now we see through a glass darkly, that is, in likenesses; but then face to face" (I Cor. XIII).

Finally, Moses himself, to whom, as we read in Exodus, God spoke face to face, as a man speaks to his friend (Exod. XXXIII), knowing that he had not seen His glory itself, prayed, saying: "If I have found grace in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you," and again, he said, "Show me your glory"; which the Lord also revealed when responding to him, saying, "You will not be able to see my face; for no man shall see me and live" (Exod. XXXIII). Therefore, the vision of the divine face is not denied to us, but it is denied to those still living in this mortality; yet, it is promised to the pure-hearted in the future. Furthermore, this likeness of his face and perpetual beatitude is shown not only to the fathers, appearing in the angels of the Lord, but it is also not obscurely shown to us reading the writings of the fathers today, as we strive with our mind always to retain what they said about the glory of the heavenly homeland and continually sigh to see it. These likenesses with the distinctions are made of silver because with the shine of spiritual words, heavenly mysteries are revealed to us. And because in this life alone, and not in the future, we need the comforts and aids of such likenesses, it is aptly added:

Song of Songs 1:12

As long as the king is at his recline. That is, as long as Christ is in his secret, and has not yet appeared to us in the glory of his Father, to render to each according to his work. Then indeed, as Isaiah says: "The eyes of the saints will see the king in his beauty" (Isaiah XXXIII). And hence the Apostle also says: "Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, our life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory" (Colossians VIII). But he was in his recline, that is, in his hidden place, the king Christ, not only before his incarnation and ascension into heaven, but even at that time when he appeared visibly to the world in the flesh, because not then either did he show the clarification of the assumed humanity or the eternal glory of divinity to his faithful who remained with him in the flesh, which he promised to all the elect as a reward of faith in the future life. However, our edition, which is translated from the Hebrew source, joins the end of this verse, where it is said: "As long as the king is at his recline," to the following verse, which is to be discussed henceforth. But the Church, having received so many gifts or promises from her Creator, immediately responded, and declared with what devotion of works she received them, by adding, saying:

Song of Songs 1:12

While the king was at his table, etc. However, he calls the king's table the time of his incarnation, through which he deigned to humble himself for us and be lowered so that we might be raised. In this table, he also wished to refresh his church with vital food and himself to be refreshed by its good deeds. Hence, he says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever (John 6). And again, speaking to the disciples about the believing peoples, he says: I have food to eat that you do not know about (John 4). Truly the smell of nard represents the fragrance of good action. While the king was at his table, he says, my nard gave its scent: because when the Son of God appeared in the flesh, the Church grew in the fervor of heavenly virtues. Not that it did not have spiritual and God-devoted men before his incarnation, but because without any doubt, it then dedicated itself to more rigorous pursuits of virtues when it realized that the entrance to the heavenly kingdom would be open to all who live rightly as soon as they were freed from the bonds of the flesh.

It should be noted that the description of this verse was also literally fulfilled in the deeds of Mary Magdalene, who held the type of the Church, when she, with the Lord reclining at the dinner, poured ointment of nard on his head and feet, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment, as the holy Gospels testify. In one Gospel, it is also indicated what the nature of this nard is when it says: A woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly ointment of pure nard (Mark 14): because its tops spread like spikes; therefore, the perfumers celebrate the spikes and leaves of the nard with twin gifts. Physiologists write that it is principal among ointments. Hence, it was suitably prepared for the anointing of the Lord's body. Moreover, it is a shrub, they say, with a heavy and thick root, but short, black, and fragile, although it is oily, smelling like cypress with a harsh taste, a small and dense leaf. There are many kinds of it, but all are precious, except the Indian one, which is more precious.

Song of Songs 1:13

A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, etc. And this, according to the letter, we read was fulfilled concerning our Savior when, after His passion was accomplished and His body taken down from the cross, Nicodemus came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds' weight. And they took His body and wrapped it in linen cloths with spices. Therefore, the beloved of the Church was made a bundle of myrrh when the Lord, anointed with myrrh and aloe, was wrapped in linen cloths: indeed, this bundle abides between the breasts of the bride when the Church unceasingly meditates in her innermost heart on the death of her Redeemer. For who does not know that the place between the breasts is the heart? And the bundle of myrrh shall abide between the breasts of the bride when every soul consecrated to God strives, with intent mind, as much as it can, to imitate the death of Him by whom it knows itself redeemed, mindful of that apostolic saying, "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" (Galatians V). Truly, because the glory of the resurrection soon followed the death of our Mediator and Savior, rightly the bride adds:

Song of Songs 1:14

My beloved is to me a grape-cluster from Cyprus in the vineyards of Engaddi. And indeed, according to the surface of the letter, the sense of this verse is: Just as the Cyprus island is accustomed to produce clusters of grapes larger than other lands, and just as in the city of Judea, called Engaddi, vines more noble than the rest are grown, from which a liquid flows not of wine but of balsam, so my beloved to me is connected with a special love above all others, so much so that no creature can separate me from His affection. Typically, however, just as myrrh, because of its bitterness (for it is as healthy for healing infirmities as it is bitter to taste) signifies the sorrow of the Lord's passion, where He Himself also received myrrhed wine to drink from the soldiers, and buried by the disciples was anointed with myrrh, as we have said; so also the cluster not incongruously announces the joy of His resurrection. For wine gladdens the heart of man (Psalm CIII). Hence, the Lord in His resurrection became a cluster of Cyprus who had been a bundle of myrrh in His passion. Rightly He abides between the breasts of the bride, because the same was turned into a cluster for a vineyard. Holy Church, therefore, never removes the memory of the Lord's death from her heart, because He who died for her transgressions also rose for her justification.

And to her who follows in His footsteps, He provided an example of rising after the anguish of death. He is also remembered as being in the vineyards of Engadi; for in the vineyards of Engadi, as we have mentioned before, balsam is produced, which in the making of chrism, is customarily mixed with olive oil, and consecrated by episcopal blessing, so that all the faithful may be signed with this anointing during the laying on of hands by the priest, by which the Holy Spirit is received; with which also the Lord's altar, when it is dedicated, and other things which ought to be sacred, are anointed. Hence, very rightly through the vineyards of Engadi, divine charisms are figured. And the bridegroom is in the vineyards of Engadi, because the Lord himself appearing in the flesh is full of the Holy Spirit, and he himself bestows the gifts of the Spirit upon believers. Therefore, he calls balsam trees vineyards, because they rise in the manner of vineyards, which without supports do not sustain themselves; indeed, they are more similar to the vine than the myrtle, and distinguished by perpetual foliage, their height remains within two cubits; their seed has a taste similar to wine, its color red, the branches thicker than myrtle, which at certain times of the year ooze balsam. And the farmers are accustomed to cut their sprigs with sharp stones or bone knives; for the touch of iron spoils it.

Through these incisions, juice of excellent scent flows out, beautifully dripping with tears, collected in small horns of wool. Because it flows through a cavity in the bark, it is often called opobalsamum (for in Greek, opi means cavity), and the richest vein of each tree is struck three times in the summer heats. The most noteworthy is the first tear of the tree, the second from the seed, the third from the bark, the least from the wood. All these things, if considered carefully, most fittingly pertain to our Redeemer: who humble in the flesh, but appearing full of grace and truth, was wounded for our iniquities, and from his wounds poured out for us the sacraments of life and salvation. Hence, he himself, who is the power and wisdom of God, speaks in Ecclesiasticus, "And my scent is as the pure balsam" (Eccli. XXIV). Truly amazing is the order of words, that first the bride says, while the king is at his table, her nard has given forth its fragrance; then she compares him to a bundle of myrrh; thirdly, she calls him a cluster of henna; lastly, she remembers him to be in the vineyards of Engadi. Because first the devoted woman anointed the Lord reclining at the dinner with nard; then the disciples wrapped him anointed with myrrh for burial after the crucifixion, and after these things, he himself distributed spiritual gifts to the faithful with the joy of the resurrection soon to come.

Nor should it be overlooked that Engadi is translated as the fountain of the kid: by which name the sacred baptismal font is clearly shown, into which, still sinners and worthy of the left side, we descend; but, cleansed from the foulness of sins, and to be counted among the lambs, we ascend. And right when he meant the joy of the Lord's resurrection, by saying, "A cluster of henna is my beloved to me," he immediately added, "In the vineyards of Engadi," that is, the fountain of the kid, which is plainly to say, "In the spiritual gifts, which from the time of baptism are conferred upon the faithful. Thus far, the Church enumerates the gifts it has received from its Redeemer; these attest to the tokens of love. To which he soon replied in turn for remuneration:

Song of Songs 1:15

Behold, you are beautiful, my friend, etc. Behold, you are beautiful in pure works, by which you conduct yourself soberly, justly, and piously in this age. Behold, you are beautiful in the simplicity of heart, because for the sake of the intention of eternity, you persist in good deeds, awaiting the blessed hope and the coming of the glory of the great God. Your eyes are doves, the eyes of your heart are simple and pure, and entirely free from any duplicity of deceit and pretense. Therefore, they are very blessed, because such shall see God. Likewise, your eyes are doves, because your senses are endowed with spiritual understanding; for since the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord as a dove, rightly the spiritual sense and gifts are denoted by the term dove or doves. Likewise, the friend of Christ has the eyes of doves, because every soul that truly loves Him inwardly is not kindled by any desire for external things, like the manner of kites, nor does it contemplate anything harmful against any living beings. This is said to be characteristic of dove-like gentleness, which considers all things that occur with a simple, gentle, and humble heart. Hearing, therefore, from the Lord the twin beauty attributed to her, both of work and of intention with the simplicity of a pure heart, she immediately responded with a devoted voice:

Song of Songs 1:16

Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, and comely. As if it openly says: Indeed whatever beauty, simplicity, and spiritual grace I have, I have certainly received this through you, by whom I have also obtained forgiveness of sins and the efficacy of good action. But you are truly beautiful and comely without comparison, because you are God before the ages, always begotten from the Father, and when the time of my redemption came, conceived and born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin mother; not only free from all stain of iniquity, but also full of grace and truth, and you came into the world, and lived in the world; moreover, to all who partake of your grace, so that they too might be beautiful with virtues, you have given. Therefore, you are beautiful and comely, that is, wonderful both by the perpetuity of divine nature and the dignity of the assumed humanity. The splendor of whose beauty, because it usually becomes known to hearts at rest from exterior act, the more freely, the more clearly, according to that of the Psalmist, “Be at leisure and see that I am God” (Psalm 46), it rightly adds:

Song of Songs 1:16

Our bed is in bloom. For sometimes the holy Church, as though in a bed with the Lord, indeed her Bridegroom, rests; sometimes it stands with Him against the enemies in the battlefield; it stands in the battlefield when, in the face of sharper assaults of temptations, it engages in the struggle of faith against the wicked even unto blood; but it rests in the bed when, as times smile with peace, it renders free service to Him, turning the serene gaze of the mind to behold the glory of His majesty. Hence, rightly is the same bed said to be in bloom, because indeed the saints enjoy the tranquility of the times, and then they especially dedicate themselves to sacred readings, fasts, prayers, and other fruits of the Spirit, when they refrain from the labors of tribulations. Then they elevate themselves higher in the contemplation of heavenly matters, when they receive a serene time free from external disturbances. Moreover, the bed of the Church can rightly be understood to be in bloom, not only because of the works of purity, through which each of the elect arrive at the fruit of eternal life, but also because of the offspring of the faithful, whom the Church herself customarily brings forth to God, fragrant with the bloom of faith, through water and spirit.

To this action, which indeed the Lord cooperates with and confirms the word, she subjects herself more diligently the more she perceives a tranquil and peaceful time from the persecution of the envious by His granting. And it is to be noted that throughout the text of this little book, the bride always desires to remain in the house or in the bed or any other inner place with her Beloved, which is more fitting for the female sex; but the Bridegroom himself, which is fitting for the male, calls his friend to external works, namely, to the vineyards or gardens or other such things: because indeed the holy Church, if it could be, always desires to converse with the Lord in the peace of worldly tranquility, to propagate and nurture heavenly offspring for Him. But truly, He disposes that she be exercised with frequent tribulations in the present time, in order that she may come to eternal goods purer, and lest, if all temporal things perhaps run prosperous, delighted by the residence of the present exile, she might yearn less for the heavenly homeland. Therefore, the bride of Christ, desiring to live a quiet life with Him, consequently indicates what kind of houses she would like to receive Him in, saying

Song of Songs 1:17

The beams of our houses are of cedar, etc. Indeed, he calls his houses the various assemblies of the faithful throughout the world, from all of which the universal Church consists. However, the beams and ceilings designate the various orders of the faithful in these houses of the Church: for both are usually placed on high, but the beams are made for fortification, while the ceilings contribute more to the decor of the houses than to their fortification. Therefore, the beams signify the holy preachers, by whose word and example the structure of this same Church is supported so that it might stand, who by the strength of their doctrine withstand the storms of heretical attacks, lest they cast it down. The ceilings are likened to the simpler servants of Christ, who know rather to adorn the Church with their virtues than to defend it with words of doctrine and to fortify it against the onslaughts of perverse teachings. The ceilings, however, hang fastened to the beams, because it is necessary that whoever in the holy Church desires to shine with sublime virtues must cling with all their mind to the words and examples of the highest fathers, by which they are raised above earthly pursuits.

And it is well said that these beams are cedar and the ceilings are cypress, because it is known that both trees possess the properties of incorruptible nature, exceptional height, and remarkable fragrance, which aptly befits those who can say with the Apostle, We are the good aroma of Christ to God (II Cor. II), and, Our conversation is in heaven (Philip. III), and, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? and the rest (Rom. VIII). But also this, that the scent of cedar is known to drive away serpents, as the poet has said, Learn also to kindle fragrant cedar in your stables, and with the smell of galbanum to drive away heavy snakes: it is fittingly attributed to the high ceilings, that is, to the teachers, who are accustomed by the power of the heavenly word to repel the poisonous doctrines of heretics, and to drive them away from misleading the simple. This too, that its resin, called cedar resin, is so useful in preserving books that when they are smeared with it, they suffer neither moths nor the decay of time, who does not see how well it fits those same holy preachers, by whose spiritual sense the Sacred Scripture was composed, which by no heretical cunning can be corrupted, nor can any age of the passing world consume it; so much so that until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law, until all things be fulfilled (Matt. V)?

When the Lord said this about the law, how much more did He mean it to be understood about His Gospel? The cypress tree also, in that it is apt for healing the ailments of bodies, and that its graceful foliage is not displaced by any force of winds, expresses constancy, and the action of those who adorn the holy Church with higher virtues as ceilings do. Hence, the bride, that is, the holy Church, or any chosen soul, marvels at the beauty of her beloved; she praises the softness and cleanliness of the flowering bed; she proclaims the internal beauty of her houses, by which she suitably welcomes the beloved. But because toil rather than rest is fitting for the state of the present time, and in this life the elect, with Christ's help, are more engaged in pious deeds than enjoying peaceful leisure, he calls the bride to the exercise of labors and to enduring the companionship of the wicked, adding:

Chapter 2

[Song of Solomon 2:1] -- I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, etc. Indeed, you are delighted, O beloved, to bloom with secret virtues in quiet; but remember that I am the flower of virtues, from whom alone all spiritual fruit arises, and in whom alone you can have a flourishing rest. I am the flower of the field, because I desire the grace of my fragrance to be known throughout the breadth of the world. This cannot be fully accomplished if you do not, even if occasionally, leave the quiet you delight in, and gird yourself for the duty of preaching, which you ought to exercise. I am also the lily of the valleys more than of the mountains, for I am accustomed to reveal and manifest either the clarity of my glorious humanity or the splendor of eternal divinity in those who humbly submit to my rule of faith and love; who seek to follow my will rather than their own. And although they delight in the leisure of my internal contemplation, they do not refuse to advance to the labor of preaching when I command it. I have granted you the participation in my clarity so that you are compared to a lily, and evidently endowed with the white perfection of deeds and the precious splendor of a pure heart.

But lest you desire to have the security of rest in this life, know that in the present you must converse with the reprobates and bear the daily stings of the perverse; but in the future, you must hope for rest with the elect alone. For as the lily among the thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters, because you must endure not only adversities from those who are utterly alien to you in both mind and profession but also often suffer more sharply from the wickedness of those souls whom you rejoiced to have received into the number of daughters through the font of regeneration and through faith and the reception of heavenly sacraments. It can indeed be understood in what he said, I am the flower of the field, the birth of the undefiled Virgin. It can indeed be understood in what he added, And the lily of the valleys, the humility of those same parents of his. For he appeared as a flower not in a garden, but in a field, who took on from the untouched flesh of the Virgin Mother, flesh ignorant of sin and full of virtue; of whom Isaiah said, A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from his root (Isa. XI). He himself has germinated as the lily in the valleys, who moreover chose humble and poor parents for himself, from whom God would be born as man. Whence the Psalmist also says, "And the valleys shall be filled with wheat" (Psalm 64).

For he himself is wheat, as he refreshes us with the bread of life; he himself is the lily, as he has the divinity in the brilliance of the golden light in purity. And beautifully, in the lily, the outer brightness gradually unfolds first, and thus the golden color, which was hidden within, eventually opens: for the Lord, born into the world, first appeared as a sublime man to those who truly believed in him; but as time went on, it became known that he was truly God. And all the elect, through the sacraments of his humanity received, tend toward the contemplation of divine brightness. Therefore, when the weary Church, burdened by adversities, had said to the Lord, "Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, and comely; our bed is flourishing with flowers," and the other things that follow, surely desiring in times of peace to give effort to behold that beauty and comeliness, and to produce flowers either of good deeds or of the souls of the faithful, he himself responded, "I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters," as if saying openly: Remember that I, who could be born of a Virgin, who am God before the ages, appeared humbly in the world at the end of times as man; I always showed myself to be a companion of the humble and the poor in spirit, I reached death by steps of humility:

you, however, cease seeking the security of peace in this world; rather, shine brighter and softer like a lily among thorns; even if afflicted by the thorns of those close to you, more gracefully show the truth of your beauty. Having been praised by the Lord, the Church, for having kept the chastity of its faith undefiled among the spears of the faithless, and for having shone more gloriously among the horrors of the wicked, immediately responds with greater reciprocal praise, and recounts how the uniquely holy one stands out among the faithful deeds of the good.

Song of Songs 2:3

"As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, etc." This is what the Psalmist speaks of, "For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord? Or who is like God among the sons of God?" (Psalm 88). Just as the apple tree, which is pleasing to sight, smell, and taste, tends to surpass the wild trees, so does the man God rightfully surpass all who are pure men among the saints; and the merit of those who are sons of God by grace transcends the power of him who is the son by nature. Hence John says, "And we have seen his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1). Hence Apostle Paul says, "And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken: but Christ as a son over his own house." (Hebrews 3:5-6). Let the cedar shine therefore; let the cypress lift itself in height; let the other trees of the forests display the miracles of their beauty, fragrance, and worth. The apple tree surpasses them all, which, besides the sweetness of its smell and appearance, also contains the power for nourishment. Let the righteous shine with their virtues: he who, born of a Virgin, provides us with the supports of eternal life, surpasses all. Whence it is well added:

Song of Songs 2:3

Under the shadow of him whom I desired, I sat, etc. As if it were openly said, Therefore I judge my beloved to be preferred before all others, because in the sole protection of his piety, for whose desire I always burned, I find refreshment from the heat of tribulations, because I feel the most pleasant fruit of his gifts, by which I trust I am to be continually refreshed. But the holy Church desired to breathe a little under the shadow of the Author, when she complained that she was darkened by the excessive sun of persecutions, because the sons of her mother fought against her, when, imploring the help of his presence, she anxiously cried: Tell me, whom my soul loves, where you feed, where you rest at noon; when, not only worn out by the weariness of pressures but enticed by the memory of his beauty and comeliness, she said: Our bed is flowery. She showed that she had attained the desire, when she said: Under the shadow of him whom I desired, I sat, and his fruit was sweet to my throat. And it should be noted that above she proclaimed that the beams of her houses were cedar and the panelling cypress, yet she did not consider this protection sufficient for her, nor did she confess herself content with the contemplation of their loftiness and beauty; but she diligently sought the tree of life alone, in whose shadow she might rest, whose fruit might refresh her;

because although some saints are able to propose for us sublime examples of their virtues, to show us the path of heavenly life by preaching, to bring the support of their intercession with the Lord, yet to none of them, but to our beloved Savior alone, must we say, But the sons of men will put their trust under the cover of your wings; they will be satiated with the fatness of your house (Psalm 35). Whence it is deservedly said that as an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the sons. Rightly then is the only Son preferred to all the sons of God, who protects us like a shady tree from the heat of the pursuing world, refreshes us with heavenly sweetness like an unfading apple. How great the refreshment of his sweetness, how great its virtue, is subsequently shown, when it is said:

Song of Songs 2:4

The king brought me into the wine cellar, etc. Just as soon, she says, as the sweetness of His grace touched the throat of my heart, I felt myself so revived in spirit, and translated from the enjoyment of lowly things to heavenly desires, just as if, having been brought into the wine cellar, I were refreshed by the new fragrance and also by a cup. Therefore, rightly, He who gave such goods, converted me to loving Him with unquenchable charity. Typologically, since the grace of the Holy Spirit is often designated by the term wine; the Lord attesting, when He says that new wine is to be put into new wineskins (Matthew IX, Mark II, Luke V), that is, the fervor of spiritual gifts is to be infused into pure hearts. The wine cellar ought to be understood as the Church, in whose unity alone the Holy Spirit is typically given and received. Therefore, the beloved brought his friend into the wine cellar, because the Lord has gathered the Church from the whole world into one house for Himself, which He consecrated with the gift of His Spirit; this fabric, since it stands primarily on the foundation of charity, by His own work, it is rightly added after she said she was brought into the wine cellar, "He ordained charity in me.

He ordained charity in me, she said, that is, He graciously gave to me to have ordered charity, that everyone should love the Lord God with all his heart, all his soul, all his strength; he should love his neighbor as himself, and also tolerate his enemy by loving him. He who either does not know or neglects this order of charity is the one about whom the very ordainer and bestower of charity says, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me," etc. (Matthew X). Although the ordination of charity can rightly be understood as also being for confirmation, because things placed haphazardly are weak; but those placed in order remain firmly, so it is rightly said that the Lord ordained charity in the Church, which He is known to strengthen in the hearts of His faithful with suitable progress. It can also be understood thus what is said, "He ordained charity in me," as if it were said, He loved me with ordered charity, that is, He united all my members, that is, all the elect, to Himself with pious charity; but He embraces the more eminent with greater affection as is fitting, when it is said, "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John XIII). He therefore loved all; and yet a more tender love towards a certain one is intimated when it is said, "That disciple whom Jesus loved" (John XXI).

In the Church, according to the distinction of merits, He loves some more than others. Again, "He ordered love in me": He Himself loved me first, and by loving me, in order that I might learn to return His love, He granted it; hence He says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John XV). Hence also the apostle John says, "This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins" (1 John IV). Again, the Lord ordained love in the Church, because the very love by which He chose her before the ages, through some degrees of progress, He demonstrated in the increments of times; for the Apostle, as a witness, says, "God commends His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans V). And with the increasing revelation of the same love, John says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, and we are" (1 John III). Again, concerning the same perfect love, which no greater can be, and which itself can never diminish, the Lord Himself says: "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and the rest" (John XIV).

For when He said with the verb of the present tense, "He who loves me," which can in no way be done unless one is first loved by Him, and kindled by the grace of His Spirit to love Him, what is it that He immediately subjoined with the verb of the future tense: "He will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him"? unless it is that he who is still now loved by God, so that by believing he may be able to love, will then certainly be loved by God, so that by seeing Him he may love Him more, and with His face revealed, he may love Him more truly with all his strength, as he endures nothing from lesser things that could hinder this love. Therefore, the Lord ordains love in the Church, by which He either loves her Himself or enflames her to hold rightly to love of Him and neighbor. And how much that very love, having perfectly absorbed the mind, raises it from the love of feeble things, He teaches in the following verse, when He says:

Song of Songs 2:5

"Sustain me with flowers, surround me with apples," etc. For the soul languishes with love when it truly tastes the ordered love of its Creator in itself, because when it is kindled to seek the light of eternity, it tires from the love of temporality, so that it cools in its zeal for the passing world as much as it rises more ardent to contemplate the joys of the eternal kingdom. But let us see, soul, who burns with such love, what place it seeks to lie down in, where it may rest when weary. "Sustain me," it says, "with flowers, surround me with apples." In the flowers are still tender beginnings of virtues, in the apples perfection is signified. Therefore, the soul languishing with love beseeches the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, those souls who preceded it in heavenly desire, to help its own beginnings with good examples, and to recall to its memory more frequently by what start, by what course, by what end they completed the way of virtues, so that through the sight of these, as if by a most pleasing scent of flowers and apples, it may lie down more softly and sweetly in the love of its Creator. This can equally be understood both from the deeds of the saints which we have before our eyes and from those which we gather from the fields and groves of the Scriptures, as well from the deeds or sayings of the preceding fathers.

Song of Songs 2:6

His left hand under my head, etc. In the left hand of Christ, temporal gifts are signified, and in the right hand, the happiness of eternal life. Therefore it is written elsewhere of him, who is the power and wisdom of God, "Length of days is in his right hand, and in his left hand riches and glory. Therefore the holy Church shows, the soul perfectly intent on the love of its Redeemer shows, what kind of rest it might find in this life which it so eagerly seeks, how it desires to lie in that flowery bed of virtues with its beloved in this exile of pilgrimage. He says, "His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me. But he calls his head, the principal part of the mind; and the beloved places his left hand under the head of his bride when the Lord confirms the hearts of the faithful still dwelling in this life with the knowledge of his understanding, lifts them up with participation in his sacraments, grants them the pledge of his Spirit, and suggests the comforts of the holy Scriptures. And his right hand shall embrace her when he also promises her the everlasting kingdom of heavenly life after this life. And it is well said that the left hand supports the head, and the right hand embraces her, because we receive temporal gifts as an aid for this pilgrimage, but we shall see heavenly rewards without end.

Rightly then does the bride, who earlier languished in love and sought to be supported by flowers and surrounded by apples, now attest to having the hand of her beloved under her head. For even if the lover of the Creator delights in the flowers of virtues, in the progress of neighbors with whom he reaches the vision of His face, and in the remembrance of the examples of ancient saints, whereby he is stirred to love God or his neighbor more ardently, yet there is a singular hope for those who truly desire to rest, which is to be supported by the hand of their Author. And indeed, at first the left hand, so that through this, they may be deemed worthy to reach the embrace of the right hand; for the right hand will not embrace anyone unless the left hand first accepts them to be cherished, that is, no one will sublimely see His glory in the future who has not faithfully inclined to receive the mysteries of His humility in the present. Did not Paul, who showed himself to be the most faithful minister of this bride, saying, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ” (2 Cor. 11), take care to place the left hand of the bridegroom under her head to lead to the embrace of the right hand?

For he said, “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2). Again, he urges her to strive for the embrace of the right hand, saying, “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, where Christ is seated on the right hand of God” (Col. 3), and “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory” (ibid.). Therefore, he says, “His left hand is under my head, and His right hand doth embrace me. As if to say openly: may the temporal blessings of my Lord and Savior, which help me to rest a little from the lusts or disturbances of the world, assist me; but the promise of eternal things, in which I am perpetually rewarded, delights me more. How truly pleasing to the Lord is the rest of such a bride, that is, the Church or any chosen soul, is shown in her subsequent response, when it is said:

Song of Songs 2:7

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the hinds of the field, etc. The daughters of Jerusalem signify souls burning with the desire for the heavenly homeland. The bridegroom adjures these souls not to awaken the bride resting in His love, neither presume to disturb her happily asleep from human disturbances. For whoever unduly disrupts an elect soul, either speaking to God in devout prayers or meditating on divine commandments or promises in sacred readings, indeed awakens the bride of Christ from blessed slumber before she herself wishes. For the bride herself desires to awaken refreshed by this most blessed sleep since she knows to devote herself to divine duties at the appropriate time and then to return at a fitting time to care for the necessities of human frailty. Therefore, whoever does not fear to impede any of the faithful intent on heavenly studies indeed harms his own virtues, which he believes to possess. Hence, the bridegroom rightly adjures the daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles and the hinds of the field not to do this. By gazelles and hinds, notably pure animals and enemies of poison, the works of spiritual virtues are figured; which, just as they excel in purity, so they have been accustomed to scorn, even destroy and annihilate the harmful schemes of the ancient enemy.

And beautifully referring to the gazelles and hinds, he adds, of the field, to patiently express the simplicity of pure souls and those blooming with sincere faith in which virtues arise and are nurtured. Thus, the bridegroom adjures the daughters of Jerusalem by the gazelles and hinds of the field not to awaken nor rouse the beloved until she herself wishes. As if he openly says: I adjure all the faithful, and by their own virtues, which they desire to nurture with a pure heart, not to disdain the holy studies of the brethren, not to hinder them recklessly, but let each one rejoice in the progress of others just as in their own, and let them fear to inflict losses on the spiritual gain of the brethren as they would fear to inflict on themselves; for he undoubtedly diminishes his own virtues who scorns to spare, rather to assist, the virtues of his neighbor as much as he can. The bride gladly receiving this adjuration of the bridegroom immediately responds: The voice of my beloved. It is understood, This is the one I heard adjuring the daughters of Jerusalem not to wake me resting in His embrace until I myself wish. For surely it is necessary for a soul filled with God to greatly rejoice when amidst the adversities of the world it happens to hear His comforting voice, either through the gift of hidden inspiration or through meditation or hearing of sacred scriptures.

For even if we are not yet allowed to behold the face of our beloved, it is already a great gift to be refreshed in the meantime by the sweetness of His words in the holy Scriptures. A great benefit is conferred to those to whom a higher gift is granted that, with a gaze of a pure mind lifted to heavenly things, they may even now taste some of the sweetness of future life. Hence it is fitting, after the bride joyfully says, The voice of my beloved, immediately desiring to also see the same beloved but not yet able, she adds,

Song of Songs 2:8

Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains, etc. He calls those mountains and hills who, with singular purity of mind, transcend the common conduct of the holy Church, almost like the blooming plain of the fields, and the more they render themselves lighter from the desire of the lowly, the more capable of contemplating the heavenly they become. Of whom Isaiah, when describing the coming in the flesh of the Mediator of God and men, said: "And in the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills" (Isaiah II). For rightly that mountain is said to be on the top of the mountains, and to be exalted above the hills, that is, it is remembered as being higher than the high men, because, indeed, in the last days, a man appeared among men, but He existed as God with the Father before the ages. But coming upon these mountains, the Beloved is said to leap, to pass over these hills, because the Lord frequently illuminates the hearts of the sublime with the grace of His visitation. And it is beautifully said that he does not remain on these hills, but leaps or passes over them, because the sweetness of internal contemplation, as high as it is due to the recognition of heavenly things, is equally brief and rare, due to the heaviness of minds still held down by the mass of the flesh.

For the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation depresses the mind that thinks on many things (Wisdom IX). Nor should it be thought contrary to this sentiment, that the Beloved Himself also promises His spouse in the Gospel, saying: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Matthew XXVIII). And again, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our abode with him" (John XIV). For He always remains, through His faith and love, and through the assistance of His grace, with all the saints; but more excellently, for a short time, He appears to a few of the more sublime, to whom He wills and when He wills: for it is the saying of a few, and of those who, due to the loftiness of their hearts, are compared to mountains and hills, "For whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God; or whether we are sober, it is for your cause" (II Corinthians V). But it is said to all the faithful, "Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God" (I John IV). It is for the entire Church to hear with a faithful heart, "Because God is love; and he that dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him.

It is only for the perfect to say, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty" (II Peter I). An evident example of this contemplation is further added, when it is said,

Song of Songs 2:9

My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. And indeed, all who know well how to explore the natures of these animals discover many things in them that most fittingly apply to the beloved of the Church, that is, the Lord and Savior. But in this place, it is especially to be noted that they delight in dwelling in the heights of the mountains and in giving very swift leaps, because of which they are seen by us more rarely than oxen or donkeys or other such animals, which, being domesticated together, we use as often as we please. This is very suitably adapted to the height of supreme contemplation, which is not within the discretion of human speculations but in the grace of God, appearing when it wills. I believe Isaiah, who is indeed an exalted mountain, saw Him seated upon a high and elevated throne not when he chose, but when the Lord willed; he saw and the heavenly hosts singing due praises to Him. Paul, also a mountain, much despising earthly things and touching the stars with his summit, was caught up into paradise and into the third heaven, not when he disposed, but when it pleased God, and heard the secret words which it is not lawful for a man to speak.

It certainly agrees with the humility and truth of the assumed humanity that the Lord is compared not to a stag but to a roe or a young deer—smaller animals, who among men appeared not only as a man but as a humble man. He became a young deer because He took true flesh from the fleshly material of His ancestors; for He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh (Rom. I). And David himself says, As the deer longs for the water brooks, so my soul longs for you, God (Psalm 42). And again: He has made my feet like hinds' feet (Psalm 18). But concerning the other deer, His companions in life, he says, The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth (Psalm 29); for He indeed prepares the deer when He bestows the gifts of virtues on the faithful; because that they may direct the course of their minds to higher things, ceaselessly thirst for the fountain of life, drive out and trample upon the serpents of heretical speech with their spiritual scent, ruminate on the word of life, and maintain the measure of salvific discretion in the straight steps of their actions is not in their power but in the divine granting. Therefore the voice of the Lord prepares the deer because His grace places the saints in the height of virtues.

From such deer was born the fawn rightfully beloved of the bride, that is, of the Church or of every faithful soul, because Christ according to the flesh is from the fathers, who is over all, God blessed forever. And since the sublimity of the contemplative life is expressed in these verses, it remains, therefore, for the perfection of the active life, which is common to the whole Church, to be demonstrated. It follows:

Song of Songs 2:9

Behold, he stands behind our wall, etc. For now the beloved remains in the vicinity of the bride, now leaping upon the hills on high, because the same Lord and Savior of ours, presents Himself to the more perfect at times, when He wills, even if through a glass and in enigma, and He always shows the invisible grace of His presence to all the elect. Concerning the manifestation of His presence, it is now rightly said, Behold, he stands behind our wall, for He indeed remains with us, nay He remains in us, so that He cannot be seen by us, as John attests, who says: No one has ever seen God (1 John 4). If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us (ibid.). But the wall which excludes us from His sight is the very condition of our mortality, which we have earned by sinning, we who were so conditioned in the first parent that if we had never consented to sin, all the elect would endlessly and without any labor see the light of divine contemplation, that now very few of the more perfect, with the greatest labor, reach by purifying their hearts through faith. But in this wall, divine mercy made windows and lattice-work from where He would look upon us, for He opened to our minds, however burdened by the blindness of this age, the grace of His knowledge, and frequently refreshes us with the light of His hidden inspiration. By this sight of His inspiration, because our gracious Creator chiefly acts to draw us from the love of temporal things to attain the joys of heavenly peace, it is aptly added:

Song of Songs 2:10

Behold, my beloved speaks to me, "Arise," etc. All things have their season, and all things pass in their own time under heaven (Eccles. III). Therefore, the bride of Christ, namely the Church, or any chosen soul, has a time for resting; likewise, it has a time for rising to work. Finally, as above, he adjures the daughters of Jerusalem not to awaken or arouse her until she pleases, and now, with a changed tone, he himself bids her to rise and come quickly to him; no longer does he consent to her entering the flowery bed with celestial studies, but rather he instructs her to go out with him to cultivate the vineyards and drive away harmful beasts from them, as the subsequent song teaches; adding to provoke and inflame her zeal that, with the winter seasons passed, the mild spring now aids the industry of the laborer, and even the arrival and songs of spring birds make the rural places more joyful than the courtly ones, and the bloom of flowers promises future fruit to the farmers. But since we have barely touched the surface of the letters, let us now turn our pen to exploring the depths of the allegorical senses. It was said above, under the figure of a roe or a fawn of the hinds, how the Lord reveals the secrets of heavenly contemplation through internal visions.

It was said under the figure of him standing behind our wall and looking through windows and lattice, how he often illuminates the whole Church, though still invisible, with the frequent regard of salutary compunction. It remains now to intimate how he incites the same Church, either to the office of preaching or to the exercise of good works. "Arise," he says, "hurry, my friend, my dove, my beautiful one, and come. Arise from that bed much beloved by you, in which you delight in caring for yourself through psalms and prayers and other studies of life. Hurry, and come to also devote care to the salvation of others, through the zeal of diligent preaching: for indeed we hurry to the Lord who calls us, by performing works of virtue for His cause."

Song of Songs 2:11

For now the winter is past, etc. This is what the Apostle says: The night is far gone, the day is at hand. Let us then cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light (Rom. XIII). For as the darkness of night is correctly expressed by the harshness of winter and rains, so too is the storm of unbelief, which governed the whole world until the time of the Lord's incarnation. But when the Sun of righteousness shone upon the world, with the old perfidy of wintry unbelief soon departing and being driven away, flowers appeared on the earth, for the beginnings of the nascent Church shone in the faithful and pious devotion of the saints. The time of pruning has come. That is to say, as the Lord mentions in the Gospel, who, when He declared Himself the true vine and His Father the vinedresser, immediately added and said, Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John XV). The duty of pruning can also be properly understood according to what the Apostle says: Putting off the old man with his deeds, put on the new (II Cor. III). Explaining this himself elsewhere, he says: Therefore, putting away all falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor (Eph. IV). And again: Let the one who steals steal no longer, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands (Ibid.).

Song of Songs 2:12

The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The voice of the preacher has been heard in the land, which has now begun to be ours, having received the word of faith; of which it is said in the psalm of the first Sabbath, that is the resurrection of the Lord, which has become the first of the Sabbaths; "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof" (Psalm 23). For the voice of the turtledove, which by its sound usually signifies the end of winter and the coming of spring, suits those who know how to say that the darkness has passed away, and the true light now shines (1 John 2). The voice of the turtledove, which humbly resounds with a groan instead of a song, fits those who, mindful of their pilgrimage and the promised homeland, are accustomed to say: "But we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." They also cry out to their listeners, "Be miserable, and mourn; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into sorrow." The bird itself, which is a lover of chastity, and always dwells on mountain peaks and treetops, represents the life of those who declare for themselves and others that it is good for a man not to touch a woman (1 Corinthians 7), and, "Our conversation is in heaven" (Philippians 3). For the fact that it shuns the roofs of men and their company and prefers to live in forests and deserts, signifies those who, although placed in the world in body, are separated from it in mind and desire to see the things above.

Song of Songs 2:13

The fig tree has produced its early fruit. They call the early and immature figs "grossi," which are unsuitable for eating and fall off even with a light touch if shaken. And when the turtle dove is singing, the fig tree produced its early fruit, for when the apostles were preaching in Judea, the synagogue produced many who had zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; who would rather hold to the still imperfect and as if immature observance of the letter of the law than receive in it the sweetness of spiritual understanding. Apponius explains this verse in such a way that the fig tree produced its early fruit when the synagogue brought forth apostles, who, being generated from it, would minister the sweetest food of doctrine to believers. And since, when the synagogue brought forth either the apostles who preached the Gospel or those who still tried to prefer the ceremonies of the law over the Gospel, nevertheless, at that time, the faith and salvation of the whole world followed, it is right to add:

Song of Songs 2:13

The flowering vines have given forth their fragrance. For through the blossoming of the vines, the beginnings of the multiplying Churches, from that one which was first planted in Jerusalem, through its fragrance diffused far and wide, its fame was expressed. For what is more pleasant than the fragrance of a flowering vine? Since indeed the juice expressed from their flowers makes the kind of cup that is suitable for both health and pleasure. Who would not easily see the comparison with the reputation of good deeds? Therefore, the example of the vines, from which wine is born that gladdens the heart of man, is fitting both for the churches of the faithful in general and for the elect individually, who bring forth spiritual joy and gladness for themselves. According to the Apostle: "This is our glory, the testimony of our conscience" (I Cor. III). And as the Psalmist says, "All the glory of the king's daughter is within" (Psalm XLV). Saint Jerome explains these verses thus: "the voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land: The turtle-dove, the most chaste bird, always dwelling in the heights, is a type of the Savior." And a little later, "And immediately the turtle-dove says to the turtle-dove: The fig tree has brought forth its green figs, that is, the precepts of the old law have fallen, and from the Gospel, the flowering vines have given forth their fragrance."