The Douay-Rheims with the Glossa Ordinaria

¹How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which come up from mount Galaad.

v.1

VERS. 1.-- *How beautiful art thou.* Since the Bride converted from the Gentiles is now of such perfection that she preaches to the Jews, the case being reversed, and praises the Bridegroom: she too receives from the Bridegroom a worthy recompense of praise. This description is extended to the manifoldness of the Church. *Beautiful* in action, because she goes up through the desert as a little rod of smoke, beautiful in preaching, because she draws her neighbours into her own fellowship. *Eyes.* That is, thy senses are excellent and to be revered in the contemplation of spiritual things. He sets about praising her part by part. *Besides that which lieth hid within.* Great is the glory of open work, but far and incomparably greater the eternal reward, which cannot be seen. *Thy hair.* That all may the more easily grow clear, let us run briefly through the several things. *Hair,* are the voluntary poor. *Cheeks,* the highest prelates. But the *teeth* of the cheeks, are other, lower prelates. *Lips,* the preachers. *Thy hair.* If in the *eyes* the keenness of the spiritual senses is taken, in the *hair* may be noted the multitude of thoughts, which all tend to the one end of the heavenly good. Whence they are likened to wild goats, which are clean animals, and seek the steep places of the rocks for the sake of pasture. *Which came up.* He sets down one of the natures of the wild goat, that from it the rest may be understood, and he proclaims that virtue especially of which he sees his hearers to have the greater need. *Which came up.* Of him who is a testimony to them that imitate him, as he himself promised: He who *shall confess me before men,* etc.

²Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.

v.2

VERS. 2.-- *Thy teeth as flocks of sheep that are shorn.* As in the hair the frailer peoples of the Church are signified, who supply her number: so in the teeth are signified all the stronger, and such as are fit for the ruling of the Church, who prevail by firmness. *From the washing, all.* It belongs to all to be purified by baptism: it belongs to the perfect, and most of all to those to whom the care of the sheep has been committed, to renounce all that they possess. *With twin young.* That is, with young altogether like themselves, because they render others such as they themselves are. Or, twofold young, the works of the twin charity, as the faithful converted out of either people. Or, faith and work. *And there is none barren.* Nor are those reckoned among the barren who, once washed, are straightway snatched out of this life. For they had the offspring of faith, which either they themselves for themselves, or others for them, confessed. They had also the vow of good working, which they would have practised in fellowship among the sheep of Christ, had they been waited for, whence it is said: *Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time*.

³Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within.

v.3

VERS. 3.-- *As a fillet.* Preachers are called *a fillet,* because by their preachings they bind in the loose thoughts in the hearts of men, lest they flow abroad and weigh down the eyes of the heart. *Scarlet.* Because she does not cease to preach the price of the Lord's blood, by which the Church was redeemed: or because holy preaching blazes with the ardour of charity. *Thy lips.* The teeth are they that grind: the lips they that lay open what is ground. *Thy speech is sweet.* While they do the things they say, they set their preachings before men as it were savoury food. *As a piece of a pomegranate, so are the cheeks.* In the outwardly *crimson* colour, the will of martyrdom: in the white grains (which are seen when the rind is broken), the whiteness of the virtues: which is increased while the flesh is bruised: whiteness also, when, the passion being fulfilled, they shine with miracles. In the *cheeks* is modesty, in the *punic* apple the passion of Christ. The Church has therefore redness in her cheeks, when she confesses in words the sacrament of the Lord's passion, and shows whiteness when, beaten with afflictions, she proves the chastity of a pure heart, and by deeds lays open what of saving grace the cross has. *Besides that which lieth hid within.* Although great are the things that appear without: yet greater are those they keep in secret, which the eyes of God alone behold. *Lieth hid.* All in the Church can hear the confession of the life-giving cross, can see the afflictions of the Church, or even the miracles which have been divinely bestowed upon the Church herself, unbelievers together with the faithful can look upon: but the soul alone knows with how great a love of the invisible life she is held, with how great a love toward God and her neighbour she blazes.

⁴Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks: a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.

v.4

VERS. 4.-- *As the tower of David.* The tower is the stormable constancy of the preachers, which, for the defending of the buildings of the faith and for the driving back of the darts of the enemy, was built by the strong hand of God and by the desirable king *with bulwarks:* that is, with the knowledge of the divine Scriptures, when he opens the understanding, that they may understand the Scriptures, and by the sayings of them that went before they confirm their own preaching, the *bulwarks* are also the gifts of miracles, by which preaching is built up. For when bodily diseases are healed, men come more easily to the health of the soul. *Thy neck.* We stretch out the neck when we look further off: so the preachers are a neck, because of their watching for the enemy from afar: *a tower,* because of their strength and because of the lofty contemplation of the heavenly joys. Or, *a neck,* because they send food down into the body, or because they join the body to the head: whence, the Lord gives the loaves, but the disciples set them before the crowds. For one reason the preachers are called *eyes;* for another, *teeth:* for another, *cheeks:* for another, *neck.* *Bulwarks* are the unbreakable sentences in the divine Scriptures, in which they are safe who defend themselves from afar against the assailants. *A thousand bucklers.* The buckler is that most firm reasoning, relying upon which they go forth of their own accord against the heretics, and fortify themselves while they smite them. *All the armour.* That is, all the equipping, whether of working or of heavenly teaching, by which the saints not only escape, but even overcome the ranks of the malignant: while they draw back some also from error or from vices: all which things depend upon the prelates, because from them we receive the example of resisting and of conquering.

⁵Thy two breasts like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

v.5

VERS. 5.-- *Two breasts.* The same mysteries of the Church are repeated under many figures; but the things repeated always bring something new, and by that very newness delight the minds of the hearers the more. *Two* therefore *breasts,* are the preachers from the two peoples, who are called *eyes* because they make progress in secret. *Teeth,* because they correct the wicked, and pass them over into the body of the Church: *a neck,* because they minister the breath of life, by preaching eternal joys, and the food of doctrine. *Breasts,* because they pour milk into the little ones in Christ, who are *fawns of the roe,* because they discern keenly what things are to be done, and with a swift course of working fly away out of the vale of tears. *Twins,* because they preach the same faith, the same sacraments: who, lest the milk they give out should fail in them, are fed with the flowers of the Scriptures and the examples of the saints, by always calling these to mind. *Two fawns* Two peoples, who through humility understand themselves to be little and sinners, but, running in charity, pass over all the obstacles of the world, and by the leaps of contemplation climb to things above. *Which feed.* Because they have their refreshment in those who flourish with virtues and shine, while as yet they cannot see near at hand the very God whom they desire.

⁶Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.

v.6

VERS. 6.-- *Until that day break.* After which there shall be time neither for teaching further nor for learning, but, all the darknesses of this world being ended, all shall shine as the sun. *I will go to the mountain.* And because the Church is such in every part. *I will go,* that is, I will add grace, as well to the lower as to the greater. *I will go.* Because I shall daily gather new peoples. And because the discourse is to the Church of the Gentiles, the calling of the Synagogue, which is to be at the end of the world, may not incongruously be seen to be promised: or the calling of whatsoever nations. Whence presently, concerning the most ample beauty of the one and the same Church, which is to be gathered either from the Jews or from whatsoever nations throughout the whole world, it is added, *Thou art all fair.*

⁷Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.

⁸Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.

v.8

VERS. 8.-- *Come from Libanus.* And because I go to thee, thou oughtest to come to me, in thought, in speech, in work. Or, the first step is in the flesh for good work: the second in the loosing from the flesh, to receive blessedness in the soul: the third, when the body has been received back, when at the resurrection they shall receive the twofold robes. *Come* by faith, *come* by work, *come* by bringing others: or, come three times because of the faith of the Trinity. *Libanus,* a mountain of Phoenicia, is in Hebrew rendered *whitening,* in Greek *frankincense:* whence above, *I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.* While the preachers convert such men to salvation, the crown grows from the princes overcome in their contest. *Come.* As if to say: fear not, lest thou come alone: for I will add many to thee. *From the top of Amana.* Amana is a mountain of Cilicia, Sanir and Hermon mountains of Judaea, in which lions dwell, by whom the demons are noted, who rage against us: and because those are converted whose hearts were the couches of lions, while in their turn by their confession the Lord is believed, they are as it were crowned out of the couches of lions, out of which the lion is driven. By Amana we have those whom the devil himself, and through whom he deceives and crushes others, by the watchfulness of great diligence. By Sanir, those to whom the ignorance of such deceiving flies. By Hermon, such as are as it were ready by nature for wickedness, not what the devil designs. By *the den of lions,* those over whom, and through whom over others, a persecuting cruelty holds dominion. By *leopards,* heretics, by whose distinct wiles he deceives, from the chief ones of each of whom God confers a crown of victory upon his own. *From the dens of lions. Lions,* because of pride, or of violence. *Leopards* because of cruelty, or of the variegating of malignant arts. By the name *of the mountains* are designated the proud hearts of unbelievers.

⁹Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck.

¹⁰How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices.

v.10

VERS. 10.-- *How beautiful are,* etc. Above the Bride praised the breasts in her beloved, here the beloved commends the breasts: in which is noted the unity of Christ and of the Church, because they are two, as the Apostle says, in one flesh: therefore with a like praise the one praises the other. The doctrine is Christ's, because it is given to the Church, because she ministers it. And with reason do I love thee, because thy doctrine, which is contained in the breasts above, is beautiful for the consoling of the weak and the sustaining of little ones. *Breasts,* the love of God and of the neighbour: by which the holy mind nourishes its own senses, while it is glued to God by charity, and bestows upon its neighbours what it can. How greatly the Bridegroom loves these breasts he shows in the repetition of the praise, saying: *Thy breasts are more beautiful,* etc. *The odour.* That is, the most sweet report of the faith scattered through the whole world, is broader than the law of the fathers, which was confined within Judaea alone. *Above all aromatical spices.* That is, above all the good works which the wicked do, which, although they sometimes please men, yet never please God, because they do not proceed from charity. Or, above the institutions of the Old Testament, which were a figure of these.

¹¹Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense.

v.11

VERS. 11.-- *A honeycomb dropping.* Above, by the *lips,* the teachers, here, by the lips, the very voice of the teachers. Whence they are fitly compared also to honey. *A honeycomb,* honey in the wax. Honey in the wax is the spiritual sense of the divine oracles dropping in the letter, because well nigh every single sentence has many senses. Or otherwise: In the honeycomb the honey lies hid, the wax is seen: the lips therefore are called a honeycomb, because, while great wisdom is held in the frailty of the flesh, it is as it were hidden like honey in wax. *Honey and milk under the tongue.* As great is the spiritual sweetness in the words as the bodily sweetness is in *honey and milk:* and this *under the tongue,* that is, not open to any man whatsoever, but only to the good. He who sharply rebukes a sinner and mingles somewhat of sweetness among the sharp things, has honey, not on the tongue, but under the tongue. *The odour of the garments.* That is, the report of the good works with which they are clothed, lest they be found naked, and by which the foulness of former offences is covered, is as frankincense, because in all his works he prays, when he works well, with the intention of coming to God, whence: *Pray without ceasing*. Above, under the name *of the ointments,* the infusion of the Holy Spirit is shown, by which the hearts of the faithful are enlightened and made ready for the spiritual contest: by the word *of the garments,* the deeds of the just are noted, which are without. Whence also, by a fair distinction, the works which are done through men are compared *to frankincense;* but the gifts which are made by divine bounty exceed the manner of comparison. Advisedly, after the Lord had proclaimed the several members of the Church one by one, he also commends with worthy praise the *ointments* with which the whole of her was anointed. For there are no members at all, whether great or small, which are not consecrated by the pouring in of this spiritual unction. He praised also the *garments,* that is, the works of justice, because here too his whole body is adorned. For no one merits life in her unless he is clothed with just works, which either he himself did, or, if he was an infant, others did for him, and in him.

¹²My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.

v.12

VERS. 12.-- *A garden.* He had likened her to a woman for her perfection, for her beauty, for the ordering of the several degrees, for the composing of a seemly unity. But because it seems too little to a lover to match the several parts of the Bride with several precious things, he compares the whole of her at once to very many and very great kinds of things. He compares her therefore to a garden, for the plentiful fruits of works, in which it comes to pass that four things are made: first the fountain of baptism, without which no fruit follows; then the ointments, that is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are the first fomentations, that the trees also may grow and bear fruit, namely those purposes in the hearts of such as are yet rude and tender, when they resolve, through the Holy Spirit, that they will renounce the world and will bear adversities, and the like; afterward the trees, those same men, or others, now growing, now flowering; at last the ripe fruits, by the perfection of whose works Christ is now refreshed. But here he does not order them according as the one follows after the other, but he begins from the worthier, that the commending of this Bride may be the more winning to that other Bride, to whom he means to commend her. He sets down two gardens, in which the two states of the contemplative and of the active are signified, and each of them is enclosed; because they cannot be gathered by the adversary, or be robbed of their fruit. Many dwell among the faithful in whom the enemy has a place, but these are not to be reckoned in the fruitful garden, but to be cast out as chaff. *A fountain sealed up.* Because the Church, which is designated by the name of a fountain, at first small in Judaea, was afterward spread abroad through the whole world, it is rightly added. *Thy outgoings:* because that little Church of the Jews, helped by the fountain, sent forth a paradise out of herself. *The Church a fountain,* because she overflows with saving doctrine, whence she waters her neighbours. *Sealed up,* because the spiritual sense is hidden from the unworthy, it is troubled by no assault.

¹³Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. Cypress with spikenard.

v.13

VERS. 13.-- *Outgoings.* That is, the fruits of the garden, namely the works which come forth after the planting and the watering of baptism, are to me *pomegranates,* that is, a ripe refreshment, delighting me as a paradise does. *Of cypress.* That is, men upright, and growing on high, slender and thinned in their humanity, with whose works, charity being joined to them, the prince is anointed. *Cypress* expresses divine grace, *spikenard* the Lord's passion, *saffron* charity. The cypress is in Egypt an aromatic tree, with a white and sweet-smelling seed, which is boiled in oil and pressed out, and thence the royal ointment (which is called cypress) is prepared. So in the darkness of this world the blessing of divine grace is received in the fatness of charity and is tried by the flames of temptations, with which is joined the spikenard, a lowly herb, that is, faith in the Lord's passion and the imitating of it. Therefore is joined *cypress to spikenard,* when divine grace strengthens us to suffer with Christ. Likewise spikenard is joined to saffron: when in the charity of Christ we willingly accept death. *Spikenard* is fragrant and warm, and signifies charity. *Saffron* is of a golden colour, and signifies those steeped in divine wisdom.

¹⁴Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes.

v.14

VERS. 14.-- *Sweet cane and cinnamon.* The sweet cane, which is also *casia,* is an aromatic tree, but a small one: and it is of a stout and purple bark, and avails for curing the troubles of the bowels, and, because of its shortness, is by some reckoned among the sweet-smelling herbs, and it signifies the humble in spirit, who, mindful of the Lord's passion, are ready to suffer for the Lord. *Cinnamon* is a short tree, but sweet-smelling and sweet, of an ashen colour, surpassing the sweet cane twofold for the use of medicine. And it signifies those who reckon themselves weak, whose humility has sweetness and praise with God. And well is the cinnamon of an ashen colour set after the purple sweet cane; because through the remembering of the Lord's passion there arises in us a despising of our own strength. Sweet cane and cinnamon come forth in the garden together with the trees of Libanus: because in the Church those who are humble and patient await the palm of the reward together with those who fortify the Church by preaching or by working virtues. *With all the trees.* As the sweet cane and the cinnamon are the humble thoughts of the saints: so also the trees of Libanus, which are tall and stout, show forth the lofty deeds and prayers of the saints. Myrrh renders the body incorruptible, and signifies those who by bitterness and patience render their body safe from carnal motions and from every adverse quarter. Aloe has not so great force as myrrh, but nevertheless it avails against rottenness. *Chief.* That is, with the more excellent graces of the virtues. And fair is the joining of herbs and of trees with the ointments: because while we bridle the flesh from wantonness, it follows that we receive the greater gifts of the Spirit. In the enclosed garden of the Lord, among other things there is born.

¹⁵The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus.

¹⁶Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow.

v.16

VERS. 16.-- *Arise.* And since such is the garden, *arise,* that is, depart, or assail. *Arise.* When the garden had been planted and watered, it remained that, all things being firmly and orderly composed, access for tempting should by no means be denied to its adversaries, but should rather be shown, because the more they are scourged, the more is the inward sweetness of its waves laid open. By *the north wind,* understand the adversities of the world; by *the south wind,* its blandishments, because the Church is proved by a twofold assault. *Arise,* is of one permitting, not of one commanding. *Blow through.* The one by vexing, the other by refreshing. *Blow through,* that is, bring in tribulation, or by persecuting, that the Church, beaten and proved in both, may everywhere spread abroad the wondrous odour of her constancy and of a more abundant virtue, and will fill those set at the end of the world with the unspeakable fragrance of her sweetness.