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Chapter 23SermC.1.23

Sermo 23

The King's Store-Rooms

The bride is brought into the king's fragrant store-rooms, drawing all souls to run toward the fullness of his life.

The king has brought me into his own store-rooms.✦ See where the fragrance comes from, see where everyone is running. He had said that there was a need to run, and the direction one must run; but where one was to run, he had not said. So there is a rush toward the store-rooms, and a rush driven by the fragrance that pours out from them, with the bride, by her characteristic keenness, sensing his presence and longing to be brought into the fullness of his life. But what should we make of these store-rooms? For now, let's picture certain fragrant places in the bridegroom's keeping, filled with spices and overflowing with delights. In a workshop like this, to be sure, the choicest things from the garden or from the field are stored away to be kept safe. That's where they all run together.

The Bride Runs Ahead

Souls burning with the Spirit run to the store-rooms, with the bride arriving first through ardent love while the young women follow more slowly.

Who? Souls burning with the Spirit. The bride runs, the young women run; but the one who loves more ardently runs more swiftly, and arrives sooner. On arriving, she meets with no rejection — or even hesitation, I won't say. Without delay it is opened to her — as to one of the household, as to a most beloved, as to one specially chosen, and singularly pleasing. But the young women — what of them? They follow from a distance; for since they are still weak, they cannot run with devotion equal to the bride's, nor can they fully imitate her longing and fervor; and so, arriving more slowly, they remain outside. But the bride's love does not rest, nor does it grow arrogant, as is customary, at its own successes so as to forget them; rather, it comforts and urges them to patience, so that they may bear rejection and his absence with equanimity.

The Bride Shares Her Joy

The bride announces her joy to the young women, not seeking her own advancement at their loss but imitating Christ's care for his own.

And so she announces to them the joy she has received, surely for no other reason than that they may rejoice together with her, since they trust that whatever grace has come to their mother will in no way be foreign to themselves. For she doesn't care so much about her own advancement that she neglects their care, nor does she consider her own progress to come at their loss. Therefore, from whatever quarter the prerogative of merits is taken from them, without doubt it is necessary that she always be with them in charity and pious solicitude. She must therefore imitate her bridegroom, who certainly seeks the heavens, and yet promises to be with his own on earth even to the consummation of the age.✦ So it is with her too: however much she advances, however far she is advanced, she is never removed by care, providence, and affection from those she bore in the Gospel, and she never forgets her own flesh and blood.

Rejoice, Be Confident

The bride urges the young women to rejoice because they too have been brought into the king's wine-cellars, sharing in her advancement.

And so let her say to them: Rejoice, be confident. The king has brought me into his wine cellars: consider that you too have been brought in.✦1 I seem to have been brought in alone, but it will not profit the alone.2 All my advancement belongs to you all: I profit you, and with you I will share whatever more I may perhaps deserve for you.3 Do you want to know without a doubt that she spoke in this sense and with this affection? Hear what they answer in turn. We will exult and rejoice in you.✦ In you, they say, we will exult and rejoice: for in ourselves we do not yet deserve it.4

Mindful of Her Breasts

The young women endure their absence by remembering the sweetness of the bride's breasts, finding consolation in her acceptance while prelates are warned to be mothers, not tyrants.

And they add, "Mindful of your breasts — that is, we endure with calm composure until you come, knowing that you will return to us with full breasts." Then we trust we will exult and rejoice, mindful in the meantime of your breasts. What they add beyond wine signifies that, still on account of their own imperfection, they are troubled by carnal desires — desires represented by wine — whenever they remember them; yet those same desires are overcome by the memory of an abundance of sweetness, which they have already experienced as flowing from your breasts. I would say more about these breasts, if I did not remember having said enough about them earlier — 9). But now you see how they presume on the mother, how they count her gains and joys as their own, consoling the hurt of their own rejection by her acceptance. They would never trust so confidently unless they recognized the mother. Let prelates hear this, who always wish to be a source of fear to those entrusted to them, but rarely of genuine good.

Be Instructed, You Who Judge the Earth

Earthly judges are instructed to be mothers rather than lords, showing gentleness instead of severity, lest those under their care perish.

Be instructed, you who judge the earth. Learn from your subjects' mothers that you ought to be mothers yourselves, not lords; strive to be loved rather than feared, and if sternness is sometimes needed, let it be a father's sternness, not a tyrant's. Show yourselves mothers by cherishing, fathers by correcting. Grow gentle, put aside ferocity; hang up your lashes, offer your breasts; let hearts grow fat on milk, not swell with vanity. Why do you press your yoke down on those whose burdens you ought rather to carry? Why does a child, stung by a serpent, flee the conscience of the priest, to whom he should rather have run as to a mother's arms? If you are spiritual, instruct such people in a spirit of gentleness, each one considering himself, so that he too may not be tempted. Otherwise, that person will die in his own sin. But I will require his blood from your hand, says the Lord.✦

A Pause and a New Topic

The preacher sets aside the pastoral exhortation and turns to a spiritual interpretation of the king's cellars.

But these things belong to another time.

The Garden, the Cellar, and the Bedroom

The preacher proposes a threefold spiritual reading: the garden as history, the cellar as moral sense, and the bedroom as contemplative mystery.

Now, since the sequence of letters from the things I've already touched on is clear, let's now consider what we ought to think spiritually about the cellars. In what follows, mention is also made of the garden and the bedroom, both of which I'm now adding to these cellars and taking up in the present discussion: for when treated together, they'll become better known from each other. And let's ask, if you will, about those three things in the holy Scriptures: the garden, the cellar, and the bedroom. In them, surely, the soul that thirsts for God gladly dwells and lingers, knowing that there, without doubt, she will find the one she thirsts for. Let the garden, then, be the simple and plain history; let the cellar be the moral sense; let the bedroom be the hidden mystery of contemplative contemplation.

The Garden of History

History is like a garden where the virtuous are fruit-bearing trees, planted by God and flourishing beside flowing waters.

And first, I think history is fittingly reckoned as belonging to the garden, because in it the people of virtue are found, like fruit-bearing trees in the bridegroom's garden and in God's paradise, from whose good deeds and character you take as many examples as the fruits you gather. Would anyone perhaps doubt that what God plants is a good person? Listen to holy David singing about a good person. It will be, he says, like a tree planted beside flowing waters, which will yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf will not wither — listen to Jeremiah singing in harmony with the same spirit, and in almost the same words.✦ It will be like a tree, he says, planted beside flowing waters, which sends its roots down toward the moisture, and will not fear when the heat comes.✦ Likewise the prophet: 'The righteous will flourish like the palm; like the cedars of Lebanon they will increase.' And of himself: 'But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.' History, then, is a garden — and it is itself threefold.

Three Ages of Salvation

The garden of history contains three periods: creation, reconciliation through Christ, and future restoration at the end of the age.

For contained within it are the creation of heaven and earth, its reconciliation, and its restoration. Creation, indeed, is like a garden's sowing or planting. Reconciliation, however, is like the sprouting of sowers or of planters. When the skies dripped with dew from above at its appointed time, and the clouds rained down upon the just one, the earth opened and brought forth the Savior, through whom the reconciliation of heaven and earth was accomplished. For he himself is our peace, who made both one, making peace in his own blood between the things that are on earth and the things that are in heaven. Furthermore, future restoration will come at the end of the age. For there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the good will be gathered from the midst of the wicked, like fruit from a garden, into God's storehouses to be laid up. On that day, as it is written, the offspring of the Lord will be in magnificence and glory, and the fruit of the earth will be exalted.✦

Three Wine-Cellars

In the moral sense there are three wine-cellars, named as the wine-cellar, the spice-cellar, and the ointment-cellar, each filled with wholesome graces.

So you have three periods of time in the garden, according to the historical sense. In moral instruction too, there are three things equally worth noticing, like three wine cellars within a single storehouse. And this is perhaps why he used the plural 'cellars' rather than speaking of a single 'cellar of cells,' thinking of this number in that way. Further below, she boasts of being led into the wine cellar. So then, because we read, 'Give opportunity to a wise person, and they will be wiser,' and having the opportunity, let us draw from the term that the Holy Spirit decided should be applied to this cellar, let us also impose names on the remaining two: 'spice cellar' to one, and 'ointment cellar' to the other. We'll look at the reasons for these terms later. But for now, notice that with the Bridegroom everything found is wholesome, everything sweet: wine, ointments, spices. Wine, as Scripture testifies, gladdens the heart of man.✦ But the face is also to be gladdened by the oil of the law (in the same place).✦

Discipline, Nature, and Grace

The three cellars are renamed as discipline, nature, and grace, representing stages of spiritual formation from humble obedience to fraternal charity.

into which the powdered pigments are surely poured, so that ointments may be made. Spices are not only pleasant for their sweet smell, but are also useful for their healing power. Rightly does the bride rejoice to have been led into that place, where such abundant graces overflow.5 But I think I have other names too, ones that carry a clearer meaning of their own. And so that they can be named in their proper order, I'd call the first discipline, the second nature, and the third grace. In the first disc, according to the ethical part, the role is to be lower; in the second, equal; in the third, higher — that is, under another, with another, over another; or in this way: to be beneath, to be alongside, to preside. So in the first place one must be a disciple; in the second, a companion; in the third, a master. And yet nature has borne all people equal. But since pride corrupted the good of nature in human manners, people have become impatient with equality, each striving to be set above the other and to outdo one another, hungry for empty glory, envying and provoking each other in turn. So above all, in the first stage, the insolence of manners must be tamed under the yoke of discipline, until the stubborn will, worn down by the harsh and lasting laws of the elders, is humbled and healed, and through obedience regains the good of nature that it had lost by pride — once it has learned, now moved only by natural affection and not by fear of discipline, to live peacefully with all the companions of its nature, that is, with all people, in fellowship, as far as it is in itself to do so. At last, passing into the nature's own stage, it experiences what is written: See how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together as one! Like ointment on the head. Surely, when manners are disciplined — like spices that have been ground — the oil of gladness, the good of nature, is added to them; and it becomes a good and pleasant ointment.

The Anointed Life

Anointed with the oil of gladness, a person becomes gentle, harmless, and generous, sharing freely in all things.

By this, as if anointed, a person becomes gentle and mild — a person without complaint, cheating no one, shaking no one, harming no one, exalting or setting themselves above no one, and beyond this, gladly sharing in the accounting of what is given and what is received.

The Spice-Room and the Ointment-Room

The spice-room represents the severity of discipline that crushes stubborn wills, while the ointment-room holds the spontaneous gentleness of willing love.

I think that if you've correctly understood the character of each of the two rooms, you'll agree that it isn't inappropriate for me to have called this one the ointment-room and that one the spice-room. In that latter room, after all, just as the pestle wrests out and forces out the strength of spices and their fragrance through a violent crushing, so in the same way the severity of the teacher's office draws out and presses from those in its care the natural force of character, and the strictness of discipline does too. In this room, on the other hand, the welcome gentleness of a willing and, as it were, inborn affection runs of its own accord, eager to serve — fully like the ointment on the head that, at the faintest touch of warmth, comes down and spreads through everything. So in the room of discipline, the spices are stored like dried, simple herbs, and that's why I thought the other room should be called the spice-room. In the room that is called 'of nature,' however, the ointments are already, as it were, prepared and put away for storage; even so, it too takes its name from the thing itself, so that it's called the ointment-room. As for the wine-room too, I don't think it carries any meaning from its own name other than this: that in it the wine of zeal is stored up in a love that is on fire. And someone who hasn't yet earned admission to that room absolutely shouldn't be put in charge of others. The one in charge absolutely must burn with this wine, just as the Teacher of the Nations burned with zeal when he said, 'Who is made weak, and I am not made weak?'✦

The Wine-Room of Zeal

The wine-room holds the burning zeal of love, and only those who burn with this fire should be set over others, since the fullness of the law is love.

Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire? Otherwise, you wickedly desire to be in charge enough, those whom you don't care to benefit; and whose salvation you don't burn for, you claim subjection for yourself all too ambitiously.6 I have also called this the cell of grace — not that anyone can fully obtain the other two without grace, but because of the fullness that is received in a singular way in that one. In the end, the fullness of the law is love, and whoever loves a brother has fulfilled the law.

The Difference Between the Rooms

The three rooms differ in difficulty and merit: few profit from discipline, fewer still lead humbly, but those who do receive the promise of being established over all goods.

You've seen the meaning of the terms; now see also the difference between the rooms. It doesn't take the same ease or ability to restrain wanton, wandering senses and the flesh's intemperate appetite through a teacher's fear and the strict censure of discipline, as it does to live on good terms with companions through willing affection, to live among those corrected under the rod with disciplined conduct, and, with Will alone as teacher, to bear oneself pleasingly toward equals. For no one would say that living in community and leading usefully are the achievement of a single merit or a single virtue. How many, finally, live quietly under a teacher whom, if you released them from the yoke, you would see unable to rest or to keep themselves from harming their peers in any way? And likewise you will notice countless others living simply and without complaint among brothers, yet over brothers not only uselessly but also foolishly and wickedly. Those who are such are content with a certain good moderation, just as God has apportioned the measure of grace to them; they certainly have no need of a teacher, yet they are not suited for teaching. Therefore those who follow surpass their predecessors in conduct, but superior to both are those who know they are superior. And those who lead well receive, by promise, to be established over all the goods of their Lord.✦

The Mother of Virtues

Discretion, the mother of virtues, enables one to both profit and preside, uniting fervor and temperance in the wine-cellar of the inner room.

But few truly benefit; even fewer lead with humility. Yet whoever has fully attained discretion, the mother of virtues, easily does both; but no less, they are intoxicated with the wine of love to the point of despising their own glory, to the point of forgetting themselves, and not seeking their own interests — something that is achieved only and wondrously, through the Holy Spirit's teaching, within the wine-cellar of the inner room. The virtue of discretion without the fervor of love lies dormant, and intense fervor without the tempering of discretion rushes headlong. So the one who lacks neither is praiseworthy: that fervor might lift up discretion, and discretion might govern fervor. This is how someone who leads ought to be shaped. I'd say it's the finest way of conducting oneself, and to have fully grasped the highest discipline of this life, when someone is granted to pass through and move among all these inner rooms without causing offense: who neither resists those above them, nor envies their equals, nor neglects those under their care, nor lords it over them; obedient to superiors, fitting with peers, graciously accommodating to those beneath them — which I would grant, without doubt, is a mark of perfection to the Bride. This is also hinted at by the words he spoke, because 'The king brought me into his cellars,' showing that she was brought not into some single inner room, but into cellars in the plural.

The Bedroom of Contemplation

The bedroom is the hidden mystery of contemplation, not granted to all but arranged by the Father according to each one's merits.

Now let's come to the bedroom. What's this one too? And do I presume to know what that is? Not at all do I claim experience of so great a matter for myself, nor do I boast in the prerogative reserved for the blessed bride alone — being careful, as the Greeks say, to know myself — so that I may also know with the Prophet what is lacking in me. Still, if I knew nothing at all, I'd say nothing. What I do know, I don't begrudge you, and I don't hold back: what I don't know, let the one who teaches man knowledge instruct you. I've said, and you remember, that the bedroom is to be sought in the mystery of the king's theoretical contemplation. But just as I've said I know about the ointments — that there are many and various ones with the bridegroom, and not all are available to everyone, but each according to the diversity of their granted merits — so too I think the king's bedroom is not just one, but several.

Many Dwelling Places

There are many dwelling places with the bridegroom, each soul receiving a secret place suited to her merits, as shown in the saints' varied experiences.

For there isn't just one queen, but several, and there are many concubines, and the number of young girls is beyond counting. And each one finds a secret place for herself with the bridegroom and says, 'My secret is my own, my secret is my own.'7 The welcome, hidden presence of the bridegroom isn't granted to all in one single place, but is prepared for each one as the Father himself has arranged.8 For we didn't choose him, but he himself chose us and placed us, and where each one has been placed by him, there he or she stands.✦9 In the end, one woman, pierced with compunction at the feet of the Lord Jesus, was granted her place, when another found the fruit of her devotion at his head — if indeed another did.✦1011 Furthermore, Thomas received the grace of this secret in the side, John in the breast, Peter in the bosom of the Father, Paul in the third heaven.✦✦✦12

The Saints' Stations

Each saint finds a place suited to her merit: the penitent woman in humility, Thomas in faith, John in love, Paul in wisdom, Peter in truth.

Which of us could rightly distinguish these various kinds of merits — or rather, of rewards?13 But lest we seem to pass over entirely what we ourselves know: the earlier woman spread a place for herself in the safety of humility; the later one, on the throne of hope; Thomas, on the solid ground of faith; John, in the breadth of love; Paul, in the depth of wisdom; Peter, in the light of truth.1415 So therefore there are many dwelling places with the Bridegroom, and whether she is a queen, or a concubine, or even from the number of young women, each one receives there a place and boundary suited to her merits, until it is permitted her to advance by contemplating, and to enter into the joy of her Lord, and to search out the sweet secrets of the Bridegroom.1617 What I will demonstrate more distinctly in its own place, as much as he himself deigns to suggest, I will endeavor. For now, let it be enough to know this: that access to that secret chamber is open to none of the young women, none of the concubines, and none of the queens — a chamber which the Bridegroom keeps for his own beautiful, perfect, and only dove.18 So I'm not, frankly, indignant if I'm not admitted to that secret — especially since it's clear to me that not even the bride herself has yet fully attained to every secret he wills.1920 And finally, she demands to be shown where he feeds, where he lies down at midday.

The Secret Chamber of the Dove

There is a high, hidden place where the bridegroom wonderfully wearies the contemplative soul with restless admiration, as when the heart sleeps yet watches.

But listen until I have arrived, or at least until I think I have arrived. For this shouldn't be counted as boasting, that I'm laying open my advances to you. There is a place with the bridegroom concerning which he himself decrees his own rights, and the governor of the whole universe arranges his plans, establishing laws for every creation: weight, and measure, and number. And that place is high and hidden, but not at all restful. For although he himself, as far as it depends on him, arranges all things sweetly, he still arranges them; and he doesn't allow the one who has perhaps reached that place in contemplation to rest, but wonderfully, and in a way that is delightful yet wearisome, he wearies that person as they search and admire, and renders them restless. Beautifully the bride expresses both outcomes in what follows: namely, the delight of this kind of contemplation, and a restlessness in which she confesses that both she sleeps and her heart keeps watch. For in sleep she signifies the experience of rest through the most sweet rapture and calm admiration, but in waking hours she signifies that she nevertheless suffers restlessness through a restless curiosity and the laborious effort of her striving. Hence blessed Job says: If I sleep, I ask, When will I rise?✦

Not Yet the Bedchamber

This restless contemplation is not yet the true bedchamber, since the soul still longs for further rising and return.

And I wait for evening again. Do you perceive, in these words, that the holy soul sometimes wants to turn away from sweetness in a certain troublesome way, and then again pursue the same sweetness as a trouble? She wouldn't have said, When shall I rise up, if the rest of her contemplation had pleased her completely; but even if it had completely displeased her, she wouldn't have waited for the hour of rest — that is, evening — again. So this isn't the place of the bedchamber, where rest is by no means found in every way.

The Place of Dreadful Judgment

There is a terrible place where God's just and hidden judgment hardens the reprobate, and clerics who exploit the poor should fear his eternal severity.

There is, likewise, a place where God's most hidden and most severe attention watches over the rational yet reprobate creature — the just Judge, terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. God is perceived, I say, by the fearful contemplator in this place — by a just but hidden judgment of his own — neither washing away the evils of the reprobate nor accepting their good deeds; and besides this, hardening their hearts, so that perhaps they might not grieve, and repent, and be converted, and he heal them. And this is not without a certain and eternal reason: that it is established all the more fearfully, the more immovably it stands fixed in eternity. We must greatly fear, because in the prophet we read concerning such things, where God, speaking to his angels, says: Let us have mercy on the impious one. For those who fear and seek this, will they not therefore learn to do justice? No, he says, and adds the reason: In the land of the saints he did wicked things; and he will not see the glory of the Lord. Let clerics fear, let the ministers of the Church fear, who in the lands of the saints that they possess do such wicked things that, not content with the stipends that ought to be sufficient, they impiously and sacrilegiously keep back for themselves the surplus by which the needy should be sustained; and they do not dread to consume the food of the poor for the uses of their own pride and luxury, sinning indeed with a twofold iniquity: because they plunder the goods of others, and abuse sacred things for their own vanities and shameful acts.

Trembling Before Judgment

The soul trembles before this vision of judgment, knowing its own frailty and the fate of the proud who are condemned with the devil.

So when God spares and shows mercy to such people in the present, he does not spare them in eternity — whose judgments are a great abyss, we are told. Who would look for rest in this place? This vision brings the trembling of judgment, not the safety of a private chamber. That place is terrifying, and completely devoid of any rest. I shuddered all over whenever I was caught up into it, turning over within myself with trembling that verdict: Who knows whether one is worthy of love or of hatred? And it's no wonder if I stumble there — I'm a leaf carried by the wind, dry stubble — where even that greatest contemplator confesses his own feet were nearly shaken, his steps nearly scattered; and he said: I was envious of the wicked, seeing the peace of sinners.✦ Why? Because, he says, they are not among the labor of humans, nor will they be scourged alongside humans; so pride has held them fast, to keep them from being humbled into repentance, and instead they will be condemned for their pride along with the proud devil and his angels. For those who are not among the labor of humans will surely be among the labor of demons, as the judge declares: Go, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.✦

The House of God

Yet this terrifying place is also the house of God and the gate of heaven, where the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Yet this place too is clearly nothing other than a place of God — the house of God and the gate of heaven.✦ Here God is to be feared; here his name is holy and awesome, and it is like the entrance into glory. Truly, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The Fear of the Lord

The fear of the Lord makes one wise by moving the heart, not merely by imparting knowledge, since knowing God without fearing him produces pride, not wisdom.

And don't let it trouble you that I've given the beginning of wisdom this place at last rather than an earlier one. There, in what were like its own listening-places, we hear Wisdom teaching about all things as the teacher, and here we welcome her; there we are instructed, but here we are moved. Instruction makes learned people; affection makes wise ones. The sun doesn't warm everyone it shines on; in the same way, Wisdom doesn't immediately enkindle to action the many she teaches what ought to be done. It's one thing to know about many riches, another to possess them; and knowledge doesn't make someone rich, but possession does. So, in just this way, it's one thing to know God and another to fear him; and knowledge doesn't make a person wise, but fear does — fear, which also moves the heart. Would you call someone wise who is puffed up by his own knowledge? Who but the most foolish would call them wise, who when they had known God didn't glorify him as God or give thanks?

The Beginning of Wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because God first tastes sweet through fear, which prepares the soul for deeper initiation.

I agree with the Apostle even more, who openly calls their heart foolish.✦ And rightly the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; because then, for the first time, God tastes sweet to the soul when he moves it to fear, not when he instructs it to know.21 You fear God's justice, you fear his power; and God in his justice and power tastes sweet to you, because fear is savor.22 Moreover, savor makes one wise, just as knowledge makes one knowing, just as riches make one rich. What, then, is the first place? It only prepares for wisdom. There you are prepared, so that here you may be initiated. Preparation is the knowledge of things.

No Perfect Rest Until the Chamber

Neither the place of instruction nor the place of judgment offers perfect rest, since God appears troubled in one and disturbed in the other.

Yet this swelling of pride follows very easily, unless fear holds it back, so that it can rightly be said: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, which first sets itself against the plague of foolishness.✦ So there is a certain approach to wisdom in the one, and an entrance in the other. Yet neither here nor there is there perfect rest for the one who contemplates, because in the one place God appears as troubled, and in the other as disturbed. Therefore you will not look for the bedchamber in these places, where one appears as the lecture hall of a teacher, and the other rather as the judgment hall of a judge.

The True Bedchamber

The true bedchamber is where God appears at rest, showing his mercy to those who fear him, so that even evils work together for their good.

But there's a place where God is truly seen at rest and quiet—not as a judge or a teacher, but as a bridegroom. And for me at least—I don't know about others—it's truly a bedchamber, if I'm ever brought into it.✦ But, alas! A rare hour, and a brief moment! There the mercy of the Lord is clearly recognized, from eternity to eternity, upon those who fear him.✦ And blessed is the one who can say: 'I am a partner with all who fear you and keep your commandments.'✦ The Purpose of God stands firm; the sentence of peace stands firm over those who fear him—overlooking their evils and rewarding their good—so that in a wondrous way, not only good things but even evils work together for good for them.✦ O only truly blessed one, whom the Lord will not charge with sin!✦ For no one is without sin.✦

The Covering of Sins

In this place the soul sees the elect as though they had never sinned, because the Father's love covers their multitude of sins through eternal predestination.

All have sinned, and all lack the glory of God.✦ But who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?✦ For me, for my every righteousness, it is enough to have propitiated the one against whom alone I have sinned. Whatever he himself has decided not to count against me, it is as if it never happened. Not to sin. God's righteousness is one thing; human righteousness is simply God's indulgence. I saw these things, and I grasped the truth of that judgment: everyone born of God does not sin, because their heavenly origin preserves them.✦ Heavenly birth is eternal predestination, by which God loved and graced his chosen ones in his beloved Son before the foundation of the world — so that, appearing before him in the holy one, they might see his power and his glory, and through it become fellow heirs of that inheritance, and appear conformed to its image.✦✦23

A Glimpse of Blessedness

The soul experiences a sudden joy, feeling as though it were among the blessed whose sins are forgiven, and prays for the lasting vision of God's chosen ones.

So I have come to see these people as though they had never sinned at all; because even if they seem to have done wrong in time, it's not visible in eternity — because the Father's love covers over a multitude of sins.✦ "Blessed are those whose wrongs have been forgiven, whose sins have been covered over"; and suddenly such confidence and such joy welled up in me, too, about myself — though certainly in a place of dread, that is, in the place of the second vision, no fear had come before — that I felt as though I were one of those who are blessed.✦24 If only it had lasted! Visit me again and again, Lord, with your saving help — to see the goodness of those you have chosen, to rejoice in the joy of your people.

The Place of True Rest

In this chamber God appears not troubled or distracted but perfectly at rest, and to behold him at rest is itself to rest completely.

O place of true rest, and one I'd rightly think worthy of the name of chamber! In it God is seen, not as though troubled by anger, nor as though distracted by care, but his will is proven in it to be good, pleasing, and perfect. This vision doesn't terrify, but soothes; it doesn't stir up restless curiosity, but calms it; it doesn't weary the senses, but brings them peace. Here one truly rests. A tranquil God tranquilizes all things, and to look upon the one at rest is itself to rest. It is to see the king, as it were, after the day's courtroom dramas, dismissing the crowds from himself, turning away the troubles of his cares, seeking a lodging for the night, entering the chamber of peace — those whom he deigns to honor with this intimacy and this closeness, the more securely resting the more hidden they are, the more serenely composed the more peacefully he regards, in solitude, those whom he loves. If it happens that any of you is at some hour suddenly caught up and hidden away in this secret place, this sanctuary of God, so that no active sense distracts or disturbs, no stinging care, no biting guilt, nor certainly those phantasms of bodily images that are harder to drive off when they rush in — when the soul returns to us here, it will be able to glory and say: The king has brought me into his chamber.✦ Yet whether this is the very thing the bride exults about, I wouldn't rashly affirm.

The King's Chamber of Peace

This third place alone is truly a chamber, since the first offers little rest and the second none at all, but here God appears gentle and rich in mercy.

It is, however, a chamber — and the king's chamber at that — because, surely, of the three to whom we assigned the threefold vision, this place alone has become one of peace. For as is clearly shown, rest is perceived as slight in the first stage and absent in the second: since there the one appearing is wondrous and rouses curiosity to the zeal of investigation, and here, as it becomes known, its terror shakes our weakness. But in this third place, he does not appear altogether terrible, nor as wondrous as he is worthy to be loved; he deigns to appear serene and calm, sweet and gentle, rich in mercy toward all who look upon him.

Summary and Doxology

The preacher summarizes the three spaces of garden, cellar, and bedroom, and closes with a doxology to Christ the bridegroom.

Now, so that your memory may hold a brief summary of the things that have been discussed at greater length about the cellar, the garden, and the bedroom: remember three periods of time, three sets of merits, and, as it were, three kinds of rewards. In the garden, consider the periods of time; in the cellar, the merits; in that threefold contemplation, the rewards — the bedroom of the one inquiring. And as for the cellar, let what has been said be enough. Furthermore, if any points about the garden or the bedroom come up that still need to be added, or perhaps others beyond what has been said, as long as they are worth considering, let us not pass over them in their proper place. But if otherwise, let what has been said suffice, and let it certainly not be repeated, lest it ever lead to disgust — which God forbid! May what is brought forward serve the praise and glory of the bridegroom of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God above all, blessed forever. Amen.

Read the original Latin

Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua. Ecce unde odor, ecce quo curritur. Dixerat quia currendum, et in quo currendum; sed quo currendum esset, non dixerat. Ergo ad cellaria curritur, et curritur in odore qui ex ipsis procedit, sponsa illum solita sua sagacitate praesentiente, et cupiente in ipsius plenitudinem introduci. Verum de cellariis his quid sentiendum putamus? Cogitemus ea interim loca quaedam redolentia penes sponsum, plena odoramentis, referta deliciis. In istiusmodi nempe officina potiora quaeque ex horto, sive ex agro servanda reponuntur. Illuc ergo pariter currunt.

Qui? Spiritu ferventes animae. Currit sponsa, currunt adolescentulae; sed quae amat ardentius, currit velocius, et citius pervenit. Perveniens, non dico repulsionem, sed nec cunctationem patitur. Sine mora aperitur ei, tanquam domesticae, tanquam charissimae, tanquam specialiter dilectae, et singulariter gratae. Adolescentulae autem quid? Sequuntur a longe; neque enim, cum adhuc infirmae sint, pari possunt devotione cum sponsa currere, nec ipsius omnino imitari desiderium et fervorem; ideoque tardius pervenientes, foris remanent. At charitas sponsae non quiescit, neque insolescit, ut assolet, successibus suis, ut eas obliviscatur, consolans magis et hortans ad patientiam, quatenus aequanimiter et sui ferant repulsam, et illius absentiam.

Denique et nuntiat eis gaudium quod percepit, non ob aliud sane, nisi ut sibi congaudeant, dum confidant minime alienum fore a se, quidquid gratiae matri accesserit. Nam nec illa ita proficere curat, quo ipsarum negligat curam; nec iuvandos suos profectus putat illarum damno. Quocunque proinde meritorum praerogativa tollatur ab illis, charitate absque dubio et pia sollicitudine necesse est eam semper esse cum illis. Oportet denique eam sponsum suum imitari, et petentem nimirum coelos, et nihilominus in terris cum suis se fore usque ad consummationem saeculi pollicentem. Sic et ista, quantumvis proficiat, quantumlibet promoveatur; cura, providentia atque affectu ab his, quas in Evangelio genuit, nunquam amovetur, nunquam sua viscera obliviscitur.

Dicat itaque eis: Gaudete, confidite. Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua : putate et vos pariter introductas. Sola introducta videor; sed soli non proderit. Vestrum omnium est meus omnis profectus: vobis proficio, vobiscum partibor quidquid plus forte vobis meruero. Vis indubitanter scire quia in hoc sensu et affectu locuta sit? Audi quid illae respondeant. Exsultabimus et laetabimur in te. In te, inquiunt, exsultabimus et laetabimur: nam in nobis necdum meremur.

Et addunt, Memores uberum tuorum, hoc est, aequanimiter sustinemus dum venias, scientes te plenis ad nos reversuram uberibus. Tunc nos confidimus exsultare et laetari, memores interim uberum tuorum. Quod adiungunt, super vinum, significant se adhuc quidem pro sui imperfectione carnalium desideriorum, quae vino designantur, recordatione pulsari; vinci tamen eadem desideria memoria abundantiae suavitatis, quam iam ex uberibus fluentem expertae sunt. Dicerem de uberibus, si non me satis dixisse superius meminissem (serm. 9). Nunc vero vides quomodo de matre praesumunt, quomodo eius lucra et gaudia sua reputant, propriae repulsae iniuriam illius introductione consolantes. Minime ita confiderent, nisi matrem agnoscerent. Audiant hoc praelati, qui sibi commissis semper volunt esse formidini, utilitati raro.

Erudimini, qui iudicatis terram. Discite subditorum matres vos esse debere, non dominos; studete magis amari, quam metui: et si interdum severitate opus est, paterna sit, non tyrannica. Matres fovendo, patres vos corripiendo exhibeatis. Mansuescite, ponite feritatem; suspendite verbera, producite ubera; pectora lacte pinguescant, non typho turgeant. Quid iugum vestrum super eos aggravatis, quorum potius onera portare debetis? Cur morsus a serpente parvulus fugit conscientiam sacerdotis, ad quem eum magis oportuerat tanquam ad sinum recurrere matris? Si spirituales estis, instruite huiusmodi in spiritu lenitatis; considerans unusquisque se ipsum, ne et ipse tentetur. Alioquin ille in peccato suo morietur: sanguinem autem eius, ait, de manu tua requiram.

Sed haec alias.

Nunc quoniam litterae consequentia ex his quae praetaxavimus manifesta est, videamus iam de cellariis quid spiritualiter sentire debeamus. In consequentibus mentio fit etiam de horto et de cubiculo, quae ambo nunc adiungo istis cellariis, et in praesentem disputationem assumo: nam simul tractata melius ex invicem innotescent. Et quaeramus, si placet, tria ista in Scripturis sanctis, hortum, cellarium, cubiculum. In ipsis nempe libenter Deum sitiens anima versatur et moratur, sciens se ibi absque dubio inventuram quem sitit. Sit itaque hortus simplex ac plana historia; sit cellarium moralis sensus; sit cubiculum arcanum theoricae contemplationis.

Et primum quidem historiam ad hortum puto non immerito deputari, quod in ea inveniantur viri virtutum, tanquam ligna fructifera in horto sponsi et in paradiso Dei, de quorum bonis actibus ac moribus quot sumis exempla, tot carpis poma. An forte quis ambigat Dei esse plantationem bonum hominem? Audi sanctum David de viro bono quid canat. Erit, ait, tanquam lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum, quod fructum suum dabit in tempore suo, et folium eius non defluet Audi Ieremiam eodem spiritu concinentem, et eisdem pene verbis. Erit tanquam lignum, inquit, quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum, quod ad humorem mittit radices suas, et non timebit cum venerit aestus. Item Propheta: Iustus ut palma florebit, sicut cedrus Libani multiplicabitur. Et de se ipso: Ego autem sicut oliva fructifera in domo Dei. Est ergo historia hortus, et ipsa tripartita.

Continetur namque in ea coeli et terrae creatio, reconciliatio, et reparatio. Creatio quidem, tanquam horti satio sive plantatio. Reconciliatio autem, quasi germinatio satorum vel plantatorum. Tempore nempe suo rorantibus coelis desuper, et nubibus pluentibus iustum, aperta est terra et germinavit Salvatorem, per quem facta est coeli terraeque reconciliatio. Ipse est enim pax nostra, qui fecit utraque unum, pacificans in sanguine suo quae in terris sunt, et quae in coelis. Porro reparatio futura est in fine saeculi. Erit enim coelum novum, et terra nova: et colligentur boni de medio malorum, tanquam fructus de horto, in Dei promptuaria reponendi. In die illa, ut scriptum est, erit germen Domini in magnificentia et gloria, et fructus terrae sublimis.

Habes igitur tria tempora in horto historici sensus.

In Morali quoque disciplina tria aeque advertere est, cellas quasi tres in cellario uno. Et idcirce forsitan pluraliter cellaria dixit, et non cellarium, cellarum videlicet hunc numerum cogitans. Infra denique introductam se gloriatur in cellam vinariam. Nos ergo, quia legimus: Da occasionem sapienti, et sapientior erit : habentes occasionem ex vocabulo quod Spiritus sanctus cellae huic censuit imponendum reliquis quoque duabus nomina imponamus, aromaticam uni, et unguentariam alteri. Causas horum vocabulorum videbimus postea. Nunc autem adverte cuncta apud sponsum salubria, cuncta suavia reperiri; vinum, unguenta, aromata. Vinum, Scriptura teste, laetificat cor hominis. Exhilarari nihilominus faciem in oleo legis (ibid.)

, quo utique pulvis pigmentorum infunditur, ut unguenta fiant. Aromata non modo grata suavitate odoris, sed vi quoque medendi utilia sunt. Merito se introductam illuc exsultat sponsa, ubi tanta redundat abertas gratiae.

Sed habeo et alia nomina puto et evidentiorem sui gerentia rationem. Et ut suo ordine nominentur, primam nuncupaverim disciplinae; secundam, naturae; postremam, gratiae. In priori discis iuxta ethicae partis rationem inferior esse, in sequenti par, in posteriore superior: hoc est, sub alio, cum alio, super alium; vel sic, subesse, coesse, praeesse. Primo ergo discis esse discipulus, secundo socius, tertio et magister. Et quidem omnes homines natura aequales genuit. At quoniam bono naturae in moribus superbia depravato, facti sunt homines aequalitatis impatientes, contendentes invicem superiores constitui, atque alterutrum supergredi cupientes, et inanis gloriae cupidi, invicem invidentes, invicem provocantes: primo omnium in cella priori, iugo disciplinae insolentia morum domanda est, quousque duris ac diutinis seniorum attrita legibus humilietur et sanetur cervicosa voluntas, bonumque in se naturae, quod superbiendo amiserat, obediendo recipiat; dum solo iam naturali affectu, non metu disciplinae, cum universis naturae suae sociis, id est cum omnibus hominibus, socialiter, quantum in se est, quieteque sese habere didicerit, in cellam tandem naturae transiens, experiensque quod scriptum est: Ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum, habitare fratres in unum! sicut unguentum in capite. Accedit nimirum disciplinatis moribus, tanquam tritis speciebus, oleum laetitiae, bonum naturae; et fit unguentum bonum atque iucundum.

Quo quasi unctus redditur homo suavis et mitis, homo sine querela, neminem circumveniens, neminem concutiens, neminem laedens, nemini se superextollens aut praeferens, insuper et libenter communicans in ratione dati et accepti.

Puto, si bene intellexisti utriusque cellae proprietates, non incongrue me hanc unguentariam, illam aromaticam appellasse testaberis. In illa denique, sicut pigmentorum vires atque fragrantiam pistilli extorquet et exigit violenta contusio, sic rectorum morum elicit quodammodo et exprimit naturalem vim vis Magisterii, et districtio disciplinae. In hac autem voluntariae et tanquam innatae affectionis grata mansuetudo sponte officiosa currit, instar plane unguenti quod est in capite, ad levem caloris tactum descendentis ac diffluentis per totum. Itaque in cella disciplinae, tanquam siccae ac simplices aromatum species continentur, et inde aromaticam cam denominandam putavi. In ea vero quae naturae dicta est, quoniam iam quasi confecta reponuntur et servantur unguenta, nihilominus ex re nomen et ipsa accepit, ut unguentaria nuncupetur. Nam vinariam quoque cellam, non aliam sane sui nominis arbitror ferre rationem, nisi quod in ea vinum zeli in charitate ferventis reconditur. Nec debet omnino praeesse aliis, qui in eam necdum meruit introduci. Oportet prorsus hoc vino aestuet, qui aliis praesidet, quemadmodum Doctor Gentium aestuabat, quando dicebat: Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor?

quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? Alioquin improbe satis praeesse affectas, quibus prodesse non curas; et quorum non zeias salutem, subiectionem nimis ambitiose vindicas tibi. Hanc ego cellam quoque gratiae nominavi; non quod absque gratia vel reliquas duas obtinere omnino quis possit, sed ob plenitudinem quae singulariter in ista percipitur. Denique, plenitudo legis est charitas; et, qui diligit fratrem, legem implevit.

Vidisti rationem vocabulorum; vide et differentiam cellarum. Nec enim paris facilitatis seu facultatis eiusdem est, petulantes vagosque sensus atque intemperantem carnis appetitum magistri comprimere metu, ac rigida disciplinae cohibere censura; et spontaneo affectu bene cum sociis convenire; castigatis sub ferula vivere moribus, et sola Magistra voluntate gratum paribus gerere morem. Nam neque unius rursum quis dicat esse meriti, uniusve virtutis, socialiter vivere, et utiliter praeesse. Quam multi denique sub praeceptore quieti vivunt, quos si iugo absolvas, videas non posse quiescere, nec se ullo modo aequalibus servare innoxios? Itemque innumeros cernes simpliciter ac sine querela inter fratres conversari, super fratres non solum inutiliter, sed et insipienter et nequiter. Quadam siquidem bona mediocritate contenti sunt qui huiusmodi sunt, sicut eis mensuram gratiae partitus est Deus; minime quidem egentes magistro, nec tamen idonei magisterio. Prioribus ergo sequentes quidem in moribus antecellunt; sed utrisque superiores existunt, qui superiores esse sciunt. Denique et accipiunt in promissione qui bene praesunt, constitui super omnia bona Domini sui.

At pauci profecto qui utiliter; pauciores, qui et humiliter praesint. Facile tamen utrumque adimplet, qui matrem virtutum discretionem perfecte adeptus, vino nihilominus charitatis usque ad contemptum propriae gloriae, usque ad sui ipsius oblivionem, et non ad quaerenda quae sua sunt debriatur; quod solo ac miro Spiritus sancti magisterio intra cellam vinariam obtinetur. Virtus siquidem discretionis absque charitatis fervore iacet, et fervor vehemens absque discretionis temperamento praecipitat. Ideoque laudabilis, cui neutrum deest: quatenus et fervor discretionem erigat, et discretio fervorem regat. Ergo taliter oportet esse moratum eum qui praeest. Optimum autem in moribus dixerim, et summam disciplinae huius perfecte apprehendisse, cui totas has cellas absque offendiculo percurrere et circuire donatum est: qui in nullo prorsus aut resistat prioribus, aut invideat paribus, aut subiectis vel desit in cura, vel in superbia praesit; praelatis obediens, sociis congruens, subditis utiliter condescendens: quod quidem perfectionis insigne haud dubius sponsae annuerim. Innuit hoc etiam sermo quem dixit, quia Introduxit me rex in cellaria sua, dum non in unam aliquam cellam, sed in cellaria pluraliter se introductam ostendit.

Iam ad cubiculum veniamus. Quid et istud? Et id me praesumo scire quid sit? Minime mihi tantae rei arrogo experientiam, nec glorior in praerogativa, quae soli servatur beatae sponsae, cautus iuxta illud Graecorum, scire me ipsum; ut sciam etiam cum Propheta, quid desit mihi. Tamen si nihil omnino scirem, nihil dicerem. Quod scio, non invideo vobis, nec subtraho: quod nescio, doceat vos qui docet hominem scientiam. Dixi, et meministis, in theoricae contemplationis arcano regis esse quaerendum cubiculum. Sed quomodo de unguentis dixisse me scio, multa videlicet et diversa penes sponsum ea esse, nec omnia praesto omnibus, sed sua quibusque pro diversitate indulta meritorum: sic quoque non unum puto cubiculum regi esse, sed plura.

Nam nec una est regina profecto, sed plures: et concubinae multae sunt, et adolescentularum non est numerus. Et unaquaeque invenit secretum sibi cum sponso, et dicit: Secretum meum mihi, secretum meum mihi. Non omnibus uno in loco frui datur grata et secreta sponsi praesentia, sed ut cuique paratum est a Patre ipsius. Non enim nos eum elegimus, sed ipse elegit nos, et posuit nos; et ubi ab eo quisque positus est, ibi est. Denique mulier una compuncta secus pedes Domini Iesu sortita est locum cum altera suae devotionis fructum ad caput invenerit, si tamen altera. Porro Thomas in latere, Ioannes in pectore, Petrus in sinu Patris, Paulus in tertio coelo, secreti huius gratiam sunt assecuti.

Quis nostrum digne distinguere sufficiat has varietates meritorum, vel potius praemiorum? Ne omnino tamen praeteriisse quod ipsi novimus videamur; prior mulier stravit sibi in tuto humilitatis; posterior, in solio spei; Thomas, in solido fidei; Ioannes, in lato charitatis: Paulus, in intimo sapientiae; Petrus, in luce veritatis. Sic ergo apud sponsum mansiones multae sunt, et sive regina, sive concubina, sive etiam de numero sit adolescentularum, congruum quaeque pro meritis accipit ibi locum terminumque, quousque liceat sibi contemplando procedere, et introire in gaudium Domini sui, et rimari dulcia secreta sponsi. Quod suo loco distinctius, quantum dignabitur ipse suggerere, demonstrare conabor. Nunc vero id nosse sufficiat, nulli adolescentularum, nulli concubinarum, nulli vel reginarum patere omnino accessum ad secretum illud cubiculi, quod suae illi columbae formosae, perfectae uni, unicum sponsus servat. Unde nec ego sane indignor, si non ad illud admittor, praesertim cum constet mihi ne ipsam quidem sponsam interim adhuc ad omne quod vult pervenire secretum. Denique et flagitat indicari sibi, ubi pascat, ubi cubet in meridie

Sed audite quousque pervenerim, aut me pervenisse putaverim. Nec enim iactantiae deputandum est, quod in vestros pando profectus. Est locus apud sponsum, de quo sua iura decernit, et disponit consilia ipse universitatis gubernator, leges constituens omni creaturae, pondus, et mensuram, et numerum. Et locus iste altus et secretus, sed minime quietus. Nam etsi ipse, quantum in se est, disponit omnia suaviter, disponit tamen; et contemplantem, qui forte eo loci pervenerit, quiescere non permittit; sed mirabiliter, quamvis delectabiliter, rimantem et admirantem fatigat, redditque inquietum. Pulchre utrumque in consequentibus sponsa exprimit, et delectationem videlicet istiusmodi contemplationis, et inquietudinem, ubi et se dormire, et cor suum vigilare fatetur. Nam in somno quidem suavissimi stuporis, placidaeque admirationis, sentire quietem; in vigiliis vero inquietae nihilominus curiositatis ac laboriosae exercitationis pati se fatigationem significat. Hinc beatus Iob: Si dormiero, ait, dico, Quando consurgam?

et rursus exspectabo vesperam. Sentisne in his verbis sanctam animam velle interdum molestam quodam modo declinare suavitatem, eamdemque rursum suavem molestiam affectare? Non enim dixisset, Quando consurgam, si ex toto ei quies illa suae contemplationis placuisset: sed et si ex toto displicuisset, non denuo exspectasset horam quietis, id est vesperam. Non igitur locus est iste cubiculi, ubi nequaquam per omnem modum quiescitur.

Est item locus, de quo super rationalem reprobam quidem creaturam immobilis vigilat secretissima et severissima animadversio iusti iudicis Dei, terribilis in consiliis super filios hominum. Cernitur, inquam, a timorato contemplatore hoc loco Deus, iusto, sed occulto iudicio suo, reproborum nec diluens mala, nec acceptans bona; insuper et corda indurans, ne forte doleant, et resipiscant, et convertantur, et sanet eos. Et hoc non absque certa et aeterna ratione, quod tanto formidolosius constat esse, quanto immobilius fixum exstat in aeternitate. Pavendum valde quod in propheta de huiusmodi legimus, ubi loquens ad angelos suos Deus sic ait: Misereamur impio. Quibus paventibus atque quaerentibus, Non ergo discet facere iustitiam? Non, inquit; subdensque causam: In terra, ait, sanctorum iniqua gessit; et non videbit gloriam Domini. Timeant clerici, timeant ministri Ecclesiae, qui in terris sanctorum quas possident, tam iniqua gerunt, ut stipendiis, quae sufficere debeant, minime contenti, superflua quibus egeni sustentandi forent, impie sacrilegeque sibi retineant; et in usus suae superbiae atque luxuriae victum pauperum consumere non vereantur, duplici profecto iniquitate peccantes, quod et aliena diripiunt, et sacris in suis vanitatibus et turpitudinibus abutuntur.

Talibus ergo cum impraesentiarum parcere ac misereri, ne in aeternum parcat, cuius iudicia abyssus multa, advertitur; quis hoc loco requiem quaerat? Habet haec visio tremorem iudicii, non securitatem cubiculi. Terribilis est locus iste, et totius expers quietis. Totus inhorrui, si quando in eum raptus sum, illam apud me replicans cum tremore sententiam: Quis scit si est dignus amore, an odio? Nec mirum si titubo ego ibi (folium utique quod a vento rapitur, et stipula sicca, ubi et maximus ille contemplator suos quoque fatetur pene motos fuisse pedes, pene effusos gressus; et dicebat: Zelavi super iniquos, pacem peccatorum videns. Quare? In labore, inquit, hominum non sunt, et cum hominibus non flagellabuntur; ideoque tenuit eos superbia, ne humilientur ad poenitentiam, sed damnentur propter superbiam cum superbo diabolo et angelis eius. Nam qui in labore hominum non sunt, in labore daemonum profecto erunt, dicente iudice: Ite, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius.

Est tamen Dei locus et iste, plane non aliud quam domus Dei, et porta coeli. Hic nempe timeri dicitur Deus; hic sanctum et terribile nomen eius, et tanquam ingressus gloriae: Initium plane sapientiae timor Domini.

Nec te moveat, quod initium sapientiae huic demum loco dederim, et non priori. Ibi quippe in quodam quasi auditorio suo docentem de omnibus magistram audimus Sapientiam, hic et suscipimus; ibi instruimur quidem, sed hic afficimur. Instructio doctos reddit, affectio sapientes. Sol non omnes, quibus lucet, etiam calefacit; sic Sapientia multos, quos docet quid sit faciendum, non continuo etiam accendit ad faciendum. Aliud est multas divitias scire, aliud et possidere; nec notitia divitem facit, sed possessio. Sic prorsus, sic aliud est nosse Deum, et aliud timere; nec cognitio sapientem, sed timor facit, qui et afficit. Tune sapientem dixeris, quem sua scientia inflat? Quis illos sapientes nisi insipientissimus dicat, qui cum cognovissent Deum, non tanquam Deum glorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt?

Ego magis cum Apostolo sentio, qui insipiens cor eorum manifeste pronuntiat. Et bene initium sapientiae timor Domini; quia tunc primum Deus animae sapit, cum eam afficit ad timendum, non cum instruit ad sciendum. Times Dei iustitiam, times potentiam; et sapit tibi iustus et potens Deus, quia timor sapor est. Porro sapor sapientem facit, sicut scientia scientem, sicut divitiae divitem. Quid ergo prior locus? Tantum praeparat ad sapientiam. Illic praepararis, ut hic initieris. Praeparatio, rerum cognitio est.

Verum hanc facillime sequitur elationis tumor, si non reprimat timor, ut merito dicatur: Initium sapientiae timor Domini, qui se pesti insipientiae primus opponit. Ibi itaque quidam accessus est ad sapientiam, hic et ingressus. Porro nec hic, nec ibi speculanti perfecta est quies; quia illic Deus apparet tanquam sollicitus, hic tanquam turbatus. Non ergo cubiculum quaesieris in his locis, quorum alter auditorium quasi docentis, alter praetorium iudicis magis apparet.

Sed est locus, ubi vere quiescens et quietus cernitur Deus; locus omnino, non iudicis, non magistri, sed sponsi: et qui mihi quidem, nam de aliis nescio, plane cubiculum sit, si quando in illum contigerit introduci. Sed, heu! rara hora, et parva mora! Clare ibi agnoscitur misericordia Domini ab aeterno, et usque in aeternum super timentes eum. Et felix qui dicere potest: Particeps ego sum omnium timentium te, et custodientium mandata tua. Stat propositum Dei, stat sententia pacis super timentes eum, ipsorum et dissimulans mala, et remunerans bona: ut miro modo eis non modo bona, sed et mala cooperetur in bonum. O solus vere beatus, cui non imputabit Dominus peccatum! Nam qui non habuerit peccatum, nemo.

Omnes enim peccaverunt, et omnes egent gloria Dei. Quis accusabit tamen adversus electos Dei? Sufficit mihi ad omnem iustitiam solum habere propitium, cui soli peccavi. Omne quod mihi ipse non imputare decreverit, sic est quasi non fuerit. Non peccare. Dei iustitia est; hominis iustitia, indulgentia Dei. Vidi haec, et intellexi illius sententiae veritatem: Omnis qui natus est ex Deo, non peccat; quia generatio coelestis servat eum. Generatio coelestis, aeterna praedestinatio est, qua electos suos Deus dilexit et gratificavit in dilecto Filio suo ante mundi constitutionem, sic in sancto apparentes sibi, ut viderent virtutem suam et gloriam suam, quo eius forent consortes haereditatis, cuius et apparerent conformes imaginis.

Hos ergo adverti quasi nunquam peccasse; quoniam etsi qua deliquisse videntur in tempore, non apparent in aeternitate; quia charitas Patris ipsorum cooperit multitudinem peccatorum. Et dixit beatos, quorum remissae sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata; cum subito tanta mihi quoque de me suborta fiducia et infusa laetitia est, quantus certe in loco horroris, id est in loco secundae visionis, non praecesserat timor, ita ut mihi visus sim tanquam unus ex illis beatis esse. O si durasset! Iterum, iterumque visita me, Domine, in salutari tuo, ad videndum in bonitate electorum tuorum, ad laetandum in laetitia gentis tuae.

O verae quietis locus, et quem non immerito cubiculi appellatione censuerim! in quo Deus, non quasi turbatus ira, nec velut distentus cura prospicitur; sed probatur voluntas eius in eo bona, et beneplacens et perfecta. Visio ista non terret, sed mulcet; inquietam curiositatem non excitat, sed sedat; nec fatigat sensus, sed tranquillat. Hic vere quiescitur. Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia; et quietum aspicere, quiescere est. Cernere est regem post diurnas forensium quasi lites causarum, dimissis a se turbis, curarum molestias declinantem, petentem de nocte diversorium, cubiculum introeuntem cum pacis, quos hoc secreto et hac familiaritate dignatur, eo certe securius, quo secretius quiescentem; eo serenius se habentem quo placidius solos intuentem quos diligit. In hoc arcanum et in hoc sanctuarium Dei si quem forte vestrum aliqua hora sic rapi et sic abscondi contigerit, ut minime avocet aut perturbet vel sensus agens, vel cura pungens, vel culpa mordens, vel ea certe, quae difficilius amoventur, irruentia imaginum corporearum phantasmata; poterit quidem hic, cum ad nos redierit, gloriari et dicere: Introduxit me rex in cubiculum suum. Quod tamen an ipsum sit de quo exsultat sponsa, non temere affirmaverim.

Est tamen cubiculum, et cubiculum regis; quia nimirum de tribus, quos triplici assignavimus visioni, solus factus est in pace locus iste. Ut enim aperte monstratrum est, et in priori exigua, et in secundo nulla percipitur quies: cum et illic apparens admirabilis, ad indagandi studium exerceat curiositatem; et hic innotescens terribilis, infirmitatem concutiat. At vero tertio isto in loco, non plane terribilis, nec tam admirabilis quam amabilis apparere dignatur, serenus et placidus, suavis et mitis, et multae misericordiae omnibus intuentibus se.

Iam ut horum quae de cellario, horto, cubiculo, longiori sunt disputata sermone, memoria vestra compendium teneat; mementote trium temporum, trium meritorum, trium quasi praemiorum. In horto advertite tempora, merita in cellario, praemia in triplici illa contemplatione cubiculum inquirentis. Et de cellario quidem ista sufficiant. Porro de horto vel cubiculo si qua addenda, aut alia forte quam dicta sunt, modo advertenda occurrerint, loco suo non praetereamus. Sin autem, sufficiant quae dicta sunt, et minime iterentur, ne unquam in fastidium, quod absit! veniant ea, quae proferuntur ad laudem et gloriam sponsi Ecclesiae Domini nostri Iesu Christi, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩Song.1.4 — Draw me after you—let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers. We will rejoice and be glad in you; we will remember your love more than wine. The upright love you.
  2. ↩Matt.28.20 — teaching them to observe everything I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
  3. ↩Song.2.4 — He brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.
  4. ↩Song.2.4 — He brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.
  5. ↩Ezek.3.18 — When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you do not warn him, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life—that wicked person shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from your hand.
  6. ↩Ps.1.3 — He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither; and whatever he does prospers.
  7. ↩Jer.17.8 — He will be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream; it will not fear when heat comes, and its leaves will be green; in the year of drought it will not cease to bear fruit.
  8. ↩Isa.4.2 — In that day the Branch of the LORD will be for beauty and for glory, and the fruit of the earth for splendor and for adornment, for the survivors of Israel.
  9. ↩Ps.103.15;Ps.105.15 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom. Ps.105.15 — "Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not harm my prophets."
  10. ↩Ps.103.15 — As for mortals, their days are like grass; like a flower of the field, so they blossom.
  11. ↩2Cor.11.29 — Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
  12. ↩Matt.25.21 — His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
  13. ↩John.15.16 — You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you.
  14. ↩Luke.7.38 — and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
  15. ↩John.20.27 — Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it into my side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing."
  16. ↩John.13.23-John.13.25 — One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining at Jesus' side. John.13.24 — So Simon Peter motioned to him and said to him, 'Tell us who it is he is speaking about.' John.13.25 — So after reclining back against Jesus' chest, that one says to him, 'Lord, who is it?'
  17. ↩2Cor.12.2 — I know a person in Christ fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven.
  18. ↩Job.7.14 — so that you terrify me with dreams and frighten me with visions
  19. ↩Ps.74.3 — Lift up your steps to the perpetual ruins—everything the enemy has done wickedly in the sanctuary.
  20. ↩Matt.25.41 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
  21. ↩Gen.28.17 — He was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."
  22. ↩Rom.1.22 — Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
  23. ↩Prov.1.7;Ps.111.10 — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Ps.111.10 — The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD; good understanding belongs to all who do his works. His praise endures forever.
  24. ↩Song.1.3 — The fragrance of your oils is good; your name is poured oil; therefore young women love you.
  25. ↩Ps.103.17 — But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.
  26. ↩Ps.119.63 — I am a companion to all who fear you and to those who keep your precepts.
  27. ↩Rom.8.28 — And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good — for those who are called according to his purpose.
  28. ↩Ps.32.2 — Blessed is the one to whom the LORD does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
  29. ↩Rom.3.23;1John.1.8 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 1John.1.8 — If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
  30. ↩Rom.3.23 — For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
  31. ↩Rom.8.33 — Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
  32. ↩1John.3.9 — Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because his seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
  33. ↩Eph.1.4-Eph.1.5 — just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love Eph.1.5 — He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
  34. ↩Rom.8.17 — And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
  35. ↩1Pet.4.8 — Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, for love covers a multitude of sins.
  36. ↩Ps.31.1 — To the chief musician. A Psalm of David.
  37. ↩Song.1.4 — Draw me after you—let us run together! The king has brought me into his chambers. We will rejoice and be glad in you; we will remember your love more than wine. The upright love you.

Notes

  1. 1 ↩The Latin cellaria is ambiguous in form and number; the traditional rendering 'wine cellars' (Song 2:4) is followed here.
  2. 2 ↩soli is case-ambiguous (nominative plural or dative singular); the sense is that solitary reception profits nothing — grace is meant to be shared.
  3. 3 ↩meruero is morphologically ambiguous between future perfect indicative and perfect subjunctive; the sense is concessive/hortatory: 'whatever more I may perhaps deserve'.
  4. 4 ↩meremur is morphologically ambiguous between passive ('we are deserved/earned') and deponent ('we deserve'); the context favors the sense that the speakers do not yet merit joy in themselves, only in God.
  5. 5 ↩The form 'abertas' is uncertain in the source; it may be a corruption of 'apertas' (open, manifest). The translation renders the most plausible intended sense of graces that are open or overflowing, but the source reading is doubtful.
  6. 6 ↩Rare verb zeias (from zeo) rendered 'burn for' to parallel the fire imagery of s1 and convey jealous concern for others' salvation; alternative 'envy' is possible but less fitting.
  7. 7 ↩The repeated 'Secretum meum mihi' echoes the bride's intimate possession of the bridegroom's secret; the doubling intensifies personal communion rather than selfish exclusivity.
  8. 8 ↩sed ut is rendered 'but is prepared' — adversative followed by purpose/result, showing that the variation in access is by divine ordering, not exclusion.
  9. 9 ↩The clause 'ubi ab eo quisque positus est, ibi est' carries a double sense: 'there he or she stands' and 'there he or she truly is' — the soul's being is located where God places it.
  10. 10 ↩The final 'si tamen altera' is grammatically incomplete or compressed; it may mean 'if indeed another [did so],' or 'if only another [would].' The translation preserves the tentativeness of the Latin.
  11. 11 ↩compuncta is rendered 'pierced with compunction' to preserve the devotional term; it denotes grace-pierced sorrow for sin, not mere emotional distress.
  12. 12 ↩The list maps saints to modes of intimate revelation: Thomas in the wounded side (John 20), John on the breast at the Last Supper (John 13:23–25), Peter in the Father's bosom (a traditional image of filial intimacy), Paul caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2). 'Secreti huius' refers back to the secret of the bridegroom's hidden grace.
  13. 13 ↩vel potius rendered as 'or rather' to capture the corrective shift from merits to rewards.
  14. 14 ↩Ne…tamen rendered as 'But lest…' to preserve the negative-purpose clause with concessive force.
  15. 15 ↩charitatis rendered as 'love' per default policy; the term carries the force of charity/theological virtue here.
  16. 16 ↩Sic ergo rendered 'So therefore' to preserve the inferential ergo.
  17. 17 ↩sive…sive…sive rendered as 'whether…or…or' to preserve the alternative enumeration.
  18. 18 ↩Nunc vero rendered 'For now' to capture the adversative vero with temporal force.
  19. 19 ↩Unde nec rendered 'And so…not' to preserve the inferential unde with negative nec.
  20. 20 ↩praesertim cum rendered 'especially since' to capture the causal cum with reinforcing praesertim.
  21. 21 ↩Deus animae sapit: 'God tastes sweet to the soul' (sapio in sense of sapor/taste). The metaphor is that fear gives wisdom its savor, not mere instruction. 'Afficit ad timendum' = moves/affects toward fearing.
  22. 22 ↩sapit tibi iustus et potens Deus: the just and powerful God 'tastes sweet' to you. The fear of divine justice and power is itself the savor that makes wisdom taste real. 'Timor sapor est' = fear is the savor/taste.
  23. 23 ↩The clause 'sic in sancto apparentes sibi' is rendered 'appearing before him in the holy one,' taking 'sancto' as a reference to Christ (the holy one in whom God's chosen appear). Alternatively, 'in sancto' could refer to appearing in holiness before God; the participial phrase 'apparentes sibi' is compressed Latin and admits some ambiguity.
  24. 24 ↩The quoted words echo Psalm 31:1 (Vulgate): 'Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata.'

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