Chapter 27.—38. And in that the Church is thus described in the Song of Songs, "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, a well of living water; thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits;"1569
I
dare not understand this
save of the holy and just,—not of the covetous, and defrauders, and robbers, and usurers, and drunkards, and the envious, of whom we yet both
learn most fully from Cyprian’s letters, as I have often shown, and
teach ourselves, that they had
baptism in common with the just, in common with whom they certainly had not
Christian charity. For I would that some one would tell me how they "crept into the
garden enclosed and the
fountain sealed," of whom Cyprian bears witness that they
renounced the
world in word and not in
deed, and that yet they were within the
Church. For if they both are themselves there, and are themselves the
bride of
Christ, can she then be as she is described "without spot or wrinkle,"
1570
and is the fair
dove defiled with such a portion of her members? Are these the
thorns among which she is a
lily, as it is said in the same
Song?
1571
So
far therefore, as the
lily extends, so
far does "the
garden enclosed and the
fountain sealed," namely, through all those just persons who are
Jews inwardly in the
circumcision of the
heart1572
(for "the king’s
daughter is all glorious within"
1573
), in whom is the
fixed number of the
saints predestined before the
foundation of the
world. But that multitude of
thorns, whether in
secret or in open separation, is pressing on it from without, above number. "If I would declare them," it is said, "and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered."
1574
The number, therefore, of the just persons, "who are the called according to His purpose,"
1575
of whom it is said, "The
Lord knoweth them that are His,"
1576
is itself "the
garden enclosed, the
fountain sealed, a well of living
water, the orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits." Of this number some
live according to the Spirit, and enter on the excellent way of
charity; and when they "restore a man that is
overtaken in a fault in the spirit of
meekness, they consider themselves, lest they also be tempted."
1577
And when it happens that they also are themselves
overtaken, the affection of
charity is but a little checked, and not extinguished; and again rising up and being kindled afresh, it is restored to its former course. For they know how to say, "My
soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto Thy word."
1578
But when "in anything they be otherwise
minded,
God shall
reveal even this unto them,"
1579
if they
abide in the burning
flame of
charity, and do not
break the
bond of
peace. But some who are yet
carnal, and full of fleshly appetites, are instant in working out their progress; and that they may become fit for heavenly
food, they are nourished with the
milk of the holy
mysteries, they
avoid in the
fear of
God whatever is manifestly
corrupt even in the opinion of the
world, and they
strive most watchfully that they may be less and less
delighted with
worldly and
temporal matters. They observe most constantly the rule of
faith which has been sought out with
diligence; and if in aught they stray from it, they submit to speedy correction under Catholic
authority, although, in Cyprian’s words, they be tossed about, by reason of their fleshly appetite, with the various
conflicts of phantasies. There are some also who as yet
live wickedly, or even
lie in
heresies or the
superstitions of the Gentiles, and yet even then "the
Lord knoweth them that are His."
For, in that unspeakable foreknowledge of
God, many who seem to be without are in reality within, and many who seem to be within yet really are without. Of all those, therefore, who, if I may so say, are inwardly and secretly within, is that "enclosed
garden" composed, "the
fountain sealed, a well of living
water, the orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits." The divinely imparted
gifts of these are partly
peculiar to themselves, as in this
world the
charity that never faileth, and in
the
world to come
eternal life; partly they are common with evil and perverse men, as all the other things in which consist the holy mysteries.
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