Song of Solomon 4:8

This teaches us the bride's place of origin, that she comes from the worship of idols. For Mount Lebanon is full of idols, whence you come, it says, hastening past through the law. Without knowing the law, you were taught the mystery of Christ.

Come from Lebanon, etc. Lebanon, if we follow the Hebrew etymology, is interpreted as whiteness; if the Greek, incense. Finally, above, where we read, To the hill of frankincense, some codices have, To the hill of Lebanon. However, both names evidently sound out the industry of virtue. The bride of the Lord, that is, the Church or a holy soul, comes to Him, not only when called out of the body and receiving the reward of eternal recompense but also while living in this age, she progresses to better things with each increase of good works as if by so many steps she approaches Him who is singularly good. She reaches there when, freed from bodily bonds, she deserves to see His face. He thus sees the bride placed in Lebanon and advises her to come to Him because when the Lord observes a faithful soul, adorned with good deeds, offering the incense of pure prayer to Him, He delights in her pious endeavors and encourages her to persist in what she has begun. He does this either through the secret admonition of His inspiration, through the meditation of the divine Scriptures, through the exhortations of other faithful, or even through the beneficial provision of her circumstances, whether laborious or pleasant, acting kindly toward her so that, either worn by the troubles of the present exile, she may more ardently desire the homeland of everlasting rest, or elevated by the current achievements of good deeds, she may more sweetly covet the unfailing joys of the heavenly city. Thirdly, He commands the bride to come from Lebanon because He requires progress in His chosen ones of good operation, salutary speech, and pure thought. Or certainly, He says, Come from Lebanon, my bride, come from Lebanon, come: come through the best life you may exercise while living in the body; come freed from the body, to receive the perpetual life of the soul; come thirdly with the body received again, to witness the perfect joys of the resurrection. And because many of the chosen, not only for the purity of their lives but also for the correction of others whom they educated, attain the eternal reward, it aptly follows:

You will be crowned from the head of Amana, etc. Amana, Sanir, and Hermon are mountains of Cilicia or Judea, providing dens for lions and leopards and likewise other wild beasts; which clearly designate the proud hearts of the unbelievers, in which unclean spirits have their seat. On the contrary, concerning the elect, the Lord says through the prophet, "Upon whom will my Spirit rest, but upon the humble and quiet, and the one who trembles at my words" (Isaiah 7)? For the demons are indeed lions, because of their pride; leopards, because of their cruelty or the variety of their malicious arts. Therefore, when the holy Church has rescued such souls from the power of darkness through its preachers and has converted them to the knowledge of true light, it happens that these preachers receive the crown of life not only for themselves but also for those whom they have acquired for the Lord, according to that saying from Proverbs, "The crown of the aged is their children's children; and the glory of children is their fathers" (Prov. 17). And the Apostle concerning those whom he taught: "What is our glory, our hope, or joy, or crown of glory, if not you before our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" (1 Thess. 2). And it is to be noted that he does not say, "You will be crowned from Amana, Sanir, and Hermon; but from the head of Amana, and from the power of Sanir and Hermon." Therefore, when the church converts the humble common people to the Lord, it gains a crown from the sides of the mountains, where the beasts had lurked, because it receives a reward for the salvation of the contradictory people. But when it has led the very princes of malice and the public persecutors to the way of life, it is crowned evidently from the head and the summit of the mountains, because the reward grows with the labor of the struggle. Similar to what is added, "From the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards": for the dens of lions are like the mountains of leopards, for those who, driven by a more fierce fury of the malign spirits, prevail in harming the flock of Christ by force and deceit: whom, when the Church has subdued and recalled to the grace of humility and piety, will itself be crowned from these, because it will rejoice in their eternal salvation. For those who, having nothing of contrary virtue, only pursue the good through deceit, are not named dens of lions, but…