18. But the Church ceases not to kiss the
feet of Christ, and therefore in the Song of Songs she desires not one
but many kisses, Cant. i.
2. and like Holy
Mary she is intent upon all His sayings, and receives all His words
when the Gospel or the Prophets are read, and “keeps all His
sayings in her heart.” S. Luke ii. 51. So,
then, the Church alone has kisses as a bride, for a kiss is as it were
a pledge of espousals and the prerogative of wedlock. Whence
should the Jew have kisses, who believes not in the Bridegroom?
Whence should the Jew have kisses, who knows not that the Bridegroom is
come?