<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<h1>Union and Communion</h1>
<h3>OR<br/> THOUGHTS ON THE</h3>
<h2>SONG OF SOLOMON</h2>
<h3>BY</h3>
<h2>J. HUDSON TAYLOR, M.R.C.S.</h2>
<div class='center'><small>FOREWORD BY</small><br/>
<span class="smcap">Rev.</span> J. STUART HOLDEN, M.A.<br/>
<br/><br/><br/>
<br/><small><i>THIRD EDITION</i></small><br/>
<br/><br/><br/>
<br/><br/>
MORGAN & SCOTT, <small>12 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS</small>,<br/>
<span class="smcap">London, e.c.</span><br/>
CHINA INLAND MISSION, <span class="smcap">Newington Green</span>,<br/>
<span class="smcap">London, N.</span><br/>
<span class="smcap">Philadelphia, Toronto, Melbourne, Shanghai</span><br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>FOREWORD</h2>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">This</span> little book, whose design is to lead the
devout Bible-student into the Green Pastures
of the Good Shepherd, thence to the Banqueting
House of the King, and thence to the service
of the Vineyard, is one of the abiding legacies
of Mr. Hudson Taylor to the Church. In the
power of an evident unction from the Holy
One, he has been enabled herein to unfold in
simplest language the deep truth of the believer's
personal union with The Lord, which under
symbol and imagery is the subject of The Song
of Songs. And in so doing he has ministered
an unfailing guidance to one of the most commonly
neglected and misunderstood of the
Sacred Scriptures. For how many have said
in bewilderment at the richness of language
and profusion of figure which both conceal and
reveal its meaning, "How can I understand
except some man should guide me?" It is
safe to say that these pages cannot fail to help
and bless all such.</div>
<p>To those who knew him, Mr. Hudson Taylor's
life was in the nature of emphasis upon the
value of this small volume. For what he here<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi"></SPAN></span>
expounds he also exemplified. If his words
indicate the possibility and blessedness of
union with Christ, his whole life declared it in
actual experience. He lived as one who was
"married to Another, even to Him Who is
raised from the dead"; and as the outcome
of that union he brought forth "fruit unto
God." What he was has given a meaning and
confirmation to what he has here said, which
cannot be exaggerated. It is inevitable that
there are those who will read and reject as
mystical and unpractical, that which is so
directly concerned with the intimacies of
fellowship with the unseen Lord. I would,
however, venture to remind such that the
writer of these pages founded the China Inland
Mission! He translated his vision of the
Beloved into life-long strenuous service, and
so kept it undimmed through all the years of a
life which has had hardly a parallel in these
our days.</p>
<p>This is really the commendation of the following
short chapters. They proclaim an Evangel
which has been distilled from experience, and
form at least a track through this fenced
portion of God's Word, which will lead many
an one who treads it into the joys of Emmanuel's
land.</p>
<div class='sig'>
J. STUART HOLDEN.<br/></div>
<div>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><span class="smcap"><small>St. Paul's,</small></span></span><br/>
<span class="smcap"><small>Portman Square, London, W.</small></span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i><small>June 1, 1914.</small></i></span><br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
<div class='center'>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>PAGE</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Introductory</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_1">1</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><br/><span class="smcap">The Title</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_7">7</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION I</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Unsatisfied Life and its Remedy</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_8">8</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION II</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Communion Broken—Restoration </span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_27">27</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION III</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Joy of Unbroken Communion</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_37">37</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION IV</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii"></SPAN></span><span class="smcap">Communion again Broken—Restoration</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_47">47</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION V</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Fruits of Recognized Union</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_58">58</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br/>SECTION VI</td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Unrestrained Communion</span></td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_70">70</SPAN></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'><br/>APPENDIX</td><td align='right'><SPAN href="#Page_83">83</SPAN></td></tr>
</table></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>THE SONG OF SOLOMON</h2>
<h3>INTRODUCTORY</h3>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> great purpose towards which all the
dispensational dealings of <span class="smcap">God</span> are tending,
is revealed to us in the fifteenth chapter of
the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians:
"That <span class="smcap">God</span> may be all in all." With this
agrees the teaching of our <span class="smcap">Lord</span> in John
xvii. 3: "And this is (the object of) life
eternal, that they might know Thee the only
true <span class="smcap">God</span>, and <span class="smcap">Jesus Christ</span>, whom Thou
hast sent." This being so, shall we not act
wisely by keeping this object ever in view in
our daily life and study of <span class="smcap">God's</span> holy
Word?</div>
<p>All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God and is profitable, and hence no part is,
or can be, neglected without loss. Few
portions of the Word will help the devout
student more in the pursuit of this all-important<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></SPAN></span>
"knowledge of <span class="smcap">God</span>" than the
too-much neglected "Song of Solomon."
Like other portions of the Word of <span class="smcap">God</span>, this
book has its difficulties. But so have all the
works of <span class="smcap">God</span>. Is not the fact that they
surpass our unaided powers of comprehension
and research a "sign-manual" of divinity?
Can feeble man expect to grasp divine
power, or to understand and interpret the
works or the providences of the All-wise?
And if not, is it surprising that His Word
also needs superhuman wisdom for its interpretation?
Thanks be to <span class="smcap">God</span>, the illumination
of the <span class="smcap">Holy Ghost</span> is promised to all
who seek for it: what more can we desire?</p>
<p>Read without the key, this book is specially
unintelligible, but that key is easily
found in the express teachings of the New
Testament. The Incarnate Word is the true
key to the written Word; but even before
the incarnation, the devout student of the
Old Testament would find much help to the
understanding of the sacred mysteries of this
book in the prophetic writings; for there
Israel was taught that her <span class="smcap">Maker</span> was her
<span class="smcap">Husband</span>. John the Baptist, the last of the
prophets, recognized the Bridegroom in the
person of <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, and said, "He that hath
the bride is the Bridegroom: but the friend<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></SPAN></span>
of the Bridegroom, which standeth and
heareth Him, rejoiceth greatly because of the
Bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is
fulfilled." Paul, in the fifth chapter of the
Epistle to the Ephesians, goes still further,
and teaches that the union of <span class="smcap">Christ</span> with His
Church, and her subjection to Him, underlies
the very relationship of marriage, and
affords the pattern for every godly union.</p>
<p>In Solomon, the bridegroom king, as well
as author of this poem, we have a type of
our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, the true Prince of peace, in His
coming reign. Then will be found not
merely His bride, the Church, but also a
willing people, His subjects, over whom He
shall reign gloriously. Then distant potentates
will bring their wealth, and will behold
the glory of the enthroned <span class="smcap">King</span>, proving
Him with hard questions, as once came the
Queen of Sheba to King Solomon; and
blessed will they be to whom this privilege
is accorded. A brief glance will suffice them
for a lifetime; but what shall be the royal
dignity and blessedness of the risen and
exalted bride! For ever with her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, for
ever like her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, for ever conscious that
His desire is toward her, she will share alike
His heart and His throne. Can a study of
the book which helps us to understand these<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></SPAN></span>
mysteries of grace and love be other than
most profitable?</p>
<p>It is interesting to notice the contrast
between this book and that preceding it.
The Book of Ecclesiastes teaches emphatically
that "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity":
and is thus the necessary introduction to the
Song of Solomon, which shows how true
blessing and satisfaction are to be possessed.
In like manner our <span class="smcap">Saviour's</span> teaching in the
fourth of John points out in a word the
powerlessness of earthly things to give lasting
satisfaction, in striking contrast with the
flow of blessing that results from the presence
of the <span class="smcap">Holy Ghost</span> (whose work it is, not
to reveal Himself but <span class="smcap">Christ</span> as the Bridegroom
of the soul); "Whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever
drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst: but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up"—overflowing, on and
on—"unto everlasting life."</p>
<p>We shall find it helpful to consider the
book in six sections:—.</p>
<div class='center'>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Book's Sections">
<tr><td align='right'>I.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">The Unsatisfied Life and its Remedy.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Chap. i. 2-ii. 7.</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>II.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Communion Broken. Restoration.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></SPAN></span>Chap. ii. 8-iii. 5.</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>III.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Unbroken Communion.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Chap. iii. 6-v. 1.</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>IV.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Communion again Broken. Restoration.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Chap. v. 2-vi. 10.</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>V.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Fruits of Recognized Union.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Chap. vi. 11-viii. 4.</td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>VI.</td><td align='left'> <span class="smcap">Unrestrained Communion.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td align='left'> </td><td align='right'>Chap. viii. 5-14.</td></tr>
</table></div>
<p>In each of these sections we shall find the
speakers to be—the bride, the Bridegroom,
and the daughters of Jerusalem; it is not
usually difficult to ascertain the speaker,
though in some of the verses different conclusions
have been arrived at. The bride
speaks of the Bridegroom as "her Beloved";
the Bridegroom speaks of her as "His love,"
while the address of the daughters of Jerusalem
is more varied. In the first four
sections they style her "the fairest among
women," but in the fifth she is spoken of as
"the Shulamite," or the King's bride, and
also as the "Prince's daughter."</p>
<p>The student of this book will find great
help in suitable Bible-marking. A horizontal
line marking off the address of each speaker,
with a double line to divide the sections,
would be useful, as also perpendicular lines
in the margin to indicate the speaker. We
have ourselves ruled a single line to connect
the verses which contain the utterances of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></SPAN></span>
the bride; a double line to indicate those of
the Bridegroom, and a waved line to indicate
the addresses of the daughters of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>It will be observed that the bride is the
chief speaker in Sections I., II., and is much
occupied with herself; but in Section III.,
where the communion is unbroken, she has
little to say, and appears as the hearer; the
daughters of Jerusalem give a long address,
and the Bridegroom His longest. In that
section for the first time He calls her His
bride, and allures her to fellowship in service.
In Section IV. the bride again is the chief
speaker, but after her restoration the Bridegroom
speaks at length, and "upbraideth
not." In Section V., as we noticed, the
bride is no longer called "the fairest among
women," but claims herself to be, and is
recognized as, the royal bride. In Section VI.
the Bridegroom claims her from her very
birth, and not merely from her espousals,
as <span class="smcap">God</span> in Ezekiel xvi. claimed Israel.</p>
<div class='poem'>
In the secret of His presence<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How my soul delights to hide!</span><br/>
Oh, how precious are the lessons<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which I learn at <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>' side:</span><br/>
Earthly cares can never vex me,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Neither trials lay me low;</span><br/>
For when Satan comes to vex me,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the secret place I go!</span><br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>THE SONG OF SOLOMON</h2>
<h3>THE TITLE</h3>
<div class='center'>"<i>The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.</i>"</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">Well</span> may this book be called <i>the</i> Song of
Songs! There is no song like it. Read
aright, it brings a gladness to the heart
which is as far beyond the joy of earthly
things as heaven is higher than the earth.
It has been well said that this is a song
which grace alone can teach, and experience
alone can learn. Our <span class="smcap">Saviour</span>, speaking of
the union of the branch with the vine, adds,
"These things have I spoken unto you, that
My joy might remain in you, and that your
joy might be full" (John xv. 11). And
the beloved disciple, writing of Him who
"was from the beginning," who "was with
the <span class="smcap">Father</span>, and was manifested unto us,"
in order that we might share the fellowship
which He enjoyed, also says, "These things<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></SPAN></span>
write we unto you, that your joy may be
full." Union with <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, and abiding in
<span class="smcap">Christ</span>, what do they not secure? Peace,
perfect peace; rest, constant rest; answers
to all our prayers; victory over all our foes;
pure, holy living; ever-increasing fruitfulness.
All, all of these are the glad outcome
of abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>. To deepen this union,
to make more constant this abiding, is the
practical use of this precious Book.</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>SECTION I</h2>
<h3>THE UNSATISFIED LIFE AND ITS REMEDY</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. i. 2-ii. 7</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">There</span> is no difficulty in recognizing the
bride as the speaker in verses 2-7. The words
are not those of one dead in trespasses and
sins, to whom the <span class="smcap">Lord</span> is as a root out of a
dry ground—without form and comeliness.
The speaker has had her eyes opened to
behold His beauty, and longs for a fuller
enjoyment of His love.</div>
<div class='poem'>
Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth:<br/>
For Thy love<SPAN name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</SPAN> is better than wine.<br/></div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>It is well that it should be so; it marks a
distinct stage in the development of the life
of grace in the soul. And this recorded
experience gives, as it were, a Divine warrant
for the desire for sensible manifestations of
His presence—sensible communications of
His love. It was not always so with her.
Once she was contented in His absence—other
society and other occupations sufficed
her; but now it can never be so again.
The world can never be to her what it once
was; the betrothed bride has learnt to love
her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, and no other society than His can
satisfy her. His visits may be occasional
and may be brief; but they are precious
times of enjoyment. Their memory is
cherished in the intervals, and their repetition
longed for. There is no real satisfaction
in His absence, and yet, alas! He is not
always with her: He comes and goes. Now
her joy in Him is a heaven below; but again
she is longing, and longing in vain, for His
presence. Like the ever-changing tide, her
experience is an ebbing and flowing one; it
may even be that unrest is the rule, satisfaction
the exception. Is there no help for
this? must it always continue so? Has He,
can He have created these unquenchable
longings only to tantalize them? Strange<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></SPAN></span>
indeed it would be if this were the case.
Yet are there not many of the <span class="smcap">Lord's</span> people
whose habitual experience corresponds with
hers? They know not the rest, the joy of
abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>; and they know not how
to attain to it, nor why it is not theirs. Are
there not many who look back to the delightful
times of their first espousals, who, so
far from finding richer inheritance in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>
than they then had, are even conscious
that they have lost their first love, and
might express their experience in the sad
lament:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Where is the blessedness I knew<br/>
When first I saw the Lord?<br/></div>
<p>Others, again, who may not have lost
their first love, may yet be feeling that the
occasional interruptions to communion are
becoming more and more unbearable, as the
world becomes less and He becomes more.
His absence is an ever-increasing distress.
"'Oh that I knew where I might find Him!'
'Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His
mouth: for Thy love is better than wine.'
Would that His love were strong and constant
like mine, and that He never withdrew
the light of His countenance!"</p>
<p>Poor mistaken one! There is a love far<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></SPAN></span>
stronger than thine waiting, longing for
satisfaction. The Bridegroom is waiting for
thee all the time; the conditions that debar
His approach are all of thine own making.
Take the right place before Him, and He
will be most ready, most glad, to "Satisfy
thy deepest longings, to meet, supply thine
every need." What should we think of a
betrothed one whose conceit and self-will
prevented not only the consummation of her
own joy, but of his who had given her his
heart? Though never at rest in his absence,
she cannot trust him fully; and she does not
care to give up her own name, her own
rights and possessions, her own will to him
who has become necessary for her happiness.
She would fain claim him fully, without
giving up herself fully to him; but it can
never be: while she retains her own name,
she can never claim his. She may not
promise to love and honour if she will not
also promise to obey: and till her love
reaches that point of surrender she must
remain an unsatisfied lover—she cannot, as
a satisfied bride, find rest in the home of her
husband. While she retains her own will,
and the control of her own possessions, she
must be content to live on her own resources;
she cannot claim his.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>Could there be a sadder proof of the
extent and reality of the Fall than the deep-seated
distrust of our loving <span class="smcap">Lord</span> and
<span class="smcap">Master</span> which makes us hesitate to give
ourselves entirely up to Him, which fears
that He might require something beyond
our powers, or call for something that we
should find it hard to give or to do? The
real secret of an unsatisfied life lies too often
in an unsurrendered will. And yet how
foolish, as well as how wrong, this is! Do
we fancy that we are wiser than He? or
that our love for ourselves is more tender
and strong than His? or that we know ourselves
better than He does? How our distrust
must grieve and wound afresh the tender
heart of Him who was for us the Man of
Sorrows! What would be the feelings of an
earthly bridegroom if he discovered that his
bride-elect was dreading to marry him, lest,
when he had the power, he should render her
life insupportable? Yet how many of the
<span class="smcap">Lord's</span> redeemed ones treat Him just so!
No wonder they are neither happy nor
satisfied!</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>But true love cannot be stationary; it
must either decline or grow. Despite all the
unworthy fears of our poor hearts, Divine<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></SPAN></span>
love is destined to conquer. The bride
exclaims:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thine ointments have a goodly fragrance;<br/>
Thy name is as ointment poured forth;<br/>
Therefore do the virgins love Thee.<br/></div>
<p>There was no such ointment as that with
which the High Priest was anointed: our
Bridegroom is a Priest as well as a King.
The trembling bride cannot wholly dismiss
her fears; but the unrest and the longing
become unbearable, and she determines to
surrender all, and come what may to follow
fully. She will yield her very self to Him,
heart and hand, influence and possessions.
Nothing can be so insupportable as His
absence! If He lead to another Moriah, or
even to a Calvary, she will follow Him.</p>
<div class='center'>
Draw me: we will run after Thee!<br/></div>
<p>But ah! what follows? A wondrously
glad surprise. No Moriah, no Calvary; on
the contrary, a <span class="smcap">King</span>! When the heart
submits, then <span class="smcap">Jesus</span> reigns. And when
<span class="smcap">Jesus</span> reigns, there <i>is</i> rest.</p>
<p>And where does He lead His bride?</p>
<div class='center'>
The King hath brought me into His chambers.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Not first to the banqueting house—that will<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></SPAN></span>
come in due season; but first to be alone
with Himself.</div>
<p>How perfect! Could we be satisfied to
meet a beloved one only in public? No;
we want to take such an one aside—to have
him all to ourselves. So with our <span class="smcap">Master</span>:
He takes His now fully consecrated bride
aside, to taste and enjoy the sacred intimacies
of His wondrous love. The Bridegroom of
His Church longs for communion with His
people more than they long for fellowship
with Him, and often has to cry:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice;<br/>
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.<br/></div>
<p>Are we not all too apt to seek Him rather
because of our need than for His joy and
pleasure? This should not be. We do not
admire selfish children who only think of
what they can get from their parents, and
are unmindful of the pleasure that they may
give or the service that they may render.
But are not we in danger of forgetting that
pleasing <span class="smcap">God</span> means giving Him pleasure?
Some of us look back to the time when the
words "To please <span class="smcap">God</span>" meant no more
than not to sin against Him, not to grieve
Him; but would the love of earthly parents<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></SPAN></span>
be satisfied with the mere absence of disobedience?
Or a bridegroom, if his bride
only sought him for the supply of her own
need?</p>
<p>A word about the morning watch may not
be out of place here. There is no time so
profitably spent as the early hour given to
<span class="smcap">Jesus</span> only. Do we give sufficient attention
to this hour? If possible, it should be
redeemed; nothing can make up for it.
We must take time to be holy! One other
thought. When we bring our questions to
GOD, do we not sometimes either go on to
offer some other petition, or leave the closet
without waiting for replies? Does not this
seem to show little expectation of an answer,
and little desire for one? Should we like
to be treated so? Quiet waiting before <span class="smcap">God</span>
would save from many a mistake and from
many a sorrow.</p>
<p>We have found the bride making a glad
discovery of a <span class="smcap">King</span>—her <span class="smcap">King</span>—and not a
cross, as she expected; this is the first-fruit
of her consecration.</p>
<div class='poem'>
We will be glad and rejoice in Thee,<br/>
We will make mention of Thy love more than of wine:<br/>
Rightly do they love Thee.<br/></div>
<p>Another discovery not less important<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></SPAN></span>
awaits her. She has seen the face of the
<span class="smcap">King</span>, and as the rising sun reveals that
which was hidden in the darkness, so His
light has revealed her blackness to her.
"Ah," she cries, "I am black";—"But
comely," interjects the Bridegroom, with
inimitable grace and tenderness. "Nay,
'black as the tents of Kedar,'" she continues.
"Yet to Me," He responds, "thou art
'comely as the curtains of Solomon!'"
Nothing humbles the soul like sacred and
intimate communion with the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>; yet
there is a sweet joy in feeling that <i>He</i> knows
<i>all</i>, and, notwithstanding, loves us still.
Things once called "little negligences" are
seen with new eyes in "the secret of His
presence." There we see the mistake, the
sin, of not keeping our own vineyard. This
the bride confesses:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Look not upon me, because I am swarthy,<br/>
Because the sun hath scorched me.<br/>
My mother's sons were incensed against me,<br/>
They made me keeper of the vineyards;<br/>
But mine own vineyard have I not kept.<br/></div>
<p>Our attention is here drawn to a danger
which is pre-eminently one of this day: the
intense activity of our times may lead to
zeal in service, <i>to the neglect of personal
communion</i>; but such neglect will not only<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></SPAN></span>
lessen the value of the service, but tend to
incapacitate us for the highest service. If
we are watchful over the souls of others, and
neglect our own—if we are seeking to remove
motes from our brother's eye, unmindful
of the beam in our own, we shall often be
disappointed with our powerlessness to help
our brethren, while our <span class="smcap">Master</span> will not be
less disappointed in us. Let us never forget
that what we are is more important than
what we do; and that all fruit borne when
not abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span> must be fruit of the
flesh, and not of the <span class="smcap">Spirit</span>. The sin of
neglected communion may be forgiven, and
yet the effect remain permanently; as
wounds when healed often leave a scar
behind.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>We now come to a very sweet evidence of
the reality of the heart-union of the bride
with her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>. She is one with the <span class="smcap">Good
Shepherd</span>: her heart at once goes instinctively
forth to the feeding of the flock; but
she would tread in the footsteps of Him
whom her soul loveth, and would neither
labour alone, nor in other companionship
than His own:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></SPAN></span>Where Thou feedest Thy flock, where Thou makest it to rest at noon:<br/>
For why should I be as one that is veiled<br/>
Beside the flocks of Thy companions?<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She will not mistake the society of His
servants for that of their <span class="smcap">Master</span>.</div>
<div class='poem'>
If thou know not, O thou fairest among women,<br/>
Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock,<br/>
And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.<br/></div>
<p>These are the words of the daughters of
Jerusalem, and give a correct reply to her
questionings. Let her show her love to her
<span class="smcap">Lord</span> by feeding His sheep, by caring for
His lambs (see John xxi. 15-17), and she
need not fear to miss His presence. While
sharing with other under-shepherds in caring
for His flock she will find the <span class="smcap">Chief Shepherd</span>
at her side, and enjoy the tokens of His
approval. It will be service <i>with</i> <span class="smcap">Jesus</span> as
well as <i>for</i> <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>.</p>
<p>But far sweeter than the reply of the
daughters of Jerusalem is the voice of the
Bridegroom, who now speaks Himself. It is
the living fruit of her heart-oneness with Him
that makes His love break forth in the
joyful utterances of verses 9-11. For it is
not only true that our love for our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>
will show itself in feeding His sheep, but that
He who when on earth said, "Inasmuch as<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></SPAN></span>
ye have done it unto one of the least of these
My brethren, ye have done it unto Me," has
His own heart-love stirred, and not infrequently
specially reveals Himself to those
who are ministering for Him.</p>
<p>The commendation of the bride in verse
9 is one of striking appropriateness and
beauty:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
I have compared thee, O My love,<br/>
To a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>It will be remembered that horses originally
came out of Egypt, and that the pure breed
still found in Arabia was during Solomon's
reign brought by his merchants for all the
kings of the East. Those selected for
Pharaoh's own chariot would not only be of
the purest blood and perfect in proportion
and symmetry, but also perfect in training,
docile and obedient; they would know no
will but that of the charioteer, and the only
object of their existence would be to carry
the king whithersoever he would go. So
should it be with the Church of <span class="smcap">Christ</span>; one
body with many members, indwelt and
guided by one <span class="smcap">Spirit</span>; holding the <span class="smcap">Head</span>,
and knowing no will but His; her rapid and
harmonious movement should cause His
kingdom to progress throughout the world.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></SPAN></span></div>
<p>Many years ago a beloved friend, returning
from the East by the overland route,
made the journey from Suez to Cairo in the
cumbrous diligence then in use. The passengers
on landing took their places, about a
dozen wild young horses were harnessed with
ropes to the vehicle, the driver took his seat
and cracked his whip, and the horses dashed
off, some to the right, some to the left, and
others forward, causing the coach to start
with a bound, and as suddenly to stop, with
the effect of first throwing those sitting in
the front seat into the laps of those sitting
behind, and then of reversing the operation.
With the aid of sufficient Arabs running on
each side to keep these wild animals progressing
in the right direction the passengers
were jerked and jolted, bruised and shaken,
until, on reaching their destination, they
were too wearied and sore to take the rest
they so much needed.</p>
<p>Is not the Church of <span class="smcap">God</span> to-day more
like these untrained steeds than a company
of horses in Pharaoh's chariot?
And while self-will and disunion are apparent
in the Church, can we wonder that
the world still lieth in the wicked one, and
that the great heathen nations are barely
touched?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>Changing His simile, the Bridegroom continues:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair,<br/>
Thy neck with strings of jewels.<br/>
We will make thee plaits of gold<br/>
With studs of silver.<br/></div>
<p>The bride is not only beautiful and useful
to her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, she is also adorned, and it is
His delight to add to her adornments. Nor
are His gifts perishable flowers, or trinkets
destitute of intrinsic value: the finest of the
gold, the purest of the silver, and the most
precious and lasting of the jewels are the
gifts of the Royal Bridegroom to His spouse;
and these, plaited amongst her own hair,
increase His pleasure who has bestowed
them.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>In verses 12-14 the bride responds:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
While the King sat at His table<br/>
My spikenard sent forth its fragrance.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>It is in His presence and through His grace
that whatever of fragrance or beauty may be
found in us comes forth. Of Him as its
source, through Him as its instrument, and
to Him as its end, is all that is gracious and
divine. But <i>HE HIMSELF</i> is better far
than all that His grace works in us.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class='poem'>
My Beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh,<br/>
That lieth betwixt my breasts.<br/>
My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers<br/>
In the vineyards of En-gedi.<br/></div>
<p>Well is it when our eyes are filled with His
beauty and our hearts are occupied with
Him. In the measure in which this is true
of us we shall recognize the correlative truth
that His great heart is occupied with us.
Note the response of the Bridegroom:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;<br/>
Thine eyes are as dove's.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>How can the Bridegroom truthfully use such
words of one who recognizes herself as</div>
<div class='poem'>
Black as the tents of Kedar?<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>And still more strong are the Bridegroom's
words in chap. iv. 7:—</div>
<div class='poem'>
Thou art all fair, My love;<br/>
And there is no spot in thee.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>We shall find the solution of this difficulty in
2 Cor. iii. Moses in contemplation of the
Divine glory became so transformed that the
Israelites were not able to look on the glory
of his countenance. "We all, with unveiled
face [beholding and] reflecting as a mirror
the glory of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, are transformed into
the same image from glory to glory [<i>i.e.</i> the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></SPAN></span>
brightness caught from His glory transforms
us to glory], even as from the <i>Lord</i> the
<span class="smcap">Spirit</span>." Every mirror has two surfaces;
the one is dull and unreflecting, and is all
spots; but when the reflecting surface is
turned fully towards us we see no spot, we
see our own image. So while the bride is
delighting in the beauty of the Bridegroom
He beholds His own image in her; there is
no spot in that: it is all fair. May we ever
present this reflection to His gaze, and to
the world in which we live for the very
purpose of reflecting Him.</div>
<p>Note again His words:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thine eyes are as dove's,<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>or</div>
<div class='poem'>
Thou hast dove's eyes.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>The hawk is a beautiful bird, and has
beautiful eyes, quick and penetrating; but
the Bridegroom desires not hawk's eyes in
His bride. The tender eyes of the innocent
dove are those which He admires. It was
as a dove that the <span class="smcap">Holy Spirit</span> came upon
Him at His baptism, and the dove-like
character is that which He seeks for in each
of His people.</div>
<p>The reason why David was not permitted
to build the Temple was a very significant<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></SPAN></span>
one. His life was far from perfect; and his
mistakes and sins have been faithfully recorded
by the <span class="smcap">Holy Spirit</span>. They brought
upon him <span class="smcap">God's</span> chastenings, yet it was not
any of these that disqualified him from
building the Temple, but rather his warlike
spirit; and this though many of his battles,
if not all, were for the establishment of <span class="smcap">God's</span>
Kingdom and the fulfilment of His promises
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Solomon,
the Prince of Peace, alone could build the
Temple. If we would be soul-winners and
build up the Church, which is His Temple,
let us note this: not by discussion nor by
argument, but by lifting up <span class="smcap">Christ</span> shall we
draw men unto Him.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>We now come to the reply of the bride.
He has called her fair; wisely and well does
she reply:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Behold Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant:<br/>
Also our couch is green.<br/>
The beams of our house are cedars,<br/>
And our rafters are firs.<br/>
I am (but) a rose of Sharon,<br/>
A lily of the valleys.<br/></div>
<p>The last words are often quoted as though
they were the utterance of the Bridegroom,
but we believe erroneously. The bride says<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></SPAN></span>
in effect, Thou callest me fair and pleasant,
the fairness and pleasantness are Thine; I
am but a wild flower, a lowly, scentless rose
of Sharon (<i>i.e.</i> the autumn crocus), or a lily
of the valley.</p>
<p>To this the Bridegroom responds: "Be
it so; but if a wild flower, yet</p>
<div class='poem'>
As a lily among thorns,<br/>
So is My love among the daughters.<br/></div>
<p>Again the bride replies:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
As the apple-tree (the citron) among the trees of the wood,<br/>
So is my Beloved among the sons.<br/>
I sat down under His shadow with great delight,<br/>
And His fruit was sweet to my taste.<br/></div>
<p>The citron is a beautiful evergreen, affording
delightful shade as well as refreshing
fruit. A humble wild flower herself, she
recognizes her Bridegroom as a noble tree,
alike ornamental and fruitful. Shade from
the burning sun, refreshment and rest she
finds in Him. What a contrast her present
position and feelings to those with which
this section commenced! He knew full well
the cause of all her fears; her distrust
sprang from her ignorance of Himself, so
He took her aside, and in the sweet intimacies
of mutual love her fears and distrust have<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></SPAN></span>
vanished, like the mists of the morning
before the rising sun.</p>
<p>But now that she has learned to know
Him, she has a further experience of His
love. He is not ashamed to acknowledge
her publicly.</p>
<div class='poem'>
He brought me to the banqueting house,<br/>
And His banner over me was love.<br/></div>
<p>The house of wine is now as appropriate
as the King's chambers were. Fearlessly
and without shame she can sit at His side,
His acknowledged spouse, the bride of His
choice. Overwhelmed with His love she
exclaims:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Stay ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples:<br/>
For I am sick of love.<br/>
His left hand is under my head,<br/>
And His right hand doth embrace me.<br/></div>
<p>Now she finds the blessedness of being
possessed. No longer her own, heart-rest is
alike her right and her enjoyment; and so
the Bridegroom would have it.</p>
<div class='poem'>
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,<br/>
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,<br/>
That ye stir not up nor awake My love,<br/>
Until she<SPAN name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</SPAN> please.<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class='unindent'>It is never by His will that our rest in Him
is disturbed.</div>
<div class='poem'>
You may always be abiding,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If you will, at <span class="smcap">Jesus'</span> side;</span><br/>
In the secret of His presence<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">You may every moment hide.</span><br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>There is no change in His love; He is the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. To us
He promises, "I will never leave thee, never
fail thee, nor forsake thee"; and His earnest
exhortation and command is, "Abide in Me,
and I in you."</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>SECTION II</h2>
<h3>COMMUNION BROKEN—RESTORATION</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. ii. 8-iii. 5</div>
<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to
the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from
them."</i>—Heb. ii. 1 (R.V.).</p>
</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">At</span> the close of the first section we left the
bride satisfied and at rest in the arms of her
Beloved, who had charged the daughters of
Jerusalem not to stir up nor awaken His love
until she please. We might well suppose
that a union so complete, a satisfaction so<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></SPAN></span>
full, would never be interrupted by failure on
the part of the happy bride. But, alas, the
experience of most of us shows how easily
communion with <span class="smcap">Christ</span> may be broken, and
how needful are the exhortations of our
<span class="smcap">Lord</span> to those who are indeed branches of
the true Vine, and cleansed by the Word
which He has spoken, to abide in Him.
The failure is never on His side. "Lo, I
am with you alway." But, alas, the bride
often forgets the exhortation addressed to
her in Ps. xlv.:—</div>
<div class='poem2'>
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear;<br/>
Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;<br/>
So shall the <span class="smcap">King</span> greatly desire thy beauty:<br/>
For He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.<br/></div>
<p>In this section the bride has drifted back
from her position of blessing into a state of
worldliness. Perhaps the very restfulness of
her new-found joy made her feel too secure:
perhaps she thought that, so far as she was
concerned, there was no need for the exhortation,
"Little children, keep yourselves
from idols." Or she may have thought that
the love of the world was so thoroughly
taken away that she might safely go back,
and, by a little compromise on her part, she<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></SPAN></span>
might win her friends to follow her <span class="smcap">Lord</span> too.
Perhaps she scarcely thought at all: glad
that she was saved and free, she forgot that
the current—the course of this world—was
against her; and insensibly glided, drifted
back to that position out of which she was
called, unaware all the time of backsliding.
It is not necessary, when the current is
against us, to turn the boat's head down the
stream in order to drift: or for a runner in
a race to turn back in order to miss the
prize.</p>
<p>Ah, how often the enemy succeeds, by one
device or another, in tempting the believer
away from that position of entire consecration
to <span class="smcap">Christ</span> in which alone the fulness of
His power and of His love can be experienced.
We say the fulness of His power
and of His love; for he may not have ceased
to love his <span class="smcap">Lord</span>. In the passage before us
the bride still loves Him truly, though not
wholly; there is still a power in His Word
which is not unfelt, though she no longer
renders instant obedience. She little realizes
how she is wronging her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, and how
real is the wall of separation between them.
To her, worldliness seems as but a little
thing: she has not realized the solemn truth
of many passages in the Word of <span class="smcap">God</span> that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></SPAN></span>
speak in no measured terms of the folly, the
danger, the sin of friendship with the world.</p>
<p>"Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the <span class="smcap">Father</span> is not in him."</p>
<p>"Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the
friendship of the world is enmity with <span class="smcap">God</span>?
Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the
world maketh himself an enemy of <span class="smcap">God</span>."</p>
<p>"Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers:
for what fellowship have righteousness and
iniquity? or what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath
<span class="smcap">Christ</span> with Belial? or what portion hath a
believer with an unbeliever?... Wherefore:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,<br/>
And touch no unclean thing;<br/>
And I will receive you,<br/>
And will be to you a <span class="smcap">Father</span>,<br/>
And ye shall be to Me sons and daughters, saith the <span class="smcap">Lord Almighty</span>.<br/></div>
<p>We have to take our choice: we cannot
enjoy both the world and <span class="smcap">Christ</span>.</p>
<p>The bride had not learned this: she
would fain enjoy both, with no thought of
their incompatibility. She observes with
joy the approach of the Bridegroom.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class='poem2'>
The voice of my Beloved: Behold He cometh<br/>
Leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.<br/>
My Beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart;<br/>
Behold He standeth behind our wall,<br/>
He looketh in at the windows,<br/>
He glanceth through the lattice.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>The heart of the bride leaps on hearing the
voice of her Beloved, as He comes in search
of her. He has crossed the hills; He draws
near to her; He stands behind the wall;
He even looks in at the windows; with
tender and touching words He woos her to
come forth to Him. He utters no reproach,
and His loving entreaties sink deep in her
memory.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
My Beloved spake, and said unto me,<br/>
Rise up, My love, My fair one, and come away.<br/>
For, lo, the winter is past,<br/>
The rain is over and gone;<br/>
The flowers appear on the earth;<br/>
The time of the singing of birds is come,<br/>
And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;<br/>
The fig-tree ripeneth her green figs,<br/>
And the vines are in blossom,<br/>
They give forth their fragrance.<br/>
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>All nature is responsive to the return of the
summer, wilt thou, My bride, be irresponsive
to My love?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class='center'>
Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Can such pleading be in vain? Alas, it can,
it was!</div>
<p>In yet more touching words the Bridegroom
continues:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place,<br/>
Let Me see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice:<br/>
For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Wonderful thought! that God should desire
fellowship with us; and that He whose love
once made Him the Man of Sorrows may now
be made the Man of Joys by the loving
devotion of human hearts.</div>
<p>But strong as is His love, and His desire
for His bride, He can come no further.
Where she now is He can never come. But
surely she will go forth to Him. Has He not
a claim upon her? She feels and enjoys
His love, will she let His desire count for
nothing? For, let us notice, it is not here
the bride longing in vain for her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, but
the Bridegroom who is seeking for her.
Alas that He should seek in vain!</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards;<br/>
For our vineyards are in blossom,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class='unindent'>He continues. The enemies may be small,
but the mischief done great. A little spray
of blossom, so tiny as to be scarcely perceived,
is easily spoiled, but thereby the
fruitfulness of a whole branch may be for
ever destroyed. And how numerous the
little foxes are! Little compromises with
the world; disobedience to the still small
voice in little things; little indulgences of
the flesh to the neglect of duty; little strokes
of policy; doing evil in little things that
good may come; and the beauty and the
fruitfulness of the vine are sacrificed!</div>
<p>We have a sad illustration of the deceitfulness
of sin in the response of the bride.
Instead of bounding forth to meet Him, she
first comforts her own heart by the remembrance
of His faithfulness, and of her union
with Him:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
My Beloved is mine, and I am His:<br/>
He feedeth <i>His flock</i> among the lilies.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>My position is one of security, I have no
need to be concerned about it. He is mine,
and I am His; and nought can alter that
relationship. I can find Him now at any
time, He feedeth His flock among the lilies.
While the sun of prosperity shines upon me
I may safely enjoy myself here without Him.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></SPAN></span>
Should trial and darkness come He will be
sure not to fail me.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,<br/>
Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou like a gazelle or a young hart<br/>
Upon the mountains of Bether.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Careless of His desire, she thus lightly dismisses
Him, with the thought: A little
later I may enjoy His love; and the grieved
Bridegroom departs!</div>
<p>Poor foolish bride! she will soon find that
the things that once satisfied her can satisfy
no longer; and that it is easier to turn a
deaf ear to His tender call than to recall or
find her absent <span class="smcap">Lord</span>.</p>
<p>The day became cool, and the shadows did
flee away; but He returned not. Then in
the solemn night she discovered her mistake:
It was dark, and she was alone. Retiring
to rest she still hoped for His return—the
lesson that worldliness is an absolute bar to
full communion still unlearned.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul loveth:<br/>
I sought Him, but I found Him not!<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She waits and wearies: His absence becomes
insupportable:—</div>
<div class='poem'>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></SPAN></span><i>I said</i>, I will rise now, and go about the city,<br/>
In the streets and in the broad ways,<br/>
I will seek Him whom my soul loveth:<br/>
I sought Him, but I found Him not!<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>How different her position from what it
might have been! Instead of seeking Him
alone, desolate and in the dark, she might
have gone forth with Him in the sunshine,
leaning upon His arm. She might have
exchanged the partial view of her Beloved
through the lattice, when she could no
longer say "Nothing between," for the joy
of His embrace, and His public confession of
her as His chosen bride!</div>
<div class='poem2'>
The watchmen that go about the city found me:<br/>
<i>To whom I said</i>, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?<br/>
It was but a little that I passed from them,<br/>
When I found Him whom my soul loveth.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She had already obeyed His command,
"Arise, and come away." Fearless of reproach,
she was seeking Him in the dark;
and when she began to confess her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,
she soon found Him and was restored to His
favour:—</div>
<div class='poem2'>
I held Him, and would not let Him go,<br/>
Until I had brought Him into my mother's house,<br/>
And into the chamber of her that conceived me.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Jerusalem above is the mother of us all.
There it is that communion is enjoyed, not
in worldly ways or self-willed indulgence.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></SPAN></span></div>
<p>Communion fully restored, the section
closes, as did the first, with the loving charge
of the Bridegroom that none should disturb
His bride:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,<br/>
By the roes, and by the hinds of the field,<br/>
(By all that is loving and beautiful and constant),<br/>
That ye stir not up, nor awake My love,<br/>
Until she<SPAN name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</SPAN> please.<br/></div>
<p>May we all, while living down here, in the
world, but not of it, find our home in the
heavenly places to which we have been
raised, and in which we are seated together
with <span class="smcap">Christ</span>. Sent into the world to witness
for our <span class="smcap">Master</span>, may we ever be strangers
there, ready to confess Him the true object
of our soul's devotion.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
How amiable are Thy tabernacles,<br/>
O <span class="smcap">Lord</span> of hosts!<br/>
My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>;<br/>
My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living <span class="smcap">God</span>.<br/>
Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house:<br/>
They will be still praising Thee....<br/>
A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.<br/>
I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my <span class="smcap">God</span><br/>
Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.<br/>
For the <span class="smcap">Lord God</span> is a Sun and Shield:<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></SPAN></span>The <span class="smcap">Lord</span> will give grace and glory:<br/>
No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.<br/>
O <span class="smcap">Lord</span> of hosts,<br/>
Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee!<br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>SECTION III</h2>
<h3>THE JOY OF UNBROKEN COMMUNION</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. iii. 6-v. 1<br/><br/></div>
<div class='poem'>
O <span class="smcap">Jesu, King</span> most wonderful,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou <span class="smcap">Conqueror</span> renown'd,</span><br/>
Thou sweetness most ineffable,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In whom all joys are found!</span><br/>
Thee, <span class="smcap">Jesu</span>, may our voices bless;<br/>
Thee may we love alone;<br/>
And ever in our lives express<br/>
The image of Thine own.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">We</span> have been mainly occupied in Sections
I. and II. with the words and the experiences
of the bride; in marked contrast to this, in
this section our attention is first called to
the Bridegroom, and then it is from Himself
that we hear of the bride, as the object of
His love, and the delight of His heart. The
daughters of Jerusalem are the first speakers.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
Who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,<br/>
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,<br/>
With all powders of the merchant?<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></SPAN></span></div>
<p>They themselves give the reply:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
King Solomon made himself a car of state<br/>
Of the wood of Lebanon.<br/>
He made the pillars thereof of silver,<br/>
The bottom thereof of gold, the seat of it of purple,<br/>
The midst thereof being paved with love (love-gifts),<br/>
From the daughters of Jerusalem.<br/>
Behold, it is the litter of Solomon;<br/>
Threescore mighty men are about it,<br/>
Of the mighty men of Israel,<br/>
They all handle the sword, <i>and</i> are expert in war:<br/>
Every man hath his sword upon his thigh,<br/>
Because of fear in the night.<br/></div>
<p>In these verses the bride is not mentioned;
she is eclipsed in the grandeur and the state
of her royal Bridegroom; nevertheless, she
is both enjoying and sharing it. The very
air is perfumed by the smoke of the incense
that ascends pillar-like to the clouds; and
all that safeguards the position of the Bridegroom
Himself, and shows forth His dignity,
safeguards also the accompanying bride, the
sharer of His glory. The car of state in
which they sit is built of fragrant cedar
from Lebanon, and the finest of the gold and
silver have been lavished in its construction.
The fragrant wood typifies the beauty of
sanctified humanity, while the gold reminds
us of the divine glory of our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, and the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></SPAN></span>
silver of the purity and preciousness of His
redeemed and peerless Church. The imperial
purple with which it is lined tells us of the
Gentiles—the daughter of Tyre has been
there with her gift; while the love-gifts of
the daughters of Jerusalem accord with the
prophecy, "Even the rich among the people
shall intreat thy favour."</p>
<p>These are the things that attract the
attention of the daughters of Jerusalem, but
the bride is occupied with the King Himself,
and she exclaims:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon,<br/>
With the crown wherewith His mother hath crowned Him in the day of His espousals,<br/>
And in the day of the gladness of His heart.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>The crowned <span class="smcap">King</span> is everything to her, and
she would have Him to be so to the daughters
of Zion likewise. She dwells with delight
on the gladness of His heart in the day of
His espousals, for now she is not occupied
with Him for her <i>own</i> sake, but rejoices in
His joy in finding in her <i>His</i> satisfaction.
Do we sufficiently cultivate this unselfish
desire to be all for <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>, and to do all for
His pleasure? Or are we conscious that we
principally go to Him for our own sakes, or
at best for the sake of our fellow-creatures?<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></SPAN></span>
How much of prayer there is that begins and
ends with the creature, forgetful of the
privilege of giving joy to the Creator! Yet
it is only when He sees in our unselfish love
and devotion to Him the reflection of His
own that His heart can feel full satisfaction,
and pour itself forth in precious utterances
of love such as those which we find in the
following words:—</div>
<div class='poem'>
Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair;<br/>
Thine eyes are <i>as</i> dove's behind thy veil;<br/>
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,<br/>
That lie along the side of Mount Gilead;<br/>
Thy teeth are like a flock <i>of ewes</i> that are <i>newly</i> shorn,<br/>
Which are come up from the washing.<br/>
Which are all of them in pairs,<br/>
And none is bereaved among them.<br/>
Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,<br/>
And thy speech is comely, etc. (See verses 3-5.)<br/></div>
<p>We have already found the explanation
of the fairness of the bride in her reflecting
like a mirror the beauty of the Bridegroom.
Well may He with satisfaction describe her
beauty while she is thus occupied with Himself!
The lips that speak only of Him are
like a thread of scarlet; the mouth or speech
which has no word of self, or for self, is
comely in His sight.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></SPAN></span></p>
<p>How sweet His words of appreciation and
commendation were to the bride we can well
imagine; but her joy was too deep for expression;
she was silent in her love. She
would not <i>now</i> think of sending Him away
until the day be cool and the shadows flee
away.</p>
<p>Still less does the Bridegroom think of
finding His joy apart from His bride. He
says:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,<br/>
I will get Me to the mountain of myrrh,<br/>
And to the hill of frankincense.<br/></div>
<p>Separation never comes from His side.
He is always ready for communion with a
prepared heart, and in this happy communion
the bride becomes ever fairer, and more like
to her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>. She is being progressively
changed into His image, from one degree of
glory to another, through the wondrous
working of the <span class="smcap">Holy Spirit</span>, until the
Bridegroom can declare:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thou art all fair, My love;<br/>
And there is no spot on thee.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>And now she is <i>fit for service</i>, and to it the
Bridegroom woos her; she will not now
misrepresent Him:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></SPAN></span>—</div>
<div class='poem'>
Come with Me from Lebanon, <i>My</i> bride,<br/>
With Me from Lebanon;<br/>
Look from the top of Amana,<br/>
From the top of Senir and Hermon,<br/>
From the lions' dens,<br/>
From the mountains of the leopards.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>"Come with Me." It is always so. If our
<span class="smcap">Saviour</span> says, "Go ye therefore and disciple
all nations," He precedes it by, "All power
is given unto Me," and follows it by, "Lo,
I am with you always." Or if, as here, He
calls His bride to come, it is still "with Me,"
and it is <i>in connection with this loving invitation</i>
that for the first time He changes the
word "My love," for the still more endearing
one, "My bride."</div>
<p>What are lions' dens when the Lion of the
tribe of Judah is with us; or mountains of
leopards, when He is at our side! "I will
fear no evil, for Thou art with me." On the
other hand, it is while thus facing dangers,
and toiling with Him in service, that He
says:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thou hast ravished My heart, My sister, <i>My</i> bride;<br/>
Thou hast ravished My heart with one look from thine eyes,<br/>
With one chain of thy neck.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Is it not wonderful how the heart of our
Beloved can be thus ravished with the love<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></SPAN></span>
of one who is prepared to accept His invitation,
and go forth with Him seeking to
rescue the perishing! The marginal reading
of the Revised Version is very significant:
"Thou hast ravished My heart," or "Thou
hast given me courage." If the Bridegroom's
heart may be encouraged by the
fidelity and loving companionship of his
bride, it is not surprising that we may cheer
and encourage one another in our mutual
service. St. Paul had a steep mountain of
difficulty to climb when he was being led as
a captive to Rome, not knowing the things
that awaited him there; but when the
brethren met him at the Appii Forum he
thanked God and took courage. May we
ever thus strengthen one another's hands in
God!</div>
<p>But to resume. The Bridegroom cheers
the toilsome ascents, and the steep pathways
of danger, with sweet communications of His
love:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
How fair is thy love, My sister, <i>My</i> bride!<br/>
How much better is thy love than wine!<br/>
And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!<br/>
Thy lips, O <i>My</i> bride, drop as the honeycomb:<br/>
Honey and milk are under thy tongue;<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></SPAN></span>And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.<br/>
A garden shut up is My sister, <i>My</i> bride;<br/>
A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.<br/>
Thy shoots are a paradise of pomegranates, with precious fruits;<br/>
Henna with spikenard plants,<br/>
Spikenard and saffron,<br/>
Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense;<br/>
Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.<br/>
<i>Thou art</i> a fountain of gardens,<br/>
A well of living waters,<br/>
And flowing streams from Lebanon.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Engaged with the Bridegroom in seeking to
rescue the perishing, the utterances of her
lips are to Him as honey and the honeycomb;
and figure is piled upon figure to
express His satisfaction and joy. She is a
garden full of precious fruits and delightful
perfumes, but a garden enclosed; the fruit
she bears may bring blessing to many, but
the garden is for Himself alone; she is a
fountain, but a spring shut up, a fountain
sealed. And yet again she is a fountain of
gardens, a well of living waters and flowing
streams from Lebanon: she carries fertility
and imparts refreshment wherever she goes;
and yet it is all of Him and for Him.</div>
<p>The bride now speaks for the second time
in this section. As her first utterance was
of Him, so now her second is for Him; self
is found in neither.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class='poem2'>
Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south;<br/>
Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.<br/>
Let my Beloved come into His garden,<br/>
And eat His precious fruits.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She is ready for any experience: the north
wind and the south may blow upon her
garden, if only the spices thereof may flow
out to regale her <span class="smcap">Lord</span> by their fragrance.
He has called her His garden, a paradise of
pomegranates and precious fruits; let Him
come into it and eat His precious fruits.</div>
<p>To this the Bridegroom replies:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
I am come into My garden, My sister, <i>My</i> bride:<br/>
I have gathered My myrrh with My spice;<br/>
I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey;<br/>
I have drunk My wine with My milk.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Now, when she calls, He answers at once.
When she is only for her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, He assures
her that He finds all His satisfaction in her.</div>
<p>The section closes by the bride's invitation
to His friends and hers, as well as to Himself:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Eat, O friends;<br/>
Drink, yea, drink abundantly, O Beloved.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>The consecration of all to our <span class="smcap">Master</span>, far
from lessening our power to impart, increases
both our power and our joy in ministration.
The five loaves and two fishes of the disciples,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></SPAN></span>
first given up to and blessed by the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,
were abundant supply for the needy multitudes,
and grew, in the act of distribution,
into a store of which twelve hampers full of
fragments remained when all were fully
satisfied.</div>
<p>We have, then, in this beautiful section,
as we have seen, a picture of unbroken
communion and its delightful issues. May
our lives correspond! First, one with the
<span class="smcap">King</span>, then speaking of the <span class="smcap">King</span>; the joy
of communion leading to fellowship in
service, to a being all for <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>, ready for
any experience that will fit for further
service, surrendering all to Him, and willing
to minister all for Him. There is no room
for love of the world here, for union with
<span class="smcap">Christ</span> has filled the heart; there is nothing
for the gratification of the world, for all has
been sealed and is kept for the <span class="smcap">Master's</span> use.</p>
<div class='poem'>
<span class="smcap">Jesus</span>, my life is Thine!<br/>
And evermore shall be<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hidden in Thee.</span><br/>
For nothing can untwine<br/>
Thy life from mine.<br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>SECTION IV</h2>
<h3>COMMUNION AGAIN BROKEN—RESTORATION</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. v. 2-vi. 10</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> fourth section commences with an
address of the bride to the daughters of
Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent
sad experience, and entreats their help in her
trouble. The presence and comfort of her
Bridegroom are again lost to her; not this
time by relapse into worldliness, but by
slothful self-indulgence.</div>
<p>We are not told of the steps that led to
her failure; of how self again found place
in her heart. Perhaps spiritual pride in the
achievements which grace enabled her to
accomplish was the cause; or, not improbably,
a cherished satisfaction in the <i>blessing</i>
she had received, instead of in the <span class="smcap">Blesser</span>
Himself, may have led to the separation.
She seems to have been largely unconscious
of her declension; self-occupied and self-contented,
she scarcely noticed His absence;
she was resting, resting alone,—never asking
where He had gone, or how He was employed.
And more than this, the door of her chamber
was not only closed, but barred; an evidence<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></SPAN></span>
that His return was neither eagerly desired
nor expected.</p>
<p>Yet her heart was not far from Him:
there was a music in His voice that awakened
echoes in her soul such as no other voice
could have stirred. She was still "a garden
shut up, a fountain sealed," so far as the
world was concerned. The snare this time
was the more dangerous and insidious because
it was quite unsuspected. Let us look
at her narrative:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I was asleep, but my heart waked:<br/>
It is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh saying,<br/>
Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:<br/>
For My head is filled with dew,<br/>
My locks with the drops of the night.<br/></div>
<p>How often the position of the Bridegroom
is that of a knocking Suitor outside, as in
His epistle to the Laodicean<SPAN name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</SPAN> Church:
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
if any man hear My voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with Me." It is sad that He should
be outside a closed door—that He should
need to knock; but still more sad that He<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></SPAN></span>
should knock, and knock in vain at the door
of any heart which has become His own. In
this case it is not the <i>position</i> of the bride
that is wrong; if it were, His word as before
would be, "Arise, and come away"; whereas
now His word is, "Open to Me, My sister,
My love." It was her <i>condition</i> of self-satisfaction
and love of ease that closed the door.</p>
<p>Very touching are His words: "Open to
Me, My sister" (He is the first-born among
many brethren), "My love" (the object of
My heart's devotion), "My dove" (one who
has been endued with many of the gifts and
graces of the <span class="smcap">Holy Spirit</span>), "My undefiled"
(washed, renewed, and cleansed for Me);
and He urges her to open by reference to
His own condition:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
My head is filled with dew,<br/>
My locks with the drops of the night.<br/></div>
<p>Why is it that His head is filled with the
dew? Because His heart is a shepherd-heart.
There are those whom the <span class="smcap">Father</span>
has given to Him who are wandering on the
dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how
many, have never heard the <span class="smcap">Shepherd's</span>
voice; many, too, who were once in the fold
have wandered away—far away from its
safe shelter. The heart that never can<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></SPAN></span>
forget, the love that never can fail, <i>must</i>
seek the wandering sheep until the lost one
has been found: "My <span class="smcap">Father</span> worketh
hitherto, and I work." And will she, who
so recently was at His side, who joyfully
braved the dens of lions and the mountains
of leopards, will she leave Him to seek alone
the wandering and the lost?</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Open to Me, My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled:<br/>
For My head is filled with dew,<br/>
My locks with the drops of the night.<br/></div>
<p>We do not know a more touching entreaty
in the Word of <span class="smcap">God</span>, and sad indeed is the
reply of the bride:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?<br/>
I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?<br/></div>
<p>How sadly possible it is to take delight
in conferences and conventions, to feast on
all the good things that are brought before
us, and yet to be unprepared to go out from
them to self-denying efforts to rescue the
perishing; to delight in the rest of faith
while forgetful to fight the good fight of
faith; to dwell upon the cleansing and the
purity effected by faith, but to have little
thought for the poor souls struggling in the
mire of sin. If we can put off our coat when<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></SPAN></span>
He would have us keep it on; if we can
wash our feet while He is wandering alone
upon the mountains, is there not sad want
of fellowship with our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>?</p>
<p>Meeting with no response from the tardy
bride, her</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door,<br/>
And "her" heart was moved for Him.<br/></div>
<p>But, alas, the door was not only latched,
but barred; and His effort to secure an
entrance was in vain.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I rose up to open to my Beloved;<br/>
And my hands dropped with myrrh,<br/>
And my fingers with liquid myrrh,<br/>
Upon the handles of the bolt.<br/>
I opened to my Beloved;<br/>
But my Beloved had withdrawn Himself, and was gone.<br/>
My soul had failed me when He spake.<br/></div>
<p>When, all too late, the bride did arise, she
seems to have been more concerned to anoint
herself with the liquid myrrh than to speedily
welcome her waiting <span class="smcap">Lord</span>; more occupied
with her own graces than with His desire.
No words of welcome were uttered, though
her heart failed within her; and the grieved
One had withdrawn Himself before she was
ready to receive Him. Again (as in the
third chapter) she had to go forth alone to<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></SPAN></span>
seek her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>; and this time her experiences
were much more painful than on the former
occasion.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I sought Him, but I could not find Him;<br/>
I called Him, but He gave me no answer.<br/>
The watchmen that go about the city found me,<br/>
They smote me, they wounded me;<br/>
The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me.<br/></div>
<p>Her first relapse had been one of inexperience;
if a second relapse had been brought
about by inadvertence she should at least
have been ready and prompt when summoned
to obey. It is not a little thing to
fall into the habit of being tardy in obedience,
even in the case of a believer: in the case of
the unbeliever the final issue of disobedience
is inexpressibly awful:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Turn you at My reproof:<br/>
Behold, I will pour out My <span class="smcap">Spirit</span> unto you,<br/>
I will make known My words unto you.<br/>
Because I have called, and ye refused;<br/>
I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; ...<br/>
I also will laugh in the day of your calamity....<br/>
Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer;<br/>
They shall seek Me diligently, but they shall not find Me.<br/></div>
<p>The backsliding of the bride, though painful,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></SPAN></span>
was not final; for it was followed by
true repentance. She went forth into the
darkness and sought Him; she called, but
He responded not, and the watchmen finding
her, both smote and wounded her. They
appear to have appreciated the gravity of
her declension more correctly than she had
done. Believers may be blinded to their
own inconsistencies; others, however, note
them; and the higher the position with
regard to our <span class="smcap">Lord</span> the more surely will any
failure be visited with reproach.</p>
<p>Wounded, dishonoured, unsuccessful in
her search, and almost in despair, the bride
turns to the daughters of Jerusalem; and
recounting the story of her sorrows, adjures
<i>them</i> to tell her Beloved that she is not unfaithful
or unmindful of Him.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,<br/>
That ye tell Him, that I am sick of love.<br/></div>
<p>The reply of the daughters of Jerusalem
shows very clearly that the sorrow-stricken
bride, wandering in the dark, is not recognized
as the bride of the <span class="smcap">King</span>, though her
personal beauty does not escape notice.</p>
<div class='poem'>
What is thy Beloved more than another beloved,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></SPAN></span>O thou fairest among women?<br/>
What is thy Beloved more than another beloved,<br/>
That thou dost so adjure us?<br/></div>
<p>This question, implying that her Beloved
was no more than any other, stirs her soul
to its deepest depths; and, forgetting herself,
she pours out from the fulness of her
heart a soul-ravishing description of the
glory and beauty of her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>.</p>
<div class='poem'>
My Beloved is white and ruddy,<br/>
The chiefest among ten thousand.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>(see verses 10-16, concluding with)</div>
<div class='poem2'>
His mouth is most sweet: yea, He is altogether lovely.<br/>
This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend,<br/>
O daughters of Jerusalem.<br/></div>
<p>It is interesting to compare the bride's
description of the Bridegroom with the
descriptions of "the Ancient of Days"
in Dan. vii. 9, 10, and of our risen <span class="smcap">Lord</span>
in Rev. i. 13-16. The differences are very
characteristic.</p>
<p>In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of Days
seated on the throne of judgment; His
garment was white as snow, and the hair of
His head like the pure wool; His throne and
His wheels were as burning fire, and a fiery
stream issued and came forth from before<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></SPAN></span>
Him. The Son of Man was brought near
before Him, and received from Him dominion,
and glory, and an everlasting kingdom that
shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we see
the Son of Man Himself clothed with a
garment down to the foot, and His head and
His hair were white as wool, white as snow;
but the bride sees her Bridegroom in all the
vigour of youth, with locks "bushy, and
black as a raven." The eyes of the risen
<span class="smcap">Saviour</span> are described as "a flame of fire,"
but His bride sees them "like doves beside
the water brooks." In Revelation "His
voice is as the voice of many waters ...
and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp
two-edged sword." To the bride, His lips
are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His
mouth most sweet. The countenance of the
risen <span class="smcap">Saviour</span> was "as the sun shineth in
his strength," and the effect of the vision on
John—"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet
as one dead"—was not unlike the effect of
the vision given to Saul as he neared Damascus.
But to His bride "His aspect is
like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars." The
<span class="smcap">Lion</span> of the tribe of Judah is to His own
bride the <span class="smcap">King</span> of love; and, with full heart
and beaming face, she so recounts His beauties
that the daughters of Jerusalem are seized<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></SPAN></span>
with strong desire to seek Him with her,
that they also may behold His beauty.</p>
<div class='poem'>
Whither is thy Beloved gone,<br/>
O thou fairest among women?<br/>
Whither hath thy Beloved turned Him,<br/>
That we may seek Him with thee?<br/></div>
<p>The bride replies:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
My Beloved is gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices,<br/>
To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.<br/>
I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine:<br/>
He feedeth His flock among the lilies.<br/></div>
<p>Forlorn and desolate as she might appear
she still knows herself as the object of His
affections, and claims Him as her own.
This expression, "I am my Beloved's, and
my Beloved is mine," is similar to that
found in the second chapter, "My Beloved
is mine, and I am His"; and yet with noteworthy
difference. Then her first thought
of <span class="smcap">Christ</span> was of her claim upon Him: His
claim upon her was secondary. Now she
thinks first of His claim; and only afterwards
mentions her own. We see a still
further development of grace in chap. vii.
10, where the bride, losing sight of her claim
altogether, says:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
I am my Beloved's,<br/>
And His desire is toward me.<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></SPAN></span></div>
<p>No sooner has she uttered these words and
acknowledged herself as His rightful possession—a
claim which she had practically
repudiated when she kept Him barred out—than
her Bridegroom Himself appears; and
with no upbraiding word, but in tenderest
love, tells her how beautiful she is in His
eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters
of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>To her He says:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thou art beautiful, O My love, as Tirzah,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">[the beautiful city of Samaria,]</span><br/>
Comely as Jerusalem,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 2em;">[the glorious city of the great <span class="smcap">King</span>,]</span><br/>
Terrible [or rather brilliant] as an army with banners.<br/>
Turn away thine eyes from Me,<br/>
For they have overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7.)<br/></div>
<p>Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem,
He exclaims:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines,<br/>
And maidens without number.<br/>
My dove, My perfect one, is but one;<br/>
She is the only one of her mother;<br/>
She is the choice one of her that bare her.<br/>
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;<br/>
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her, saying,<br/>
Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></SPAN></span>Fair as the moon,<br/>
Clear as the sun,<br/>
Brilliant as an army with banners?<br/></div>
<p>Thus the section closes with communion
fully restored; the bride reinstated and
openly acknowledged by the Bridegroom as
His own peerless companion and friend.
The painful experience through which the
bride has passed has been fraught with
lasting good, and we have no further indication
of interrupted communion, but in the
remaining sections find only joy and fruitfulness.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>SECTION V</h2>
<h3>FRUITS OF RECOGNIZED UNION</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. vi. 11-viii. 4</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">In</span> the second and fourth sections of this
book we found the communion of the bride
broken; in the former by backsliding into
worldliness, and in the latter through slothful
ease and self-satisfaction. The present
section, like the third, is one of unbroken
communion. It is opened by the words of
the bride:—</div>
<div class='poem'>
I went down into the garden of nuts,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></SPAN></span>To see the green plants of the valley,<br/>
To see whether the vine budded,<br/>
<i>And</i> the pomegranates were in flower.<br/>
Or ever I was aware, my soul set me<br/>
<i>Among</i> the chariots of my willing people.<br/></div>
<p>As in the commencement of Section III.,
the bride, in unbroken communion with her
<span class="smcap">Lord</span>, was present though unmentioned until
she made her presence evident by her address
to the daughters of Zion; so in this section
the presence of the <span class="smcap">King</span> is unnoted until
He Himself addresses His bride. But she
is one with her <span class="smcap">Lord</span> as she engages in His
service! His promise, "Lo, I am with you
alway," is ever fulfilled to her; and He has
no more to woo her to arise and come away;
to tell her that His "head is filled with
dew," His "locks with the drops of the
night"; or to urge her if she love Him to
feed His sheep and care for His lambs.
Herself His garden, she does not forget to
tend it, nor keep the vineyards of others
while her own is neglected. <i>With</i> Him as
well as <i>for</i> Him, she goes to the garden of
nuts. So thorough is the union between
them that many commentators have felt
difficulty in deciding whether the bride or
the Bridegroom was the speaker, and really
it is a point of little moment; for, as we
have said, both were there, and of one mind;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></SPAN></span>
yet we believe we are right in attributing
these words to the bride, as she is the one
addressed by the daughters of Jerusalem,
and the one who speaks to them in reply.</p>
<p>The bride and Bridegroom appear to have
been discovered by their willing people
while thus engaged in the happy fellowship
of fruitful service, and the bride, or ever she
was aware, found herself seated among the
chariots of her people—<i>her</i> people as well as
<i>His</i>.</p>
<p>The daughters of Jerusalem would fain
call her back:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Return, return, O Shulammite;<br/>
Return, return, that we may look upon thee.<br/></div>
<p>There is no question now as to who she
is, nor why her Beloved is more than another
beloved; He is recognized as King Solomon,
and to her is given the same name, only in
its feminine form (Shulammite).</p>
<p>Some have seen in these words, "Return,
return," an indication of the rapture of the
Church; and explain some parts of the
subsequent context, which appear inconsistent
with this view, as resumptive rather
than progressive. Interesting as is this
thought, and well as it would explain the
absence of <i>reference</i> to the <span class="smcap">King</span> in the preceding<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></SPAN></span>
verses, we are not inclined to accept
it; but look on the whole song as progressive,
and its last words as being equivalent to the
closing words of the Book of Revelation,
"Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so,
come, <span class="smcap">Lord Jesus</span>." We do not therefore
look upon the departure of the bride from
her garden as being other than temporary.</p>
<p>The bride replies to the daughters of
Jerusalem:—</p>
<div class='center'>
Why will ye look upon the Shulammite?<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>or, as in the Authorized Version,</div>
<div class='center'>
What will ye see in the Shulamite?<br/></div>
<p>In the presence of the <span class="smcap">King</span>, she cannot
conceive why any attention should be paid
to her. As Moses, coming down from the
mount, was unconscious that his face shone
with a divine glory, so was it here with the
bride. But we may learn this very important
lesson, that many who do not see the beauty
of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, will not fail to admire His
reflected beauty in His bride. The eager
look of the daughters of Jerusalem surprised
the bride, and she says, You might be looking
"upon the dance of Mahanaim"—the
dance of two companies of Israel's fairest
daughters—instead of upon one who has no<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></SPAN></span>
claim for attention, save that she is the
chosen, though unworthy, bride of the
glorious <span class="smcap">King</span>.</p>
<p>The daughters of Jerusalem have no
difficulty in replying to her question, and
recognizing her as of royal birth—"O
Prince's daughter"—as well as of queenly
dignity, they describe in true and Oriental
language the tenfold beauties of her person;
from her feet to her head they see only
beauty and perfection. What a contrast to
her state by nature! Once "from the sole
of the foot even unto the head" was "but
wounds, and bruises, and festering sores";
now her feet are "shod with the preparation
of the Gospel of peace," and the very hair
of the head proclaims her a Nazarite indeed;
"the <span class="smcap">King</span>" Himself "is held captive in
the tresses thereof."</p>
<p>But One, more to her than the daughters
of Jerusalem, responded to her unaffected
question, "What will ye see in the Shulamite?"
The Bridegroom Himself replies to
it:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
How fair and how pleasant art thou,<br/>
O love, for delights!<br/></div>
<p>He sees in her the beauties and the fruitfulness
of the tall and upright palm, of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></SPAN></span>
graceful and clinging vine, of the fragrant
and evergreen citron. Grace has made her
like the palm-tree, the emblem alike of
uprightness and of fruitfulness. The fruit
of the date-palm is more valued than bread
by the Oriental traveller, so great is its
sustaining power; and the fruit-bearing
powers of the tree do not pass away; as age
increases the fruit becomes more perfect as
well as more abundant.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree:<br/>
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.<br/>
They that are planted in the house of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span><br/>
Shall flourish in the courts of our <span class="smcap">God</span>.<br/>
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;<br/>
They shall be full of sap and green.<br/></div>
<p>But why are the righteous made so
upright and flourishing?</p>
<div class='poem2'>
To show that the <span class="smcap">Lord</span> is upright;<br/>
He is my <span class="smcap">Rock</span>, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.<br/></div>
<p>One with our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, it is ours to <i>show
forth</i> His graces and virtues, to reflect His
beauty, to be His faithful witnesses.</p>
<p>The palm is also the emblem of victory;
it raises its beautiful crown towards the
heavens, fearless of the heat of the sultry
sun, or of the burning hot wind from the
desert. From its beauty it was one of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></SPAN></span>
ornaments of Solomon's, as it is to be of
Ezekiel's temple. When our <span class="smcap">Saviour</span> was
received at Jerusalem as the <span class="smcap">King</span> of Israel
the people took branches of palm-trees and
went forth to meet Him; and in the glorious
day of His espousals, "a great multitude,
which no man" can "number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues,"
shall stand "before the throne and before
the <span class="smcap">Lamb</span>, clothed with white robes"; and
with palms of victory in their hands shall
ascribe their "salvation to our <span class="smcap">God</span> which
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the
<span class="smcap">Lamb</span>."</p>
<p>But if she resembles the palm she also
resembles the vine. Much she needs the
culture of the Husbandman, and well does
she repay it. Abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, the true
source of fruitfulness, she brings forth clusters
of grapes, luscious and refreshing, as well as
sustaining, like the fruit of the palm—luscious
and refreshing to Himself, the
owner of the vineyard, as well as to the
weary, thirsty world in which He has
placed it.</p>
<p>The vine has its own suggestive lessons:
it needs and seeks support; the sharp knife
of the pruner often cuts away unsparingly
its tender garlands, and mars its appearance,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></SPAN></span>
while increasing its fruitfulness. It has been
beautifully written:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
The living Vine, <span class="smcap">Christ</span> chose it for Himself:—<br/>
<span class="smcap">God</span> gave to man for use and sustenance<br/>
Corn, wine, and oil, and each of these is good:<br/>
And <span class="smcap">Christ</span> is Bread of life and Light of life.<br/>
But yet, He did not choose the summer corn,<br/>
That shoots up straight and free in one quick growth.<br/>
And has its day, is done, and springs no more;<br/>
Nor yet the olive, all whose boughs are spread<br/>
In the soft air, and never lose a leaf,<br/>
Flowering and fruitful in perpetual peace;<br/>
But only this, for Him and His is one,—<br/>
That everlasting, ever-quickening Vine,<br/>
That gives the heat and passion of the world,<br/>
Through its own life-blood, still renewed and shed.<br/>
* * * * * *<br/>
The Vine from every living limb bleeds wine;<br/>
Is it the poorer for that spirit shed?<br/>
The drunkard and the wanton drink thereof;<br/>
Are they the richer for that gift's excess?<br/>
<i>Measure thy life by loss instead of gain;</i><br/>
<i>Not by the wine drunk, but the wine poured forth;</i><br/>
<i>For love's strength standeth in love's sacrifice;</i><br/>
<i>And whoso suffers most, hath most to give.</i><br/></div>
<p>Yet one figure more is used by the Bridegroom:
"The smell of thy breath [is] like
apples," or rather citrons. In the first
section the bride exclaims:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
As the citron-tree among the trees of the wood,<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></SPAN></span>So is my Beloved among the sons.<br/>
I delighted and sat down under His shadow,<br/>
And His fruit was sweet to my taste.<br/></div>
<p>Here we find the outcome of that communion.
The citrons on which she had fed
perfumed her breath, and imparted to her
their delicious odour. The Bridegroom concludes
his description:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thy mouth [is] like the best wine,<br/>
That goeth down smoothly—<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 7em;">For my Beloved—</span><br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>interjects the bride,</div>
<div class='center'>
Causing the lips of those that are asleep to move.<br/></div>
<p>How wondrous the grace that has made
the bride of <span class="smcap">Christ</span> to be all this to her
Beloved! Upright as the palm, victorious,
and evermore fruitful as she grows heavenward;
gentle and tender as the Vine, self-forgetful
and self-sacrificing, not merely
bearing fruit in spite of adversity, but
bearing her richest fruits through it;—feasting
on her Beloved, as she rests beneath His
shade, and thereby partaking of His fragrance;—what
has grace not done for her!
And what must be her joy in finding, ever
more fully, the satisfaction of the glorious
Bridegroom in the lowly wild flower He has
made His bride, and beautified with His own
graces and virtues!<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class='poem'>
I am my Beloved's,<br/>
And His desire is toward me,<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>she gladly exclaims. Now it is none of self
or for self, but all of Thee and for Thee.
And if such be the sweet fruits of going down
to the garden of nuts, and caring for His
garden with Him, she will need no constraining
to continue in this blessed service.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field;<br/>
Let us lodge in the villages.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She is not ashamed of her lowly origin, for
she fears no shame: perfect love has cast
out fear. The royal state of the King, with
its pomp and grandeur, may be enjoyed by-and-by:
now, more sweet with Him at her
side to make the garden fruitful; to give to
Him all manner of precious fruits, new and
old, which she has laid up in store for Him;
and best of all to satisfy Him with her own
love. Not only is she contented with this
fellowship of service, but she could fain wish
that there were no honours and duties to
claim His attention, and for the moment to
lessen the joy of His presence.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
Oh that Thou wert as my brother,<br/>
That sucked the breasts of my mother!<br/>
<i>When</i> I should find Thee without, I would kiss Thee;<br/>
Yea, and none would despise me.<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></SPAN></span></div>
<div class='unindent'>Would that she could care for Him, and
claim His whole attention, as a sister might
care for a brother. She is deeply conscious
that He has richly endowed her, and that
she is as nothing compared with Him; but
instead of proudly dwelling upon what she
has done through Him, she would fain that
it were possible for her to be the giver and
Him the receiver. Far removed is this from
the grudging thought, that must so grate
upon the heart of our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, "I do not
think that <span class="smcap">God</span> requires this of me"; or,
"Must I give up that, if I am to be a
Christian?" True devotion will rather ask
to be allowed to give, and will count as loss
all which may not be given up for the
<span class="smcap">Lord's</span> sake—"I count all things but loss,
for the excellency of the knowledge of
<span class="smcap">Christ Jesus</span> my <span class="smcap">Lord</span>."</div>
<p>This longing desire to be more to Him
does not, however, blind her to the consciousness
that she needs His guidance, and
that He is her true, her only Instructor.</p>
<div class='poem2'>
I would lead Thee, <i>and</i> bring Thee into my mother's house,<br/>
That Thou mightest instruct me;<br/>
I would cause Thee to drink of spiced wine,<br/>
Of the juice of my pomegranate.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>I would give Thee my best, and yet would<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></SPAN></span>
myself seek all my rest and satisfaction in
Thee.</div>
<div class='poem2'>
His left hand <i>should</i> be under my head,<br/>
And His right hand should embrace me.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>And thus the section closes. There is
nothing sweeter to the Bridegroom or to the
bride than this hallowed and unhindered
communion; and again He adjures the
daughters of Jerusalem, in slightly different
form:—</div>
<div class='poem'>
Why should ye stir up, or why awake My love,<br/>
Until she<SPAN name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</SPAN> please?<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>Hallowed communion indeed! May we ever
enjoy it; and abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>, we shall
sing, in the familiar words of the well-known
hymn—</div>
<div class='poem'>
Both Thine arms are clasped around me,<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And my head is on Thy breast;</span><br/>
And my weary soul hath found Thee<br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such a perfect, perfect rest!</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Blessed <span class="smcap">Jesus</span>,</span><br/>
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now I know that I am blest.</span><br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>SECTION VI</h2>
<h3>UNRESTRAINED COMMUNION</h3>
<div class='center'>Cant. viii. 5-14</div>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">We</span> have now reached the closing section
of this book, which, as we have seen, is a
poem describing the life of a believer on
earth. Beginning in Section I. (Cant. i. 2-ii. 7)
with the unsatisfied longings of an
espoused one—longings which could only be
met by her unreserved surrender to the
Bridegroom of her soul—we find that when
the surrender was made, instead of the cross
she had so much feared she found a King,
the <span class="smcap">King</span> of <span class="smcap">Love</span>, who both satisfied her
deepest longings, and found His own satisfaction
in her.</div>
<p>The second section (Cant. ii. 8-iii. 5)
showed failure on her part; she was lured
back again into the world, and soon found
that her Beloved could not follow her there;
then with full purpose of heart going forth
to seek Him, and confessing His name, her
search was successful, and her communion
was restored.</p>
<p>The third section (Cant. iii. 6-v. 1.) told of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></SPAN></span>
unbroken communion. Abiding in Christ,
she was the sharer of His security and His
glory. She draws the attention, however,
of the daughters of Jerusalem from these
outward things to her <span class="smcap">King</span> Himself. And,
while she is thus occupied with Him, and
would have others so occupied, she finds that
her royal Bridegroom is delighting in her,
and inviting her to fellowship of service,
fearless of dens of lions and mountains of
leopards.</p>
<p>The fourth section (Cant. v. 2-vi. 10),
however, shows again failure; not as before
through worldliness, but rather through
spiritual pride and sloth. Restoration now
was much more difficult; but again when
she went forth diligently to seek her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,
and so confessed Him as to lead others to
long to find Him with her, He revealed Himself
and the communion was restored, to be
interrupted no more.</p>
<p>The fifth section (Cant. vi. 11-viii. 4), as
we have seen, describes not only the mutual
satisfaction and delight of the bride and
Bridegroom in each other, but the recognition
of her position and her beauty by the
daughters of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>And now in the sixth section (Cant. viii. 5-14)
we come to the closing scene of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></SPAN></span>
book. In it the bride is seen leaning upon
her Beloved, asking Him to bind her yet
more firmly to Himself, and occupying herself
in His vineyard, until He calls her away
from earthly service. To this last section
we shall now give our attention more
particularly.</p>
<p>It opens, as did the third, by an inquiry
or exclamation of the daughters of Jerusalem.
There they asked, "Who is this
that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars
of smoke, etc.?" but then their attention
was claimed by the pomp and state of the
<span class="smcap">King</span>, not by His person, nor by that of His
bride. Here they are attracted by the happy
position of the bride in relation to her
Beloved, and not by their surroundings.</p>
<div class='poem'>
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,<br/>
Leaning upon her Beloved?<br/></div>
<p>It is through the bride that attention is
drawn to the Bridegroom; their union and
communion are now open and manifest.
For the last time the wilderness is mentioned;
but sweetly solaced by the presence
of the Bridegroom, it is <i>no wilderness to the
bride</i>. In all the trustfulness of confiding
love she is seen leaning upon her Beloved.
He is her strength, her joy, her pride, and<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></SPAN></span>
her prize; while she is His peculiar treasure,
the object of His tenderest care. All His
resources of wisdom and might are hers;
though journeying she is at rest, though in
the wilderness she is satisfied, while leaning
upon her Beloved.</p>
<p>Wonderful, however, as are the revelations
of grace and love to the heart taught by the
<span class="smcap">Holy Spirit</span> through the relationship of
bride and Bridegroom, the <span class="smcap">Christ</span> of <span class="smcap">God</span>
is more than Bridegroom to His people. He
who when on earth was able to say, "Before
Abraham was, I am," here claims His bride
from her very birth, and not alone from her
espousals. Before she knew Him, He knew
her; and of this He reminds her in the
words:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
I raised thee up under the citron-tree;<br/>
There thy mother brought thee forth.<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>He takes delight in her beauty, but that is
not so much the cause as the effect of His
love; for He took her up when she had no
comeliness. The love that has made her
what she is, and now takes delight in her,
is not a fickle love, nor need she fear its
change.</div>
<p>Gladly does the bride recognize this truth,
that she is indeed His own, and she exclaims:<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></SPAN></span></p>
<div class='poem2'>
Set me as a seal upon Thine heart, as a seal upon Thine arm;<br/>
For love is strong as death;<br/>
Jealousy (ardent love) is cruel (retentive) as the grave;<br/>
The flashes thereof are flashes of fire,<br/>
A very flame of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>.<br/></div>
<p>The High Priest bore the names of the
twelve tribes upon his heart, each name
being engraved as a seal in the costly and
imperishable stone chosen by <span class="smcap">God</span>, each seal
or stone being set in the purest gold; he
likewise bore the same names upon his
shoulders, indicating that both the love
and the strength of the High Priest were
pledged on behalf of the tribes of Israel.
The bride would be thus upborne by Him who
is alike her Prophet, Priest, and King, for
love is strong as death; and jealousy, or
ardent love, retentive as the grave. Not
that she doubts the constancy of her Beloved,
but that she has learned, alas! the
inconstancy of her own heart; and she
would be bound to the heart and arm of her
Beloved as with chains and settings of gold,
ever the emblem of divinity. Thus the
Psalmist prayed, "Bind the sacrifice with
cords, <i>even</i> unto the horns of the altar."</p>
<p>It is comparatively easy to lay the sacrifice
on the altar that sanctifies the gift, but it<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></SPAN></span>
requires divine compulsion—the cords of
love—to retain it there. So here the bride
would be set and fixed on the heart and on
the arm of Him who is henceforth to be her
all in all, that she may evermore trust only in
that love, be sustained only by that power.</p>
<p>Do we not all need to learn a lesson from
this? and to pray to be kept from turning
to Egypt for help, from trusting in horses
and chariots, from putting confidence in
princes, or in the son of man, rather than in
the living <span class="smcap">God</span>? How the Kings of Israel,
who had won great triumphs by faith,
sometimes turned aside to heathen nations
in their later years! The <span class="smcap">Lord</span> keep His
people from this snare.</p>
<p>The bride continues: "The flashes of love
are flashes of fire, a very flame of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>."
It is worthy of note that this is the only
occurrence of this word "<span class="smcap">Lord</span>" in this
book. But how could it be omitted here?
For love is of <span class="smcap">God</span>, and <span class="smcap">God</span> is love.</p>
<p>To her request the Bridegroom replies
with reassuring words:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Many waters cannot quench love,<br/>
Neither can the floods drown it:<br/>
If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,<br/>
It would utterly be contemned.<br/>
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></SPAN></span></div>
<p>The love which grace has begotten in the
heart of the bride is itself divine and persistent;
many waters cannot quench it, nor
the floods drown it. Suffering and pain,
bereavement and loss may test its constancy,
but they will not quench it. Its source is
not human or natural; like the life, it is
hidden with <span class="smcap">Christ</span> in <span class="smcap">God</span>. What "shall
separate us from the love of <span class="smcap">Christ</span>? shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...
Nay, in all these things we are more
than conquerors, through Him that loved
us. For I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other
creation [R.V. margin], shall be able to
separate us from the love of <span class="smcap">God</span>, which is in
<span class="smcap">Christ Jesus</span> our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>." Our love to <span class="smcap">God</span>
is secured by <span class="smcap">God's</span> love to us. To the soul
really rescued by grace, no bribe to forsake
<span class="smcap">God's</span> love will be finally successful. "If a
man would give all the substance of his
house for love, it would utterly be contemned."</p>
<p>Freed from anxiety on her own account,
the happy bride next asks guidance, and
fellowship in service with her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, on behalf<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></SPAN></span>
of those who have not yet reached her
favoured position.</p>
<div class='poem'>
We have a little sister,<br/>
And she hath no breasts:<br/>
What shall we do for our sister<br/>
In the day when she shall be spoken for?<br/></div>
<p>How beautifully her conscious union with
the Bridegroom appears in her expressions.
"<i>We</i> have a little sister," not <i>I</i> have, etc.;
"what shall <i>we</i> do for our sister," etc.?
She has now no private relationships nor
interests; in all things she is one with Him.
And we see a further development of grace
in the very question. Towards the close of
the last section she recognized the Bridegroom
as her Instructor. She will not now
make her own plans about her little sister,
and ask His acquiescence in them; she will
rather learn what his thoughts are, and have
fellowship with Him in His plans.</p>
<p>How much anxiety and care the children
of <span class="smcap">God</span> would be spared if they learned to
act in this way! Is it not too common to
make the best plans that we can, and to
carry them out as best we may, feeling all
the while a great burden of responsibility,
and earnestly asking the <span class="smcap">Lord</span> to help <i>us</i>?
Whereas if we always let <i>Him</i> be our Instructor
in service, and left the responsibility<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></SPAN></span>
with <i>Him</i>, our strength would not be exhausted
with worry and anxiety, but would
all be at His disposal, and accomplish His
ends.</p>
<p>In the little sister, as yet immature, may
we not see the elect of <span class="smcap">God</span>, given to <span class="smcap">Christ</span>
in <span class="smcap">God's</span> purpose, but not yet brought into
saving relation to Him? And perhaps also
those babes in <span class="smcap">Christ</span> who as yet need
feeding with milk and not with meat, but
who, with such care, will in due time become
experienced believers, fitted for the service
of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>? Then they will be spoken for,
and called into that department of service
for which He has prepared them.</p>
<p>The Bridegroom replies:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
If she be a wall,<br/>
We will build upon her battlements of silver;<br/>
And if she be a door,<br/>
We will inclose her with boards of cedar.<br/></div>
<p>In this reply the Bridegroom sweetly
recognizes His oneness with His bride, in
the same way as she has shown her conscious
oneness with Him. As she says, "What
shall <i>we</i> do for our sister?" so He replies,
"<i>We</i> will build ... <i>we</i> will inclose," etc.
He will not carry out His purposes of grace
irrespective of His bride, but will work with
and through her. What can be done for<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></SPAN></span>
this sister, however, will depend upon what
she becomes. If she be a wall, built upon the
true foundation, strong and stable, she shall
be adorned and beautified with battlements
of silver; but if unstable and easily moved
to and fro like a door, such treatment will
be as impossible as unsuitable; she will
need to be inclosed with boards of cedar,
hedged in with restraints, for her own protection.</p>
<p>The bride rejoicingly responds, "I am a
wall"; she knows the foundation on which
she is built, there is no "if" in her case;
she is conscious of having found favour in the
eyes of her Beloved. Naphtali's blessing is
hers: she is "satisfied with favour, and full
with the blessing of the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>."</p>
<p>But what is taught by the connection of
this happy consciousness with the lines
which follow?</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;<br/>
He let out the vineyard unto keepers;<br/>
Every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand <i>pieces</i> of silver.<br/>
My vineyard, which is mine, is before me:<br/>
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have the thousand,<br/>
And those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred.<br/></div>
<p>The connection is, we believe, one of great
importance, teaching us that what she <i>was</i><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></SPAN></span>
(by grace) was more important than what
she <i>did</i>; and that she did not work in order
to earn favour, but being assured of favour,
gave her love free scope to show itself in
service. The bride knew her relationship
to her <span class="smcap">Lord</span>, and His love to her; and in
her determination that He should have the
thousand pieces of silver, her concern was
that her vineyard should not produce less for
her Solomon than His vineyard at Baal-hamon;
her vineyard was herself, and she
desired for her <span class="smcap">Lord</span> much fruit. She would
see, too, that the keepers of the vineyard,
those who were her companions in its culture,
and who ministered in word and doctrine,
were well rewarded; she would not muzzle
the ox that treadeth out the corn; a full
tithe, nay a double tithe, was to be the
portion of those who kept the fruit and
laboured with her in the vineyard.</p>
<hr style='width: 45%;' />
<p>How long this happy service continues,
and how soon it is to be terminated, we
cannot tell; He who calls His servants to
dwell in the gardens, and cultivate them for
Him—as Adam of old was placed in the
paradise of <span class="smcap">God</span>—alone knows the limit of
this service. Sooner or later the rest will
come, the burden and heat of the last day<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></SPAN></span>
will have been borne, the last conflict will
be over, and the voice of the Bridegroom will
be heard addressing His loved one:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Thou that dwellest in the gardens,<br/>
The companions hearken to thy voice:<br/>
Cause Me to hear it.<br/></div>
<p>Thy service among the companions is
finished; thou hast fought the good fight,
thou hast kept the faith, thou hast finished
thy course; henceforth there is laid up for
thee the crown of righteousness, and the
Bridegroom Himself shall be thine exceeding
great reward!</p>
<p>Well may the bride let Him hear her
voice, and, springing forth in heart to meet
Him, cry:—</p>
<div class='poem'>
Make haste, my Beloved,<br/>
And be Thou like to a roe or to a young hart<br/>
Upon the mountains of spices!<br/></div>
<p>She no longer asks Him, as in the second
section:—</p>
<div class='poem2'>
Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou like a roe or a young hart<br/>
Upon the mountains of Bether [separation].<br/></div>
<div class='unindent'>She has never again wished Him to turn
away from her, for there are no mountains
of Bether to those who are abiding in <span class="smcap">Christ</span>;<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></SPAN></span>
now there are mountains of spices. He who
inhabits the praises of Israel, which rise, like
the incense of spices, from His people's
hearts, is invited by His bride to make haste,
to come quickly, and be like a roe or young
hart upon the mountains of spices.</div>
<p>Very sweet is the presence of our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,
as by His <span class="smcap">Spirit</span> He dwells among His
people, while they serve Him below; but
here there are many thorns in every path,
which call for watchful care; and it is meet
that now we should suffer with our <span class="smcap">Lord</span>,
in order that we may hereafter be glorified
together. The day, however, is soon coming
in which He will bring us up out of the
earthly gardens and associations to the
palace of the great <span class="smcap">King</span>. There His people
"shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat. For the <span class="smcap">Lamb</span>, which is in
the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and
shall lead them unto living fountains of
waters; and <span class="smcap">God</span> shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes."</p>
<div class='poem'>
The <span class="smcap">Spirit</span> and the bride say, Come!...<br/>
Surely I come quickly.<br/>
Amen; even so, come, <span class="smcap">Lord Jesus</span>!<br/></div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></SPAN></span></p>
<h2>APPENDIX</h2>
<h3>THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM</h3>
<div class='unindent'><span class="smcap">The</span> question is frequently asked, Who are
represented by the daughters of Jerusalem?</div>
<p>They are clearly not the bride, yet they are
not far removed from her. They know where
the Bridegroom makes His flock to rest at noon;
they are charged by the Bridegroom not to stir
up nor awaken His love when she rests, abiding
in Him; they draw attention to the Bridegroom
as with dignity and pomp He comes up from
the wilderness; their love-gifts adorn His
chariot of state; they are appealed to by the
bride for help in finding her Beloved, and,
stirred by her impassioned description of His
beauty, they desire to seek Him with her; they
describe very fully the beauty of the bride, but,
on the other hand, we never find them occupied
with the <i>person</i> of the Bridegroom; <i>He</i> is not
all in all to them; they mind outward and
earthly things.</p>
<p>Do they not represent those who, if not
actually saved, are very near it; or, if saved,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></SPAN></span>
are only half-saved? who are for the present
more concerned about the things of this world
than the things of <span class="smcap">God</span>? To advance their own
interests, to secure their own comfort, concerns
them more than to be in all things pleasing to
the <span class="smcap">Lord</span>. They <i>may</i> form part of that great
company spoken of in Rev. vii. 9-17, who come
out of the great tribulation, but they will not
form part of the 144,000, "the first-fruits unto
<span class="smcap">God</span> and to the <span class="smcap">Lamb</span>" (Rev. xiv. 1-5). They
have forgotten the warning of our <span class="smcap">Lord</span> in
Luke xxi. 34-36; and hence they are not
"accounted worthy to escape all these things
that shall come to pass, and to stand before the
<span class="smcap">Son</span> of Man." They have not, with Paul,
counted "all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of <span class="smcap">Christ Jesus</span> the Lord,"
and hence they do <i>not</i> "attain unto" <i>that</i>
resurrection from among the dead, which Paul
felt he might miss, but aimed to attain unto.</p>
<p>We wish to place on record our solemn conviction
that not all who are Christians, or think
themselves to be such, will attain to that resurrection
of which St. Paul speaks in Phil. iii. 11,
or will thus meet the <span class="smcap">Lord</span> in the air. Unto
those who by lives of consecration manifest that
they are not of the world, but are looking for
Him, "He will appear without sin unto salvation."</p>
<div class='center'>
<i>Printed by</i> <span class="smcap">R. & R. Clark, Limited</span>, <i>Edinburgh.</i><br/>
<br/><br/></div>
<div class='footnotes'><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></SPAN> Loves = endearments, caresses.</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></SPAN> The pronoun here and in chapter iii. 5, and viii. 4,
should not be "he" as A.V., nor "it" as R.V.,
but "she."</p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></SPAN> See note on <SPAN href="#Page_26">p. 26.</SPAN></p>
</div>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></SPAN> The Church of Popular Opinion, as pointed out by
the Rev. Charles Fox in an address at Keswick, as the
Church of Philadelphia is the Church of Brotherly
Love.</p>
</div>
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