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James Hudson Taylor
BY
THE CHINA INLAND MISSION, LONDON
PHILADELPHIA, TORONTO, AND MELBOURNE
AGENTS: THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
4 BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E.C.4.
First
printed in "China's Millions."
Reprinted
in Book form--
First
and Second Editions, 6000 copies
Reprinted
June 1914
Reprinted
January 1918
Reprinted
June 1921
Reprinted
November 1923
Reprinted
May 1926
Reprinted
January 1927
Reprinted
July 1929
Total,
19,000 copies
Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
This 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.
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 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.
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.
ST. PAUL'S,
PORTMAN SQUARE, LONDON W.
June 1, 1914.
The great purpose towards which all the dispensational
dealings of God are tending, is revealed to us in the fifteenth chapter of the First
Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "That God may be all in all." With this
agrees the teaching of our Lord in John xvii. 3: "And this is (the object of) life
eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and JESUS CHRIST, 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 God's holy Word?
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
"knowledge of God" than the too-much neglected "Song of Solomon." Like
other portions of the Word of God, this book has its difficulties. But so have all the
works of God. 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 God, the illumination of the HOLY GHOST is promised to all who seek for it:
what more can we desire?
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
MAKER was her HUSBAND. John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, recognized the
Bridegroom in the person of CHRIST, and said, "He that hath the bride is the
Bridegroom: but the friend 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 CHRIST with His Church, and her subjection to Him, underlies the very
relationship of marriage, and affords the pattern for every godly union.
In Solomon, the bridegroom king, as well as author of this
poem, we have a type of our LORD, 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 KING, 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 LORD, for ever
like her LORD, 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 mysteries
of grace and love be other than most profitable?
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 thus the necessary introduction to the Song of Solomon,
which shows how true blessing and satisfaction are to be possessed. In like manner our
SAVIOUR'S 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 HOLY GHOST (whose work it is, not to reveal Himself but
CHRIST 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."
We shall find it helpful to consider the book in six
sections:--
I. The Unsatisfied Life and its Remedy.
Chapter i. 2-ii. 7.
II. Communion Broken. Restoration.
Chapter ii. 8-iii. 5.
III. Unbroken Communion.
Chapter iii. 6-v. I.
IV. Communion Again Broken. Restoration
Chapter v. 2-vi. 10.
V. Fruits of Recognized Union.
Chapter vi. II-viii. 4.
VI. Unrestrained Communion.
Chapter viii. 5-14.
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 last 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."
The student of this book will find great help in suitable
Bible-marketing. 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 the bride; a double line to indicate those of the Bridegroom,
and a waved line to indicate the addresses of the daughters of Jerusalem.
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 GOD in Ezekiel xvi. claimed Israel.
In
the secret of His presence
How
my soul delights to hide!
Oh,
how precious are the lessons
Which
I learn at JESUS'' side!
Earthly
cares can never vex me,
Neither
trials lay me low;
For
when Satan comes to vex me,
To
the secret place I go!
"The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's."
Well may this book be called the 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 SAVIOUR,
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.
II). And the beloved disciple, writing of Him who "was from the beginning," who
"was with the FATHER, and was manifested unto us," in order that we might share
the fellowship which He enjoyed, also says, "These things we write unto you, that
your joy may be full." Union with CHRIST, and abiding in CHRIST, 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 CHRIST. To deepen this union, to make more constant this
abiding, is the practical use of this precious Book.
THE UNSATISFIED LIFE AND ITS REMEDY
Cant. i. 2-ii. 7
There 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 LORD 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.
Let Him kiss me with the
kisses of His mouth:
For Thy love[1] is better than wine.
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 LORD, 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 indeed it would be if this were the case. Yet are there not many
of the LORD'S people whose habitual experience corresponds with hers? They know not the
rest, the joy of abiding in CHRIST; 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 CHRIST than they then had, are
even conscious that they have lost their first love, and might express their experience in
the sad lament:--
Where is the blessedness I
knew
When first I saw the Lord?
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!"
Poor mistaken one! There is a love far 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 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.
Could there be a sadder proof of the extent and reality of
the Fall than the deep seated distrust of our loving LORD and MASTER 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 LORD'S redeemed ones treat Him
just so! No wonder they are neither happy nor satisfied!
But true love cannot be stationary; it must either decline
or grow. Despite all the unworthy fears of our poor hearts, Divine love is destined to
conquer. The bride exclaims:--
Thine ointments have a goodly
fragrance;
Thy name is as ointment poured
forth;
Therefore do the virgins love
Thee.
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.
Draw me: we will run after
Thee!
But ah! what follows? A wondrously glad surprise. No Moriah,
no Calvary; on the contrary, a KING! When the heart submits, then JESUS reigns. And when
JESUS reigns, there is rest.
And where does He head His bride?
The King hath brought me into
His chambers.
Not first to the banqueting house--that will come in due season; but first to be alone
with Himself.
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 MASTER: 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:--
Let Me see thy countenance,
let Me hear thy voice;
For sweet is thy voice, and
thy countenance is comely.
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 GOD means giving Him pleasure? Some of us look back to the time
when the words "To please GOD" meant no more than not to sin against Him, not to
grieve Him; but would the love of earthly parents be satisfied with the mere absence of
disobedience? Or a bridegroom, if his bride only sought him for the supply of her own
need?
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 JESUS 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 GOD would
save from many a mistake and from many a sorrow.
We have found the bride making a glad discovery of a
KING--her KING--and not a cross, as she expected; this is the first-fruit of her
consecration.
We will be glad and rejoice in
Thee,
We will make mention of Thy
love more than of wine.
Rightly do they love Thee.
Another discovery not less important awaits her. She has
seen the face of the KING, 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 Lord;
yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that He knows all, 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:--
Look not upon me, because I am
swarthy,
Because the sun hath scorched
me.
My mother's sons were incensed
against me,
They made me keeper of the
vineyards;
But mine own vineyard have I
not kept.
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, to the neglect of personal communion; but such neglect will not only
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
the 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 MASTER 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 CHRIST must be fruit of the flesh, and
not of the SPIRIT. The sin of neglected communion may be forgiven, and yet the effect
remain permanently; as wounds when healed often leave a scar behind.
We now come to a very sweet evidence of the reality of the
heart-union of the bride with her LORD. She is one with the GOOD SHEPHERD: 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:--
Tell me, O Thou whom my soul
loveth,
Where Thou feedest Thy flock,
where Thou makest it to
rest at noon:
For why should I be as one
that is veiled
Beside the flocks of Thy
companions?
She will not mistake the society of His servants for that of their MASTER.
If thou know not, O thou
fairest among women,
Go thy way forth by the
footsteps of the flock,
And feed thy kids beside the
shepherds' tents.
These are the words of the daughters of Jerusalem, and give
a correct reply to her questionings. Let her show her love to her LORD 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 CHIEF SHEPHERD at her side, and enjoy the tokens of His approval. It will be service with
JESUS as well as for JESUS.
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 LORD will show itself in feeding His
sheep, but that He who when on earth said, "Inasmuch as 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.
The commendation of the bride in verse 9 is one of striking
appropriateness and beauty:--
I have compared thee, O My
love,
To a company of horses in
Pharaoh's chariots.
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 CHRIST; one body with many members, indwelt and guided by one SPIRIT;
holding the HEAD, and knowing no will but His; her rapid and harmonious movement should
cause His kingdom to progress throughout the world.
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.
Is not the Church of GOD 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?
Changing His simile, the Bridegroom continues:--
Thy cheeks are comely with
plaits of hair,
Thy neck with strings of
jewels.
We will make thee plaits of
gold
With studs of silver.
The bride is not only beautiful and useful to her LORD, 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.
In verses 12-14 the bride responds:--
While the King sat at His
table
My spikenard sent forth its
fragrance.
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 HE HIMSELF is better far than all His
grace works in us.
My Beloved is unto me as a
bundle of myrrh,
That lieth betwixt my breasts.
My beloved is unto me as a
cluster of henna-flowers
In the vineyards of En-gedi.
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:--
Behold, thou art fair, My
love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as a dove's.
How can the Bridegroom truthfully use such words of one who recognizes herself as
Black as the tents of Kedar?
And still more strong are the Bridegroom's words in chapter iv.7:-
Thou art all fair, My love;
And there is no spot in thee.
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 LORD, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory
(i.e. the brightness caught from His glory transforms us to glory), even as from the LORD
the SPIRIT." Every mirror has two surfaces; the one is dull and unreflecting, and is
all spots, but when the reflecting surface is turned 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.
Note again His words:--
Thine eyes are as dove's,
or
Thou hast dove's eyes.
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 HOLY SPIRIT came upon Him at His
baptism, and the dove-like character is that which He seeks for in each of His people.
The reason why David was not permitted to build the Temple
was a very significant one. His life was far from perfect; and his mistakes and sins have
been faithfully recorded by the HOLY SPIRIT. They brought upon him God's 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 GOD'S Kingdom and the fulfilment of His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Solomom, 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 CHRIST shall we draw men unto Him.
We now come to the reply of the bride. He has called her
fair; wisely and well does she reply:--
Behold Thou art fair, my
Beloved, yea, pleasant:
Also our couch is green.
The beams of our house are
cedars,
And our rafters are firs.
I am (but) a rose of Sharon,
A lily of the valleys.
The last words are often quoted as though they were the
utterance of the Bridegroom, but we believe erroneously. The bride says 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.e. the autumn crocus), or a lily of the
valley.
To this the Bridegroom responds: "Be it so; but if a
wild flower, yet
As a lily among thorns,
So is My love among the
daughters."
Again the bride replies:--
As the apple tree (the citron)
among the trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved among the
sons.
I sat down under His shadow
with great delight,
And His fruit was sweet to my
taste.
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 vanished, like the mists of the
morning before the rising sun.
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.
He brought me to the
banqueting house,
And His banner over me was
love.
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:--
Stay ye me with raisins,
comfort me with apples:
For I am sick of love.
His left hand is under my
head,
And His right hand doth
embrace me.
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.
I adjure you, O daughters of
Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by the hinds
of the field,
That ye stir not up nor awake
My love,
Until she[2] please.
It is never by His will that our rest in Him is disturbed.
You may always be abiding,
If you will, at Jesus' side;
in the secret of His presence
You may every moment hide.
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."
Communion Broken--Restoration
Cant. ii. 8-iii.5
"Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to
the things that were heard, lest happly we drift away from them."--Heb. ii. 1
(R.V.).
At 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 suppose that a union so complete, a satisfaction so 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 CHRIST may be broken, and how
needful are the exhortations of our LORD 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. xiv:--
Hearken, O daughter, and
consider, and incline thine ear;
Forget also thine own people,
and thy father's house;
So shall the King greatly
desire thy beauty;
For He is thy Lord; and
worship thou Him.
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 might win her friends
to follow her LORD 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.
Ah, how often the enemy succeeds, by one device or another,
in tempting the believer away from that position of entire consecration to CHRIST 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 LORD. 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 LORD, 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 GOD that speak in no measured terms of the folly,
the danger, the sin of friendship with the world. "Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the FATHER is not in
him." "Ye adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with GOD? Whosoever therefore would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of
GOD." "Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what fellowship have
righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord
hath CHRIST with Belial? or what portion hath a believer with an unbeliever?. .
.Wherefore:--
Come ye out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord,
And touch no unclean thing;
And I will receive you,
And will be to you a FATHER,
And ye shall be to Me sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We have to take our choice: we cannot enjoy both the world
and CHRIST.
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.
The voice of my Beloved!
Behold He cometh
Leaping upon the mountain,
bounding over the hills.
My Beloved is like a gazelle
or a young hart;
Behold He standeth behind our
wall,
He looketh in at the windows,
He glanceth through the
lattice.
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 woes her to come forth to Him.
He utters no reproach, and His loving entreaties sink deep in her memory.
My Beloved spake, and said
unto me,
Rise up, My love, My fair one,
and come away,
For, lo, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the
earth;
The time of the singing of
birds is come,
And the voice of the turtle is
heard in our land;
The fig-tree ripeneth her
green figs,
And the vines are in blossom,
They give forth their
fragrance.
Arise, My love, My fair one,
and come away.
All nature is responsive to the return of the summer, wilt thou, My Bride, be
irresponsive to My love?
Arise, My love, My fair one,
and come away.
Can such pleading be in vain? Alas, it can, it was!
In yet more touching words the Bridegroom continues:--
O My dove, that art in the
clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place,
Let Me see thy countenance,
let Me hear thy voice!
For sweet is thy voice, and
thy countenance is comely.
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.
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
LORD, but the Bridegroom who is seeking for her Alas that He should seek in vain!
Take us the foxes, the little
foxes, that spoil the vineyards;
For our vineyards are in
blossom,
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!
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:--
My Beloved is mine, and I am
His:
He feedeth His flock
among the lilies.
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. Should trial and darkness come He will be sure not
to fail me.
Until the day be cool, and the
shadows flee away,
Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou
like a gazelle or a young hart.
Upon the mountains of Bether.
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!
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 LORD.
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.
By night on my bed I sought
Him whom my soul loveth:
I sought Him, but I found Him
not!
She waits and wearies: His absence becomes insupportable:--
I said, I will rise
now, and go about the city,
In the streets and in the
broad ways.
I will seek Him whom my soul
loveth:
I sought Him, but I found Him
not!
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!
The watchmen that go about the
city found me:
To whom I said, Saw ye
Him whom my soul loveth?
It was but a little that I
passed from them,
When I found Him whom my soul
loveth.
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 LORD, she
soon found Him and was restored to His favour:--
I held Him, and would not let
Him go,
Until I had brought Him into
my mother's house,
And into the chamber of her
that conceived me.
Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. There it is that communion is enjoyed, not in
worldly ways or self-willed indulgence.
Communion fully restored, the section closes, as did the
first, with the loving charge of the Bridegroom that none should disturb His bride:--
I adjure you, O daughters of
Jerusalem,
By the roes, and by the hinds
of the field,
(By all that is loving and
beautiful and constant)
That ye stir not up, nor awake
My love,
Until she[3] please.
May we all, while living down here, in the world, but not of
it, find our home in the heavenly places to which we are seated together with CHRIST. Sent
into the world to witness for our MASTER, may we ever be strangers there, ready to confess
Him the true object of our soul's devotion.
How amiable are Thy
tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longeth, yea even
fainteth for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out
unto the living God,
Blessed are they that dwell in
Thy house:
They will be still praising
Thee. . .
A day in Thy courts is better
than a thousand.
I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God
Than to dwell in the tents of
wickedness.
For the Lord God in a Sun and
Shield:
The Lord will give grace and
glory:
No good thing will He withhold
from them that walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
Blessed is the man that
trusteth in Thee!
The Joy of Unbroken Communion
Cant. iii. 6-v. I
O
Jesus, King most wonderful,
Thou
Conqueror renown'd.
Thou
sweetness most ineffable,
In
whom all joys are found!
Thee,
Jesus, may our voices bless;
Thee
may we love alone;
And
ever in our lives express
The
image of Thine own.
We 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.
Who is this that cometh up out
of the wilderness like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and
frankincense,
With all powders of the
merchant?
They themselves give the reply:--
King Solomon made himself a
car of state
Of the wood of Lebanon.
He made the pillars thereof of
silver,
The bottom thereof of gold,
the seat of it of purple,
The midst thereof being paved
with love (love-gifts).
From the daughters of
Jerusalem.
Behold, it is the litter of
Solomon;
Threescore mighty men are
about it,
Of the mighty men of Israel
They all handle the sword, and
are expert in war:
Every man hath his sword upon
his thigh,
Because of fear in the night.
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 Lord, and the 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 entreat thy
favour."
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:--
Go forth, O ye daughters of
Zion, and behold King Solomon,
With the crown wherewith His
mother hath crowned Him in the day of His espousals,
And in the day of the gladness
of His heart.
The crowned KING 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 own sake, but rejoices in His
joy in finding in her His satisfaction. Do we sufficiently cultivate this unselfish desire
to be all for JESUS, 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?
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:--
Behold, thou art fair, My
love; behold, thou art fair;
Thine eyes are as dove's
behind thy veil;
Thy hair is as a flock of
goats,
That lie along the side of
Mount Gilead;
Thy teeth are like a flock of
ewes that are newly shorn,
Which are come up from the
washing.
Which are all of them in
pairs,
And none is bereaved among
them.
Thy lips are like a thread of
scarlet,
And thy speech is comely, etc.
(See verses 3-5).
We have already found the explanation 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.
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 now think of sending Him away until the day be cool and the
shadows flee away.
Still less does the Bridegroom think of finding His joy
apart from His bride. He says:--
Until the day be cool, and the
shadows flee away,
I will get Me to the mountain
of myrrh,
And to the hill of
frankincense.
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 LORD. She is being progressively changed into His image, from
one degree of glory to another, through the wondrous working of the HOLY SPIRIT, until the
Bridegroom can declare:--
Thou art all fair, My love;
And there is no spot on thee.
And now she is fit for service, and to it the
Bridegroom woos her; she will not now misrepresent Him:--
Come with Me from Lebanon, My
bride,
With Me from Lebanon;
Look from the top of Amana,
From the top of Senir and
Hermon,
From the lions' dens,
From the mountains of the
leopards.
"Come with Me." It is always so. If our SAVIOUR 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 in in connection with this
loving invitation that for the first time He changes the word "My love," for
the still more endearing one, "My bride."
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:--
Thou hast ravished My heart,
My sister, My bride;
Thou hast ravished My heart
with one look from thine eyes,
With one chain of thy neck.
Is it not wonderful how the heart of our Beloved can be thus ravished with the love 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!
But to resume. The Bridegroom cheers the toilsome agents,
and the steep pathways of danger, with sweet communications of His love:--
How fair is thy love, My
sister, My bride!
How much better is thy love
than wine!
And the smell of thine
ointments than all manner of spices!
Thy lips, O My bride,
drop as the honeycomb:
Honey and milk are under thy
tongue;
And the smell of thy garments
is like the smell of Lebanon.
A garden shut up is My sister,
My bride;
A spring shut up, a fountain
sealed.
Thy shoots are a paradise of
pomegranates, with precious fruits;
Henna with spikenard plants,
Spikenard and saffron,
Calamus and cinnamon, with all
trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes, with all the
chief spices.
Thou art a fountain of
gardens,
A well of living waters,
And flowing streams from
Lebanon.
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 ears 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.
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.
Awake, O north wind; and come,
thou south;
Blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out.
Let my Beloved come into His
garden,
And eat His precious fruits.
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 Lord 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.
To this the Bridegroom replies:--
I am come into My garden, My
sister, My bride:
I have gathered My myrrh with
My spice;
I have eaten My honeycomb with
My honey;
I have drunk My wine with My
milk.
Now, when she calls, He answers at once. When she is only for her LORD, He assures her
that He finds all His satisfaction in her.
The section closes by the bride's invitation to His friends
and her, as well as to Himself:--
Eat, O friends;
Drink, yea, drink abundantly,
O Beloved.
The consecration of all to our MASTER, 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, first given up to and blessed by the LORD, 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.
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 KING, then speaking of the KING; the joy of communion leading to fellowship
in service, to a being all for JESUS, 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 CHRIST has filled the heart; there is nothing
for the gratification of the world, for all has been sealed and is kept for the MASTER'S
use.
Jesus,
my life is Thine!
And
evermore shall be
Hidden
in Thee.
For
nothing can untwine
Thy
life from mine.
Communion again Broken--Restoration
Cant. v. 2-vi.10.
The 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.
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 blessing she had received, instead of in the BLESSER Himself,
may have led to the separation. She seems to have been largely unconscious of her
declination; 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 that His
return was neither eagerly desired nor expected.
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:--
I was asleep, but my heart
waked:
It is the voice of my Beloved
that knocketh saying,
Open to Me, My sister, My
love, My dove, My undefiled:
For My head is filled with
dew,
My locks with the drops of the
night.
How often the position of the Bridegroom is that of a
knocking Suitor outside, as in His epistle to the Laodicean[4]
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 should knock, and knock in vain at the door of any heart which has become His own.
In this case it is not the position 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 condition of
self-satisfaction and love of ease that closed the door.
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 HOLY SPIRIT), "My undefiled" (washed, renewed, and
cleansed for Me); and He urges her to open by reference to His own condition:--
My head is filled with dew,
My locks with the drops of the
night.
Why is it that His head is filled with the dew? Because His
heart is a shepherd-heart. There are those whom the FATHER has given to Him who are
wandering on the dark mountains of sin: many, oh, how many, have never heart the
SHEPHERD'S voice; many, too, who were once in the fold have wandered away--far away from
its safe shelter. The heart that never can forget, the love that never can fall, must
seek the wandering sheep until the lost one has been found: "My FATHER 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?
Open to Me, My sister, My
love, My dove, My undefiled:
For My head is filled with
dew,
My locks with the drops of the
night.
We do not know a more touching entreaty in the Word of GOD,
and sad indeed is the reply of the bride:--
I have put off my coat; how
shall I put it on?
I have washed my feet; how
shall I defile them?
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 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 LORD?
Meeting with no response from the tardy bride, her
Beloved put in His hand by the
hole of the door,
And "her" heart was
moved for Him.
But, alas, the door was not only latched, but barred; and
His effort to secure an entrance was in vain.
I rose up to open to my
Beloved;
And my hands dropped with
myrrh,
And my fingers with liquid
myrrh,
Upon the handles of the bolt.
I opened to my Beloved;
But my Beloved had withdrawn
Himself, and was gone.
My soul had failed me when He
spake.
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 LORD; 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 seek her LORD; and this time her experiences were much more painful than on
the former occasion.
I sought Him, but I could not
find Him;
I called Him, but He gave me
no answer.
The watchmen that go about the
city found me,
They smote me, they wounded
me;
The keepers of the walls took
away my mantle from me.
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:--
Turn you at My reproof:
Behold, I will pour out My
Spirit unto you,
I will make known My words
unto you.
Because I have called, and ye
refused;
I have stretched out My hand,
and no man regarded;. . .
I also will laugh in the day
of your calamity. . .
Then shall they call upon Me,
but will I not answer;
They shall seek Me diligently,
but they shall not find Me.
The backsliding of the bride, though painful, 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 declination 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 LORD the more surely will any failure
be visited with reproach.
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 them to tell her Beloved that she is not unfaithful or unmindful
of Him.
I adjure you, O daughters of
Jerusalem, if ye find my Beloved,
That ye tell Him, that I am
sick of love.
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 KING, though her personal beauty does not escape notice.
What is thy Beloved more than
another beloved,
O thou fairest among women?
What is thy Beloved more than
another beloved,
That thou dost so adjure us?
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
LORD.
My Beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten
thousand.
(see verses 10-16, concluding with)
His mouth is most sweet; yea,
He is altogether lovely.
This is my Beloved, and this
is my Friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.
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 LORD in Rev. I. 13-16. The differences are very characteristic.
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 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
SAVIOUR 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 SAVIOUR 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 LION of the tribe of
Judah is to His own bride the KING of love; and, with full heart and beaming face, she so
recounts His beauties that the daughters of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire to
seek Him with her, that they also may behold His beauty.
Whither is thy Beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy Beloved
turned Him,
That we may seek Him with
thee?
The bride replies:--
My Beloved is gone down to His
garden, to the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens, and to
gather lilies.
I am my Beloved's, and my
Beloved is mine:
He feedeth His flock among the
lilies.
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 CHRIST 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 chapter vii. 10, where the bride, losing sight
of her claim altogether, says:--
I am my Beloved's,
And His desire is toward me.
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.
To her, He says:--
Thou art beautiful, O My love,
as Tirzah,
(the beautiful city of
Samaria,)
Comely as Jerusalem,
(the glorious city of the
great King,)
Terrible (or rather brilliant)
as an army with banners.
Turn away thine eyes from Me,
For they have overcome Me.
(See vv. 4-7).
Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem, He exclaims:--
There are threescore queens,
and fourscore concubines,
And maidens without number.
My dove, My perfect one, is
but one;
She is the only one of her
mother;
She is the choice one of her
that bare her.
The daughters saw her, and
called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and the
concubines, and they praised her, saying,
Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning,
Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Brilliant as an army with
banners?
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 only joy and fruitfulness.
Fruits of Recognized Union
Cant. vi. II-viii. 4.
In 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:--
I went down into the garden of
nuts,
To see the green plants of the
valley
To see whether the vine
budded.
And the pomegranates
were in flower.
Or ever I was aware, my soul
set me
Among the chariots of
my willing people.
As in the commencement of Section III., the bride, in
unbroken communion with her LORD, 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 KING is unnoted until He Himself addresses His bride. But she is one with her LORD
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. With Him as well as for 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; 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.
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--her
people as well as His.
The daughters of Jerusalem would fain call her back:--
Return, return, O Shulammite;
Return, return, that we may
look upon thee.
There is no question now as to w ho 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).
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 presumptive rather than progressive.
Interesting as is this thought, and well as it would explain the absence of reference
to the KING in the preceding 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, LORD
JESUS." We do not therefore look upon the departure of the bride from her garden as
being other than temporary.
The bride replies to the daughters of Jerusalem:--
Why will ye look upon the
Shulammite?
or, as in the Authorized Version,
What will ye see in the
Shulammite?
In the presence of the KING, 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 LORD, 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 claim for attention, save that she is the chosen, though unworthy, bride of
the glorious KING.
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 KING" Himself "is held captive
in the tresses thereof."
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:--
How fair and how pleasant art
thou,
O love, for delights!
He sees in her the beauties and the fruitfulness of the tall
and upright palm, of the 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.
The righteous shall flourish
like the palm-tree:
He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon.
They that are planted in the
house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts
of our God.
They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age;
They shall be full of sap and
green.
But why are the righteous made so upright and flourishing?
To show that the Lord is
upright;
He is my Rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in Him.
One with our LORD, it is ours to show forth His
graces and virtues, to reflect His beauty, to be His faithful witnesses.
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 ornaments of
Solomon's, as it is to be of Ezekiel's temple. When our SAVIOUR was received at Jerusalem
as the KING 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 LAMB, clothed with white robes"; and with
palms of victory in their hands shall ascribe their "salvation to our GOD which
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the LAMB."
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
CHRIST, 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.
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, while increasing its fruitfulness. It has been beautifully
written:--
The living Vine, Christ chose
it for Himself:--
God gave to man for use and
sustenance
Corn, wine, and oil, and each
of these is good:
And Christ is Bread of life
and Light of life.
But yet, He did not choose the
summer corn,
That shoots up straight and
free in one quick growth,
And has its day, is done, and
springs no more;
Nor yet the olive, all whose
boughs are spread
In the soft air, and never
lose a leaf,
Flowering and fruitful in
perpetual peace;
But only this, for Him and His
is one,--
That everlasting,
ever-quickening Vine,
That gives the heat and
passion of the world,
Through its own life-blood,
still renewed and shed.
* * * * * * *
The Vine from every living
limb bleeds wine;
Is it the poorer for that
spirit shed?
The drunkard and the wanton
drink thereof;
Are they the richer for that
gift's excess?
Measure thy life by loss
instead of gain;
Not by the wine drunk, but
the wine poured forth;
For love's strength
standeth in love's sacrifice;
And whoso suffers most,
hath most to give.
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:--
As the citron-tree among the
trees of the wood,
So is my Beloved among the
sons.
I delighted and sat down under
His shadow,
And His fruit was sweet to my
taste.
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:--
Thy mouth (is) like the best
wine,
That goeth down smoothly--
For my Beloved--
interjects the bride,
Causing the lips of those that
are asleep to move.
How wondrous the grace that has made the bride of CHRIST 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 beautiful with His own graces and virtues!
I am my Beloved's,
And His desire is toward me,
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.
Come, my Beloved, let us go
forth into the field;
Let us lodge in the villages.
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.
Oh that Thou wert as my
brother,
That sucked the breasts of my
mother!
When I should find Thee
without, I would kiss Thee;
Yea, and none would despise
me.
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 LORD, "I do not think that GOD 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 LORD'S sake--"I
count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of CHRIST JESUS my
LORD."
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.
I would lead Thee, and
bring Thee into my mother's house,
That Thou mightest instruct
me;
I would cause Thee to drink of
spiced wine,
Of the juice of my
pomegranate.
I would give Thee my best, and yet would myself seek all my rest and satisfaction in
Thee.
His left hand should be
under my head,
And His right hand should
embrace me.
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:--
Why should ye stir up, or why
awake My love,
Until she[5] please?
Hallowed communion indeed! May we ever enjoy it; and abiding in CHRIST, we shall sing,
in the familiar words of the well-known hymn--
Both Thine arms are clasped
around me,
And my head is on Thy breast;
And my weary soul hath found
Thee
Such a perfect, perfect rest!
Blessed Jesus,
Now I know that I am blest.
Unrestrained Communion
Cant. viii. 5-14.
We 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 KING of LOVE, who
both satisfied her deepest longings, and found His own satisfaction in her.
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.
The third section (Cant. iii. 6-v. I) told of 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
KING 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.
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 LORD, 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.
The fifth section (Cant. vi. II-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.
And now in the sixth section (Cant. viii. 5-14) we come to
the closing scene of the 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.
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 KING, 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.
Who is this that cometh up
from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her Beloved?
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 no
wilderness to this bride. In all the trustfulness of confiding love she is seen
leaning upon her Beloved. He is her strength, her joy, her pride, and 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.
Wonderful, however, as are the revelations of grace and love
to the heart taught by the HOLY SPIRIT through the relationship of bride and Bridegroom,
the CHRIST of GOD 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:--
I raised thee up under the
citron-tree;
There thy mother brought thee
forth.
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.
Gladly does the bride recognize this truth, that she is
indeed His own, and she exclaims:
Set me as a seal upon Thine
heart, as a seal upon Thine arm:
For love is strong as death;
Jealousy (ardent love) is
cruel (retentive) as the grave;
The flashes thereof are
flashes of fire,
A very flame of the Lord.
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
God, 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 with chains and settings of gold, ever the emblem of
divinity. Thus the Psalmist prayed, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto
the horns of the altar."
It is comparatively easy to lay the sacrifice on the altar
that sanctifies the gift, but it 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.
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 GOD? How
the Kings of Israel, who had won great triumphs by faith, sometimes turned aside to
heathen nations in their later years! The LORD keep His people from this snare.
The bride continues: "The flashes of love are flashes
of fire, a very flame of the LORD." It is worthy of note that this is the only
occurrence of this word "LORD" in this book. But how could it be omitted here?
For love of GOD, and GOD is love.
To her request the Bridegroom replies with reassuring words:
Many waters cannot quench
love,
Neither can the floods drown
it:
If a man would give all the
substance of his house for love,
It would utterly be condemned.
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 fire, it is hidden with CHRIST in GOD.
What "shall separate us from the love of CHRIST? 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 height, nor depth, nor
any other creation (R.V. margin), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in CHRIST JESUS our LORD." Our love to GOD is secured by GOD'S love to us. To the
soul really rescued by grace, no bribe to forsake GOD'S love will be finally successful.
"If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be
condemned."
Freed from anxiety on her own account, the happy bride next
asks guidance, and fellowship in service with her LORD, on behalf of those who have not
yet reached her favoured position.
We have a little sister,
And she hath no breasts:
What shall we do for our
sister
In the day when she shall be
spoken for?
How beautifully her conscious union with the Bridegroom
appears in her expressions. "We have a little sister," not I have,
etc.; "what shall we 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.
How much anxiety and care the children of God 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 LORD to help us? Whereas if we always let Him
be our Instructor in service, and left the responsibility with Him, our strength
would not be exhausted with worry and anxiety, but would all be at His disposal, and
accomplish His ends.
In the little sister, as yet immature, may we not see the
elect of GOD, given to CHRIST in God's purpose, but not yet brought into saving relation
to Him? And perhaps also those babes in CHRIST 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 LORD? Then they will be spoken for, and called into that department
of service for which He has prepared them.
The Bridegroom replies:--
If she be a wall,
We will build upon her
battlements of silver;
And if she be a door,
We will enclose her with
boards of cedar.
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 we do for our sister?" so He replies, "We
will build . . . we will enclose," 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
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 beautiful 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 enclosed with boards of cedar, hedged in
with restraints, for her own protection.
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 LORD."
But what is taught by the connection of this happy
consciousness with the lines which follow?
Solomon had a vineyard at
Baal-hamon;
He let out the vineyard unto
keepers;
Every one for the fruit
thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver.
My vineyard, which is mine, is
before me;
Thou, O Solomon, shalt have
the thousand,
And those that keep the fruit
thereof two hundred.
The connection is, we believe, one of great importance,
teaching us that what she was (by grace) was more important than what she did;
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 LORD,
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 LORD 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.
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 GOD--alone knows the
limit of this service. Sooner or later the rest will come, the burden and heat of the last
day will have been borne, the last conflict will be over, and the voice of the Bridegroom
will be heard addressing His loved one:--
Thou that dwellest in the
gardens,
The companions hearken to thy
voice:
Cause Me to hear it.
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!
Well may the bride let Him hear her voice, and, springing
forth in heart to meet Him, cry:--
Make haste, my Beloved,
And be Thou like to a roe or
to a young hart
Upon the mountains of spices!
She no longer asks Him, as in the second section:--
Turn, my Beloved, and be Thou
like a roe or a young hart
Upon the mountains of Bether
(separation).
She has never again wished Him to turn away from her, for there are no mountains of
Bether to those who are abiding in CHRIST; 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.
Very sweet is the presence of our LORD, as by His SPIRIT 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
LORD, 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 KING. There His people "shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the LAMB, which is in the
midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters;
and GOD shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
The SPIRIT and the bride say,
Come!. . .
Surely I come quickly.
Amen; even so, come, LORD
JESUS!
The Daughters of Jerusalem
The question is frequently asked, Who are represented by the daughters of Jerusalem?
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 person of the Bridegroom; He
is not all in all to them; they mind outward and earthly things.
Do they not represent those who, if not actually saved, are
very near it; or, if saved, are only half-saved? who are for the present more concerned
about the things of this world than the things of GOD? To advance their own interests, to
secure their own comfort, concerns them more than to be in all things pleasing to the
LORD. They may 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 GOD and to the LAMB" (Rev. xiv. 1-5). They have forgotten the
warning of our LORD 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 SON of Man."
They have not, with Paul, counted "all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of CHRIST JESUS the LORD," and hence they do not "attain
unto" that resurrection from among the dead, which Paul felt he might miss,
but aimed to attain unto.
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. II, or will thus meet the LORD 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."
[1]
Loves = endearments, caresses.
[2] 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".
[3] See note on page 26.
[4] 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.
[5] See note on page 26.
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