"What now follows in this estate? Verse 8, " The watchmen found mo," etc. That these watchmen of the city of God are the watchmen and officers of the churcli, is confessed. And it is of sad consideration,
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tliat the Holy Ghost doth sometimes in this book take notice of them on no good account. Plainly, chap. v. 7, they turn persecutors. It was Luther's saying, " Nunquam periclitatur religio nisi inter reve- rendissinios." Here they are of a more gentle temper, and seeing the poor disconsolate soul, they seem to take notice of her condition.
It is the duty, indeed, of faithful watchmen, to take notice of poor, troubled, deserted soids; — not to keep at a distance, but to be willing to assist. And a truly pressed soul on the account of Christ's absence cannot cover its love, but must be inquiring after him : " Saw ye him whom my soul loveth?" — " This is my condition: I have had sweet enjoyment of my blessed Jesus, — he is now withdrawn from me. Can you help me? can you guide me to my consolation. What acquaint- ance have you with him? when saw you him? how did he manifest himself to you, and wherein?" All these labourings in his absence sufficiently discover the soul's delight in the presence of Christ. Go one step farther, to the discovery that it made of him once again, and it will yet be more evident. Verses 4, 5, " It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth : 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. I charge you, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem," etc.
First, She tells you how she came to liim : " She found him ;" — what ways and by what means is not expressed. It often so falls out in our communion with Clirist, when private and public means fail, and the soul hath nothing left but luaiting silently and walking humbly, Christ appears ; that his so doing may be evidently of grace. Let us not at any time give over in this condition. When all v/ays are past, the summer and harvest are gone without relief, — when neither bed nor watchmen can assist, — let us wait a little, and we shall see the Salvation of God. Christ honours his immediate absolute actings sometimes, though ordinarily he crowns his ordinances. Christ often manifests himself immediately, and out of ordinances, to them that wait for him in them ; — that he will do so to them that despise them, I know not. Though he will meet men unexpectedly in his way, yet he will not meet them at all out of it. Let us wait as he hath appointed ; let him appear as he pleaseth. How she deals with him when found is nextly declared : " She held him, and would not let him go," etc. They are all expressions of the greatest joy and delight imaginable. The sum is : — having at length come once more to an enjoyment of sweet communion with Christ, the soul lays fast hold on him by faith {xpanTv, " to hold fast," is an act of faith), refuses to part with him any more, in vehemency of love, — tries to keejD him in ordinances in the house of its mother, the church of God ; and so uses all means for the confirming of the mutual love between Christ and
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her : all the expressions, all the allusions used, evidencing delight to the utmost capacity of the soul. Should I pursue all the instances and testimonies that are given hereunto, in that one book of the Song of Solomon, I must enter upon an exposition of the greatest part of it; which is not my present business. Let the hearts of the saints that are acquainted with these things be allowed to make tlie close. What is it they long for, they rejoice in ? what is it that satisfies them to the utmost, and gives sweet complacency to their spirits in every condition ? what is it whose loss they fear, whose absence they cannot bear ? Is it not this their Beloved, and he alone ?
This, also, they farther manifest hj/ their delight in every thing that 'peculiarly belongs to Christ, as his, in this world. This is an evidence of delight, when, for liis sake whom we delight in, we also delight in every thing that belongs to him. Christ's great interest in this world lies in his people and his ordinances, — his household and their pro- vision. Now in both these do the saints exceedingly delight, for his sake. Take an instance in both kinds in one man, namely, David, Ps. xvi. 3, " In the saints and the excellent" (or the noble) " of the earth is all my delight; my delight in them."' Christ says of his church that she is " Hephzi-bah," Isa. Ixii., " My delight in her." Here says David of the same, " Hephzi-bam, — " My delight in them." As Christ delights in his saints, so do they in one another, on his account. " Here," says Bavid, " is all my delight." "Whatever contentment he took in any other persons, it was nothing in comparison of the delight he took in them. Hence, mention is made of " laying down our lives for the brethren," or any common cause wherein the interest of the community of the brethren does he.