Cant. iii. 1 — 4. Bij flight on my bed I sought him lohom my soul loveth ; I sought him, hut I found him not. I ivill rise notv, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I zvill seek him tvhom my soul loveth : I sought him, but I found him 7iot. The ivatchmen that go about the city found me : to tvhom I said, Saw ye him tvhom my soul loveth ? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him ivhom my soul loveth : I heldi 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.
ONE peculiar excellence of the Song of Solomon is, that it delineates with admirable beauty and pre- cision the workings of the believer's soul under all the varieties of Christian experience. In the first con- version of the soul, God communicates his blessings unsolicited, unsought ; so that it may be justly said, *' He is found of them that sought him not^ :" but in our subsequent walk with God, we may sometimes find occasion to complain, " I sought him, but I found him not." Thus it was with the Bride in the passage before us : and her conduct under these circumstances is instructive, as the issue of it is encouraging to the Church of God in all ages. In our remarks on the Bride's experience, we shall notice,
1. Her persevering exertions —
When it is said, " By night on my bed I sought him," we are not to take the words in a literal, but figurative sense, as expressing the cold and listless way in which the Bride had sought her Beloved: and it is no wonder that, when sought in such a way, he did not vouchsafe to manifest himself unto her. Disappointed in her hopes, " she rose, and went about the city, seeking him in the streets and broad ways," accounting no time unseasonable, no labour too great, for the attainment of an object so dear to her as a sight of her Beloved. Still however her labour was in vain : " she sought him, but found him not." And
*'' Isai. Ixv. 1.