lay hold on Christ;" and then " cleave unto him with full pur- pose of heart." If we would succeed in our pursuit of heavenly joys, we must not only pray, but " watch unto prayer with all perseverance."]
3. Not to yield to despondency, because we find him not so present with us as we could wish —
[We are very apt to be impatient under the hidings of his face, and to conclude, that he has utterly forsaken us. This was the fault of the Church in the days of old : but God ex- postulated with her, and reproved her" and assured
her, that she was so indelibly engraven on the palms of his hands, that he could not possibly forget her'': he might indeed " forsake her for a moment, but with everlasting kindness would he have mercy upon her y." If then similar fears arise in your breast, say as David did, after he had unhappily given way to them, " This is mine infirmity ^." Be assured, that God, who is faithful to his promises, " will never leave you nor forsake you^:" that " if you seek him, he will be found of you'':" and that " in due season you shall reap, if you faint not*^."]
»! Isai. xl. 28—31. "<■ Isai. xlix. 14—16. v Isai. liv. 7, 8.
' Ps. Ixxvii. 7—10. a Heb. xiii. 5, 6. ^2 Chron. xv. 2.
e Gal. vi. 9.
Cant. V. 2 — 8. / sleep, but my heart tvaketh : it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undejiled : for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat ; hoiv shall I put it on ? I have washed my feet ; how shall I defile them ? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up) to ojien to my beloved ; and my hands dropped tvith myrrh, and my fiiigers ivith sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved ; but my beloved had with- drawn himself, and was gone : my soul failed when he spake; I sought him, but I could not find him ; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The ivatchmen that ivent about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the ivalls took aivay my veil fro7n me. I charge you, 0 daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.
TWO things we should guard against in reading the Song of Solomon ; namely, the laying an undue stress on particular words, and the dwelling too