The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 60

blessed love, " .Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away." It may be that in that second call we may discern an anticipation of the midnigbt cry," Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye forth to meet him." Then he will call his chosen into that blessed ParAdise, the true gl\rden of the Lord, into which he led one forgiving soul on the day of_ his ow_n most p_recious death .. Tben_ the winter will be past ind~ed; the eternal spring ,nil begm to shine; angel-voices will welcome the redeemed mto that blessed rest which remaineth for the people of God. They that are ready shall enter in; and they ,vi_ll be_ ready who have listened to the first call of the heavenly Bridegroom, who have arisen m answer to bis bidding and come to him, giving him their heart's best affections, and forsaking for his dear love's sake earthly desires and earthly ambitions. II. THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE. 1. The voice ef the bridegroom. He has climbed the steep rock by the ladder-like path, he has found the secluded cotta"'e; he calls the bride his dove; he desires to see her and to hear her voice. The King of Israel climbed the rocks of Lebanon in search of the maiden whom he loved. The heavenly Bridegroom climbed the steep ascent of the awful cross that he might draw to himself the love of the Church, his bride (John xii. 32). 'l'he bridegroom had already compared the eyes of the bride to doves (eh. i. 15); now he says, "0 my dove." It tells us how dear ihe Christian soul is to the Lord; it tells us what that soul ought to be-" harmless as doves." The rock-dove lives in clefts of the rocks. The soul which the Lord in his holy love condescends to call his dove, must dwell in the clefts of that true Rock which is Christ. The Rock of ages was cleft for us; the Christian soul must hide itself therein; there only are we safe. The do,•e is in the secret place, which can be reached only by climbing up the precipitous path. There is a steep ascent to be climbed before we can be hidden in the clefts of the Rock, before we can live that hidden life which is hid with Christ in God, before we can be safe, hidden in the wounded side of our dear Lord. That ascent is the path of self-denial, leading ever upward, ever closer to him who trod the way of the cross for our salvation. That life is hidden. "In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock" (Ps. xxvii. 5). The saint-like character is like the dove, retiring, shrinking from observation; some of God's holiest saints live silent, humble lives, in lowly circumstances, unseen of men. But our Father which seeth in secret knows their prayers, their charity, their self-denials; he will reward them openly. The heavenly Bridegroom deigns to see a sweetness and a beauty in a lowly Ohristian life; such a life is comely in his eyes, for it bath the beauty of holiness-a beauty derived only from communion with him who is the eternal Beauty. The voice of hymn and psalm ascending from that lowly dwelling is sweet in the Saviour's ear. The loftiest melodies of choir and organ, if love and faith and reverence are absent, cannot reach to heaven ; but the heart that is practising the new song in thankfulness and adoration makcth a melody which causeth joy in the presence of the angels of God. 2. The song of the bride. " Take us the foxes, the little foxes." Some scholars re)?:ard this as a fragment of a vintage-song. The bride sings it in order to intimate to the bridegroom, as she does more plainly in ver. 17, that the care of the vineyards (see eh. i. 6) must prevent her from joining him till the shadows lengthen in the evening. The foxes waste the vineyards, and the vines are in blossom; therefore the little foxes must be caught. The little sins as they sometimes seem to us, the small neglects, the prayer carelessly said, the worldly thought, the idle word,-these things spoil the vineyard of the Lord, which is the Christian soul; they check its bloBSOming, and so prevent the fruit from being formed. The believer must watch, for these things are enemies of his soul; they may seem to be like little foxes, small and of no strength, but they mar the beauty of the Christian character, and tend to check the promise of the fruit of the Spirit. Therefore they must be caught aud destroyed by diligent watchfulness, by earnest persevering prayer. 'l'he little foxes do not, indeed, root up and devour the vineyard like the wild beasts of Ps. lxxx., but they check its fruitfulness. .And the small transgressions, if they do no worse, at least prevent the Christian from attaining that saintliness to which we arc called. The little foxes hide and skulk about; the small sins are apt to escape detection. Therefore there is need of constant watchfulness and of very careful and diligent self-examiDation. l<'or we are " called to be saints " (1 Car. i. 2; Rom. i. 7) ; we are bidden to follow after holiness, to aim at perfection, to walk in the light. The little hindrances must be overcome, the lit,tle shadows must be driven away, 3, The hans• OR, II, 1-17.] THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 49