The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 67

loved one. "My fair one." Such name of endearment tells the truth as to what our souls are to him. So also ' 1 my dove" (ver. 16). Wo should not ce.11 them fair-no, indeed I But love invests all it loves with beauty. What mother does not think her child lovelier than everybody else's? Other people do not see it; she does, And so Christ sees in our souls what we certainly cannot see. 2. Bids her" rise up and come away." (Cf. "He arose nnd came to his father.") How many woulrl be saved willingly if ouly they could stay where they are-in self-indulgence, in gainful trade in worldly conformity, in allowed sin! But it may not be. The soul must" rise up," etc'. We must leave our sins behind us when we come to Christ. 3. Be encourages her by telling of the pleasure he desires for her. Re would have her go forth with him in delightful walk amid t.he flowers and fragrance, the sunshine and song, of a lovely spring morning. No more exquisite description of such a morning was ever penned. And so the Divine wisdom moves us, saying, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness," etc. And we are taught that the course of the soul should be as a going forth amid the loveliness of such a morning in spring. It is not through a vale of tears, but amid what is here told of. Joy should be a chief element in the soul's life in Christ. 4. He bids her cast away her fear. (Cf. as to ber fearfulness, on ver. 15.) Young souls are often fearful-of themselves, of the world, of the cross. Christ would dispel such fears. 5. He aslts for response. He would hear her voice. The voice of the soul in prayer, in pra.,ise, in self-surrender,-that is the voice Christ loves to hear. V. Is FINALLY AND FULLY WON. (Cf. ver. 16.) See how gladly: 1. She confesses him, openly avowing that he is the Beloved of her heart, and that she is altogether his (cf. '' She fell down before him, and told him all the truth"). Confession is the law of love. 2. She decla1·es that he dwells in her heart. Those pure graces, the lilies of his creating, are those amongst which he takes delight. Christ dwells in our hearts through faith. 3. She desires that whilst her life lasts he may come to her as he has done. (Ver.17.) So long as the night of life lasts, and until the eternal dawn breaks, will she w.elcome his presence and rejoice in his coming. CoNoLUSION. Christ does so woo our souls, especially those who, as the one told of here, are young, May he win them as he won this !-S. C. Vers. 11, 12.-Spring. According to St. Paul, God's natural world was intended to be-might, would, and should have been, but for man's sin-the Bible for the great part of mankind. "Nevertheless," said he to the men of Lycaonia., "God left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." And again (Rom. i.), he declares that "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead." Not the Bible alone, then, but nature also, was intended to reveal God, and men ought, as we are assured, to have seen God in the things that he made. But instead of being a revela- tion of God, it has been perverted into an impenetrable screen to hide and to conceal him; or, still worse, to distort, misrepresent, and dishonour him. So that, left to nature only, men have sunk lower and lower, as all experience proves. Tbis is true of man- kind generally. But it is not.universally true. Long ere the written Scriptures were given, and in parts of the world where they never came, there have been those who by Divine illumination have learnt much of God through the works of God. Doubtless many of those of whom St. Paul speaks as having by nature done the things of the Law, though they never had the Law, these learnt from the great Bible of nature-that page having been, even as the written page must ever be, opened up to them by the teachiug of the Spirit of God. Hence was it that their consciences became so enlightened as to approve or condemn according as they did good or evil. But if it was expected of them who had not, as we have, the written Word, but only nature to teach them, that they should understand God and his ways, how much more will be expected, and justly expected, of us I There are many who rejoice in the natural world as a revela- tion of God. What a proof we have of this in that glorious Ps. civ. I There the devov.t writer goes over the whole of God's creation, animate and inanimate; that which has, and that which has not, the gift of reason. And he ends his devout meditation saying, " Bless thou the Lord, 0 my soul. Praise ye the Lord." Here, then, is a worthy model fo1· us to follow in coa.templating the works of God. Let us try to imitate so good an  THE SONG OF so'r..OMdN'. [oa. u.1-t'-