The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 75

is like life from the dead. And the rest which JeSU!I gives is more precious yet. It is rest from the gloomy fear of hell; it is rest from the drudgery of sin; H is reet from slavish toil to work out B personal righteousness; it is rest from anxious, worldly care. 2. This fruitfulness of Ohrist is Ufe-giving. All other trees in the wood are impotent to sustain life. This is the tree or health-the tree of life. This is the gran<l prerogative of our Immanuel: "I am the Resurrection and the Life;" "I am come that ye may have life, and have it more abundantly;" "I give unto my sheep eternal life and they ·shall never perish;" "Because I live, ye shall live also." And Jesus has al,:,ays acted up to his word. A myriad _human souls i~ heaven to-day join in the testimony, "Once we were dead; now, by Chnst's grace, we live." "'£hanks be unto God for his unspeak- able Gift." 3. Jesus Ghrist, as the citron tree, imparts joy. "I sat down under his shadow with great delight.'' It is an unusual joy, an overflowing blessedness. The joy which Christ gives is real, pure, ennobling, abiding. He gives to men "his own joy." Do men rejoice when pain yields to medicine, and new health flows in? Do men rejoice in the brightness of spring, or amid the plenty of autumn? Do men rejoice on their marriage-morn, or when fortune crowns their toil with large success? In Christ's ·smile all joys are rolled into one. He who has Christ has a pledge of he:\ven. This joy is a "joy unspeakable." 4. Jesus Ohrist is eminently adapted to our needs. As the ripe fruit of the citron tree was exquisitely suited to travellers in those hot climes, so Jesus is precisely suited to our necessities. You cannot mention a want of yours which Jesus is not competent to satisfy. He is Light for our darkness, Strength for our weakness, Food for our hunger, Rest for our weariness, Freedom for our bondage, Pardon for our guilt, Purity for our uncleanness, Hope for our despondency. As a ·well-made key fits a lock, so Jesus fits all my needs. I want no other Saviour. He "is all my salvation, and all my desire." Fitness is God's sign-manual.-D. Ver. 4.-Royal generosity. The testimony of personal experience is specially valu- able. We may argue from apriori data what generous love must reside in God, in order to harmonize with his perfection ; and such a. line of reasoning has its value. Or we may argue from analogy, that since fervent love stirs in the human breast, purer love and mightier glows-an uncreated flame-in the heart of God ; and this form of argu- ment leaves a comforting impression on the mind. But personal testimony has a tender force all its own. If God ha:s dealt generously and graciously to one member of the human family, no more deserving than I am, it is evident that he will deal with equal generosity of love toward me. For he is impervious to change. If it brought him joy and renown to show practical Jove to fallen men centuries ago, it will con- tribute to his renown and to his joy of heart now. If it added to his glory to save a :lost soul in Palestine, it will a.dd to his glory to save me. One deed of the heavenly King is a sample of all bis deeds. Ex uno, omnia disce. I. THE ROYAL GRACE OF CHRIST PROVIDES A BANQUET OF GOOD. It is everywhere a mark of friendship if a king invites a man to a banquet; and, through every part of Scripture, God represents himself as providing for penitent men a " feast of fat things." Resentment and vindictiveness towards bis frail creatures are things not to be thought of;' they are sentiments familiar in hell, but unknown in heaven. 1. Here is the idea that hunger is satisfied. At a. banquet the primal want of the body is met. Aud there is no hunger of the soul so widespread, so deep, as the craving for reconciliation with God -the craving for pardon. What bread is to the bodily appetite, God's mercy is to the convicted soul; it is" the one thing needful." Well, God has provided this gift in no stinted fashion. It does not come to us as a bare measure,just enough to meet the case. It is a banquet; it is supplied in sumptuous abundance. Nor is it pardon alone that the heavenly King supplies. It is a banquet of all kinds of substantial good; luxuries gathered from far and near. Wisdom, mercy, righteousness, sonsbip, hope, victory, . eternal life, are some of the viands spread. The Son of God " has given himself for us." And ever and anon we hear the voice of the King himself, " He that cometh to me shall never hunger; he that believeth on me shall never thirst." 2. Here is also the idea -of renewed friendship. To eat together is an act of friendship. It is a seal impressed in public that a covenant of friendship e:i:ists. T~ have our severnl bodies nourished from the same meal, from the same loaf, 1s a beautiful bond of attachment. It was an aggravation of Iscariot's sin, that "he who bad eaten bread with Jesus had  64 THE SONG OF SOLOMON. [OH, II, 1-17,