The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 80

to the speaker's voice, our love responded to his love. Or as the flowers respond to the summer sun, so our hearts gave out the fragrance of their love, under the quickening influence of his grace. For his love is not a vapid sentiment, His love is cm ever- lasting force, ever active, beneficent in ten thousand ways. His practical love persevered with us, touched us in a hundred points, and finally melted our ingratitude. Love has made us subjects, servants, slaves. Such love, when known, is irresistible. II. THIS CHOICE INCLUDES PROPRIETORSHIP, "My Beloved is mine." As I say, "This coat is mine," or" This land is miue," so I can say," Christ is mine." No one can dispossess me. It is an inalienable possession. 1. Mark the nature of this possession. I do not possess it simply with my hands. It is not something outside me, from which I alone can derive ad·rnntage. It is a possession within me. It becomes part and parcel of my being. It enters into my very life. I am a totally different being, by virtue of this possession. Jesus is identified with me, and I with him. He is my Life, my Hope. "Christ liveth in me." We possess him, as the branch possesseth the root. 2. T/ie extent qf the possession. As the bride becomes by marriage partici- pator of all the lands and estates and honours of the bridegroom, so is it with every believer. The righteousness of Christ is mine. All the excellences of Christ are mine. The wealth of Christ is mine. " I am joint-heir " with him. He has chosen to share with me all that he has. His friends are my friends. His servants are my servants. His world is my world. His throne is my throne. " All things are ours, for we are Christ's." 3. The utility of this possession. Does it not bring me great and present advantages i' Does it not make me rich indeed? "He is miue to bear all my burdens ; mine to discharge all my debts; mine to answer all my accusers; mine to conquer all my foes." He is "mine in absrnce, mine in presence; mine through life, mine in death; mine in the judgment; mine at the mal'l'iage-supper of the Lamb." I am secure and honoured and happy, because "Christ is mine." "With him Pm rich, though stripped of all beside; Without him poor, though all the world were mine." IlL Tms CHOICE INCLUDES DEVOTEMENT. "I am bis." As Jesus has given himself entirely and unreservedly to me, I have given myself wholly and without reserve to him. It is a real surrender. 1. The dignity of self-devotement, The man who devotes bis whole self to his king or to his country does not degrade himself thereby, He rises in the scale of being; be rises in honour. Much more does the devoted servant of Jesus Christ rise to the di"nity of true livin". Better be prime minister of England tl,an king in Dahomey. And nobler far is it to be a servant in Immanuel's kingdom tbau to boast of vain independence, and be in reality a vassal of Satan. To serve is noble, royal, Divine. Jesus is a King because he stooped to be a servant, and the only road to kingliness is hearty service. The heraldic motto of our Prince of Wales is, "I serve." Devotement to Jesus Christ is eternal honour. 2, The extent of self-devotement. It embraces our whole nature, our entire life. The claim of Christ is complete. '!'here is no organ of our body, no faculty of miud, no moment of time, no particle of.our wealth, which does not of right belong to him; therefore we can keep bac_k nothrng. We are "not our own." On the grounds of creation, sustenance, redemption, Jesus has a triple claim. And above all, he bas our personal consent. By a sacred covenant, we have freely surrendered all we have to his kingly service. The consecration must be complete. 3. This devotement brings supreme satiifaction. There is no joy for the human soul like the joy of entire consecration. 'l'his is our proper place, and we cannot find our rest el!iewhere. On our death-bed, will the review of our life bring us satis- faction, unless that life bas been spent, and wholly spent, in the service of our ltcdcemer? Can we dare to appropriate to ourselves all that belongs to Chri6t1 if at the same time we do not give up all to him? As you cannot put pure water rnto a. YCssel that is already full of other things, so you cannot put Christ's treasures int? a soul until it is emptied of self. To do my Master's will I must surrender all to hm~. To become like Christ I must be wholly consecrated to his kingdo1u, Then shall his joy be my joy. Then shall I discover the truth, and shall sing- " I'm in the noblest sense my own When most entirely thine." D, OH, rt. 1-17.) 'r1:tE SO~G OF SOLOMON. /'l9