one of llB, make ourselves ready and prepare to meet our God. The Lord rejoices in tho holiness of hie people. We must learn, not to seek glory from one another, not to set so much store on human praise, but to seek that glory which cometh from the only God (John v. 44). There were some who would not confess the Lord Jesus because "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John xii. 43). We must look onwards to the praise which the heavenly Bridegroom will bestow on the Church, his bride; then shall the true Israelite, who is a "Jew inwardly," "whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. ii. 29), have praise of God (1 Cor. iv. 5). We must seek that praise with a single heart, walking with God, living to his glory, looking for the blessed hour when we trust to see the heavenly Bridegroom face to face. "He lifts me to the golden doors; The flaslies come and go; All Heaven bursts her starry floors, And strews her lights below, Anrl cleepens on and up! the gates Roll back, and far within For me the heavenly Bridegroom waits, 'fo make me pure of sin. The sabbaths of eternity, One sabbath deep and wide, A light upon the shining sea- The Bridegroom with his bride In II. THE ANSWER OF THE nmDE. I. She must withdraw Joi· a whi1e. She repeats in her modesty the first clause of her own words in eh. ii. 17. Then, apparently, she asked her lover to leave her till she had fulfilled the routine duties of the day. He was to return when the day should be cool, and the shadows should lengthen in the evening. Now it is she who will leave her Lord for a time. Perhaps she felt herself almost over- burdened by his commendations; the poor country maiden, true and simple as she was, could scarcely understand such praises from the great and magnificent king; they were too much for her; she must retire to collect herself. \~hen the Lord commends the faithful, and glorifies their works of love as done unto himself, they seem oppressed, as it were, for a season by the greatness of his praise. They were only doing their duty; they did it, all of them, more or less imperfectly; they did not regard those poor works of theirs as so exceeding beautiful ; they did not think that they had been conferring benefits upon the Lord himself, that they had so greatly pleased him; they were humble, self-di~trustful; they seem almost to shrink from the praises of the King. 'l'he grace of humility is a very holy thing ; it lies at the entrance of the kingdom of heaven; it is the first of the Beatitudes. "Not he that commendeth him- self is approved, but he whom the Lord commendeth" (2..Cor. x. 18). 2. Whither the bride retires. "I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense." The words mny, taken literally, signify some retired place in the palace garden, as many scholars think; but myrrh and frankincense are words of frequent occurrence in Holy Scripture, and are often used with a more or less mystical meaning. The Wise Men from the East brought gold and frankincense and myrrh as offerings to the infant Saviour; wine mingled with myrrh was given hirn on the cross; his sacred body was laid in a mixture of myrrh and aloes brought by the faithful Nicodemus. The mountain of myrrh seems to suggest the necessity of purification before the soul can dwell always in the presence of the Lord. The maidens from among whom the Queen of Persia was to be chosen had to go through a time of purification, "six months with oil of myrrh" (Esth. ii. 12). It tells us also of the bitter draught, the cup of sorrows, which they who are to be nearest Christ must take. "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I must drink of?" Those who aspire to the highest places in the kingdom of heaven must learn the deepest lessons of humility, the severest lessons of entire submission ot will to the holy will of God. They must get them to the mountain of myrrh, to the cross. Our self-denials are small and unworthy; the cross of Christ sets before us a moun. tain of self-sacrifice, a height that reaches unto the heavens. We must draw nearer and nearer to the cross in daily self-denial and self-abasement, if we are to realize at last the full, deep joy of uninterrupted communion with the Lord. And if myrrh melUII BONG OF SOLOMON. B THE 'SONG OF SOLOMON:,
!'elf-denial, the dying unto sin, frankincense 'means worahip. The sweet odour of the incense going up from the golden altar is n :meet emblem of the prayers of the saints (see Rev. viii. 3, 4). We must learn. the blessed lesson of worship on earth before wo can join the cho~r of happy_worshippers around the glory-throne. Yf e must get our- !'clvcs to the _hill of frankincense, to the Lord's house, whero the mcenso of pmycr and tbanksgivmg ever ascends, where he himself is in the midst, among those who are gathered together in his name. There we may be trained, if wo oome in the Spirit as Simeon came whm be found the Lord Christ, in that holy worship, worship in spirit and in truth, which is the true preparation for the glad adoring worship of triumphant saints in heaven. Till the evening of life comes, till the shadows lengthen into the night, we must get ourselves to the work which the Lor,! has given us to do--the work of self-discipline, the work of worship here below, that we may be ready when he c"meth to take our part in the never-ceasing worship of heaven, and there to be ever with the Lord.