The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 111

wit.h Christ in Paradise must be much with Christ now; with him in the daily life of faith, in prayer and praise and frequent communion. He bids us come. "Come unto rrio," he eaye, "and I will give you rest." He only ca.n give pea.ce. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto yon: not ae the world giveth, give I unto you." If we listen to hie voice, and come with him e.way from Lebanon, which, though fair to look upon, with grand and wide-reaching prospects, was yet the haunt of noisome beasts; if we leave the love of the world, with ite enticements and its clangers, for the blessed love of Christ, we shall have all that we need for our soul's peace a.ncl safety. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 3. His praises of the bride. He calls her repeatedly," My sister-bride." Eis heart is hers; every little thing about her, the very smell of her garments, is dear to him; her love is by much better than wine; her voice is sweet as honey. He dwells now less on graces of person, as in vers. 1-5, than on her looks of affection, the depth and beauty of her love, the music of her voice. These words tell of a great love ; but the love of Christ for his Church is beyond the power of language. Solomon left his first loll'e-he loved many strange women; but the Ion of Christ for his Church is "an everlasting love" (Jer. xxxi. 3), unchangeable, unutter- able. "Greater love bath no man than this, that a. man lay down his life for his friends;" but "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. v. 8). And because he loved the Chnrch with so great a. love, the responsive love of the Church is very dear to him. "He is not ashamed to call IL'I brethren" (Heb. ii. 11). 'l'he voice of the Church lifted up to him in prayer and praise, making melody in the heart unto God, is sweet to the Saviour. He praises the graces of the Church, though those graces come all from him; they are his gift. He praises in the Book of the Revelation the Churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia.; he sees the beauty of holiness in those afflicted and despised Churches: "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, but thou a.rt rich;" "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;" "They shall know that I have loved thee; " " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and l will write upon him my new name" (Rev. ii. 9, 10; iii. 9, 12). 4. He compares her to a garden enclosed. She is like a garden shut up, barred against intruders, kept sacred for its master's use; she is like a spring shut up, a fountain sea.led as with the royal signet which none but the king can touch. The garden, or paradise, is full or the choicest fruits, flowers, and spice-bearing plants, the produce of many countries, some of them brought in Solomon's time by his navy from Arabia or India. The fountain is a well of living waters, fresh as the gushing mountain-streams of Lebanon. Solomon praises the bride not only for her beauty and her rare endowmcn ts, but also for her purity and faithfulness. The "garden enclosed," the" fountain sealed," remind us of our ma.niage vow: " Wilt thou ..• forsaking all other, keep thee only unto him so long as ye both shall live?" Such should the wedded pair be each tu the other; such was not Solomon. We cannot but think and believe that the brid,,, innocent and artless as she is described, kept herself pure unto the end. Tile Church, which is the bride of Christ, should be as a garden enclosed, kept sr1crcd for the one Lord. The garden of Eden was a garden enclosed, but Satan marred its sanctity; he, in the words of Milton, " At one slight bound high oyerleape<l all bound Of hill or highest wall, and sheer within Lights on his feet .... So elomb the first grand thief into God's folol: So since into hie Church lewd ll.irelings climb." The Lord has said," He that euterethnot by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." .Again he has said, '' I am the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture." They who are called to minister in the Church of God must. ever remember that it is God's Church, that "he bath purchased it with bis own blood" (Acts xx. 28); that it should be "a g11rden enclosed," l~ept for the l'ifaster, tillc,l and watered for him; that every barron tree _sbould be care[ully tcnde,l, that 1t ni.\y  100 THE SONG OF SOLOMON, [OH, IV, 1-16,