The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 138

ho.nd in o.t the holo of the door; he lo.ys the cross upon us; he reminds us of tho burden which he bore for us; he teaches us that the cross is the very badge and mark of his chosen-tho.t whosoever doth not take up his cross cannot be his disciple. At last we o.re stirred in our slumbers. We rise from our sleep. But perhaps we o.reonly half awake, half-hearted. Our will goes back to our old slothful rest. We say, like the sluggarcl in the Proverbs, "Yet o. liUle sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of tho hands to sleep" (Prdv. vi. 10). Then the Lord deals with us as a wise physician of the soul. He would have us feel our weakness, our danger. "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick" (Matt. ix. 12). He would have us feel our need of him. He withdraws himself; and when we open to him he is gone, He mal1es as though he would go further, as be dealt with the two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 28). '!'hen our soul goes forth to him. It faints within us; we feel how helpless we are without him; we feel that without him life is not worth living; and we try to constrain him, like those two disciples, saying, in their words, "Abide with us; for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." We seek him in earnest prayer, sometimes with strong crying and tears. But for a time we cannot find him. We call him, but be gives us no answer. It is in love that he thus deals with us, to arouse us, to make us feel the need of exertion, of active effort. He cannot be found without diligent search. 'l'he bride said, in relating her first dream, "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul lovcth" (eh. iii. 1). It is not thus that the soul should seek for Christ, still lying, as it were, upon the bed of spiritual sloth, thinking dreamily of Christ, pleasing itself, perhaps, with the poetry of religion, with the beauty of the Saviour's life, with the comfort which the Scriptures offer. Religion is not a dream; it is not mere poetry, mere love of beauty; it is a life-a life of action and energy-a prolonged effort to imitate Christ, to please Christ, to follow Christ's holy example. The first cry of the really awakened soul is, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " (Acts ix. 6). The soul that answers in earnest to the Saviour's call knows and feels instinctively that God has work for us; tha.t that work must be done even in fear and trembling by his help, who worketh in us both to will and to do. The Lord would have us realize this· truth; therefore sometimes he withdra·.vs himself, to make us feel that life is blank without him-to make us cry like Job," Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when his candle shined upon my head, a.nd when by his light I walked through darkness ; as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle I " (-Job xxix. 2-4). The contrast makes us feel that God was certainly with us then, even if we cannot feel his presence now. Therefore we seek him, even though for a time we ca11not find him. It was so with Job for a season. "He hideth himself," he said; "I cannot see him." He trusted God· even in the midst of darkness. "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he bath tried me, I shall come forth as gold " (Job xxiii. 9, 10). So we must believe in his love even when he seems to hide his face from us and not to •11sten to our prayers. He seemed long to disregard the supplications of the Syro-phcenician woman, but at last there came the gracious answer, "0 woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." II. THE SEARCH. 1. The bride goes forth in her dream. Again, as in eh. iii. 2, she goes a.bout the city seeking the beloved; again the watchmen found her. They had not been unfriendly in the first dream, though they were not able to guide her in her search. Now they seemed to treat her with cruelty. They smote her, and wounded her, and took her mantle from her. Difficulties will always arise in our search after Chris~sometimes dangers a.ml persecutions: "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." We may perhaps also see another lesson here. The bride has more trouble now in her search than she had on the former occasion. She has been more blamable. 'l'hen she had been for a time listless and slothful; now her sin had been not only sloth, but selfish disobedience. She refused at first to open to the beloved;· sho did not heed his call; she did not heed the· hardships which he had suffered. So it is in the Christian life. To sin against light is very grievous; repeated sin makes repentance each time moro difficult. We must be watchful always, 11s tho Saviour bids us: "Watoh ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or nt midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all,  THE SONG OF SOLOMON. [ell, V, 1-10.