the loved one's sake find how blessed is self-sacrifice for his sake who loved us and ga,e himself for us. II. THE BRIDE'S ANSWER. 1. Tl~ mutual lo'IJe that binds them together. She repeats the assertion of eh. ii. 16 ; vi. 3. As in eh. vi. 3, she puts first her own gift, the gift of her whole heart, to her beloved. She knows now, with a confident and happy know- ledge, that her heart is his. Perhaps at first there had been some coyness, some hesita- tions, some doubts; now there is none. She bas given her heart, and she knows it. She dwells on the happy truth; she rejoices in repeating it. Blessed is the Christian 8oul that can say the like, "I am my Beloved's,'' "I am Christ's." Blessed above all others are they who can say iu sincerity that they have given him their whole heart; that they desire only him, his presence, his. love; that their one highest hope is to please him better, to live nearer and nearer to him, and at length to see him face to face. Such, in the ancient times, was the hope of the Psalmist Asaph. !'.Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the Strength of my heart, and my Portion for. ever" (Ps. lxxiii. 25, 26). And the bride is sure of the bridegr,oom's love: "his desire is towards me." She is a.s sure that bis heart is hers as that hers. is his. She applies to him the Divine words of Gen, iii. 16. As Eve's desire was to her husband, so now the king's desire was toward his bride. The heavenly Bridegrooin loved the Church ; his desire is toward his people; their salvation was the joy set before him, for which he endured the ccoss. He said to his little flock, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Luke xxii. 15). His desire is toward his bride, tha.t she may be washed and cleansed, that he ma.y in his own good time rreserit her to himself a glorious Church, holy and without blemish (Eph. v. 25-27). 2. '.I'he bride's invitation. The king had invited her to his· royal city at the time of their espousals. "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse" (eh. iv. 8). She seems here to be in-viting the king to visit in her company her old home, the scene of her la.hours in the vineyards. "Come, my beloved," she says, "let us go forth into the field." So the heavenly Bridegroom ea.Us to himself the souls whom he so dearly loved: "Come unto me, and I will give you rest;" so the Christian, in a.newer to the Lord's gracious invitation, responds," Even so come, Lord Jesus." He bids us come to him, a.nd as we come we pray him to come to us, for without him we can do nothing; we cannot come nnless he draws us by himself coming to us (John vi. 44; xii. 32). We pray him, " Let us go forth into the field, let us get up early to the vineyards ; " for we need his presence always; we cannot do the work which he ha.s given us to do; we cannot work in his vineyard a.s he bids us without bis help. Therefore we ask him to be with us always, according to his gracious promise, "Lo, I am with you all the days, even to the end" (Matt. xxvili. 20)_; tha.t we ma,r have grace to get up early to the vineyards, not to stand a.ll the day id.le, not to wait. to the eleventh hour, but to give the best of our life to God, to remember our Creator in the days of our youth, to do with our might whatsoever our hand fi.ndeth to do (Eccles. ix. 10). .The word Lere rendered "get up early" is several times figuratively used for "to be earnest or uroent." God calls us to work, to la.hour for his Name's sake, but not to leave our first lo1~e, like the Church a.t Ephesus (Rev. ii. 3, 4); to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, but all the time to.ask him to come and help us, a.nd to remember that it is l,e who worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Ph ii. ii. 13); for without that inward work of his within our souls we can do no acceptable work,for him. But work we must, for he bids us; and it is in that work, wrought ever· in faith and in dependence upon him, tha.t the Christian soul keeps itself in the love of Guel (Jude 21). So tbe bride says," There [in the vineyard] will I give thee my lov_es." !Lis in working for God tha.t we prove our love for him, 0 Lovest thou me?" the Saviour said; then "feed my lambs, feed my sheep." "If ye love me, keep.my commandments."· en. v11. 1--18.] 'fllE SONG OF SOLOMON. 17L
Then he will pray for us, sending the gracious Spirit, the Comforter, to strengthen anJ to help us; then, he promises, he will come himself. "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John xiv. 16-18). Then the blessed Spirit will help us to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit-the fruit which is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle- ness, faith, meekness, temperance "-that like the bride in the song we may havo "all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old,' and may add, in her words, "which I have laid up for thee, 0 my Beloved." These fruits are treasures laid up in heaven, and we know that he is able to keep that which we have committed unto him aaainst 0 that day (2 Tim. i. 12).