The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 186

not our hc>:irts be all aglow with joy? For nothing on earth is more sure th1m this, ih:it if I give my whole self unreservedly to Jesus, he bas impelled me to do it 1md npon me he confers the wealth of his eternal friendship. "My Beloved is mine' and I am his. "-D. ' Yer. 6.-Thefair11ess of love. The commendations of the bride's beauty, which occur in 1.he early verses of this chapter, lead up to the exclamation--so much in harmony with the v;hole spirit of the Canticles-concerning the fairne.ss, the pleasantness, the delightsomeness, of true love. I. THE BEAUTY AND G-OOD SERVICE OF LOVE, AS A BENTIME.~ IN THE HUMAN HEART Al-'ll AS A BOND IN BUMAN SOCIETY. As distinguished from mere carnal passion, tha.t conjugal love which is pictured as subsisting between the king and his spouse is justly in this Song of Songs represented as of the purest and highest excellence. It is true that religion and morality put a restraint upon the natural impulses, and the Bible abounds with warnings against yielding to the temptations which are favoured by human nature and by sinful society. But if the way of virtue be a narrow way, it is not without flowers by its borders, both fair and fragrant. The path of self-govern- ment and self-denial is a path which has pleasures of its own. And one. aim of this Book or Canticles, one justification for its place in canonical Scripture, appears to be its effective depicting of the pure joys of human affection. Where marriage is the result of personal preference and sincere attachment, and where it is entered upon under the guidance of sober reason and forethought, it may well be expected to yield delights. Toil, anxieties, mutual forbearance and self-sacrifice, the endurance in common of life's cares and sorrows, so far from extinguishing love, may refine and hallow it. And maturity of character and i;piritual discipline and strength will prove more than a compensation for the abandonment of the " primrose path " of pleasure, in which the unspiritual find their joys. The family and the home are the scene and the embodiment of wedded love. And they are the very basis of human society, the condition and means of true human progress, the earnest of a higher state of Christian civilization in the future. II. HUMAN LOVE JS THE EMBLEM OF THE DIVINE LOVE WHICH UNITES THE SOUL AND THE SAVIOUR, Al\'ll WHICH IS THE SOURCE OF SPIRITUAL AND HEAVENLY JOYS, The highest purpose of that affinity which binds heart to heart is to elicit emotions, and to lead to relations with which our highest welfare here and hereafter is associated. '.L'he.v who read this Book of Canticles without recognizing the divinely appointed con- nection in question miss not only a literary charm, but a spiritual truth and law. It is to be feared that in the view of some, human loYe, such as should exist between husband and wife, appears a profane and common, if not a foolish, thing. But God is not honoured by the disparagement of his own provisions and plans. If he has made love so important a factor in human life, he has done so, we may be sure, with a purpose worthy of himself, his wisdom, and grace. As earthly love is elevated and purified by the Divine disciplin.e of this earthly existence, it comes to symbolize, with ever-growing force, the profound affection which subsists between Christ and his Church. And this significance is recognized in the language of St. Paul and St. John regarding the bride and spouse of the Saviour. With reference to the emotions which are cherished by Christ towards his chosen and beloved people, and by his people towards him to whom they are indebted for all they have and for all they hope for, how appropriate is the exclamation. "How fair and how pleasant art thou, 0 love, for delights I" Divine love is the source of Divine joy. It is immortal love which is the earnest of" pleasures for evermore."-T. Ver. 9.-The sweetness of speech. The figurative lan1~age here employed by the royal lover to eulogize the voice and the utterances of the bride is to our colder and more measured habits of thought Oriental extravagance. Yet it is in harmony with the highly coloured character of the book as a whole. And human speech does oft~n awaken within the heart emotions not easily expressed in cool and justifiable panegyric. The human voice is of all music the sweetest, and speech is sweeter even than song, tJttering as it does, not the studied and artificial sentiment of the musical composer, b~t the spontaneous and na.tural emotions of the speaker's heart, • orr. YII. 1-13.J THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 177