The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 198

thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the lwalth of my countenance and my God" (Ps. xiii. 11). Vers. 5-14.-Entire union of wedded love. I. COMMUNION OF THE DRIDEGROOM A i-.D THE BRIDE. 1. .Approach of the bride. "Who is this?" The question is ask ell for the third time (see eh. iii. 6; vi. 10). In eh. iii. 6 the chorus of youths aBks the quest.ion as the bride is borne in royal state to meet the kincr in the city of hill kinc::dom; it occurs again in eh. vi. 10, when the maidens of the chorus are struck with admiration of her queenlike, majestic beauty. Now, apparently, we have a narrative of a visit to the scenes of the bride's early life accordin" to her invitation in eh. vii. 11 ; and the question, ",vho is this?" is repeated onie more. Here the circumstances are changed; there is no magnificence as in eh. iii.; the bride is alone with the king; she is seen coming up from the wilderness, leaning on Iler beloved, So the Church, the bride of Christ, cometh np from the wilderness, leanin" 0 on the heavenly Bridegroom. So the Church of the Old Testament went up from Babylon when the wilderness was glad for them, when the ransomed of the Lord returned and went up" ith singing to Zion. So the Church of the New Testament came up from the wilderness of persecution, leaning on the strength of Christ; so the same Church shall come up at the call of the same holy Saviour to the heavenly Zion when that blessed promise is fulfilled," Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Hades, the abode of the dead, shall not be able to retain within its gra.~p the bride of Christ. For he saith, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave [Sheol, or Hades]; I will redeem them from death: 0 death, where are thy plagues? 0 grave, where is thy destruction? Repentance shall be Lid from mine eyes" (Hos. xiii. 14). And so now each Christian soul cometh up, oce after another, out of the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved. When he calls us and bids us come to him, we feel that the world is indeed a wilderness; that it hath nothing to satisfy our cravings, our needs. And the soul cometh, drawn by the Saviour's love. "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will dra,v all men unto me." The soul cometh up; it is a continual ascent. As the Lord was lifted up from the earth, so the soul cometh up, away from the world, nearer to the cross. Christ is calling us upwards. The holiness to which he bids us aspire is very high; it seems above our reach; it can he reachec. only by persevering effort; by climbing, little by little, ever higher; by making all the little matters of daily life opporlunities of self-denial, means of disciplining our human wills into snbmission to the holy will of God, The effort must be continuous, conscious, real; there must be no looking back to the wilderness; no hankering after the flesh-pots of Egypt; no longing for the other masters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, which we renounced when we gave our heart to Christ. The soul cometh up from the wilderness. It is a solemn thing; a sight which causes joy in heaven, for the angels know the meaning of that ascent; they know the perils of the wilderness, the utter vanity of its seeming pleasures; they know the toil, the difficulty of that ascent; they know the great glory and gladness reserved for those that have achieved it; they know, too, how very precious every Christian soul is in the sight of the Lord, who bought it with his blood. At rest in heaven themselves, they watch with a deep interest the heavenward progress of each true disciple of the Lord. The long procession upwards of the ransomed saints must be a spectacle of varied and intense interest in the presence of the angels of God. And they see what was once seen by the King of Babylon, "Behold, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Dan. iii. 25). The angels see that each soal that cometh up is leaning on her Beloved. The journey is long and wearisome; the ascent is steep and rugged; but the soul that has found Christ, and clung to him with the embrace of faith-the soul that can eay, "My Beloved is mine, and I am his," is not left alone in its weakness. There is a strong arm, unseen by the outward eye, but felt and realized Ly faith; there is a Lacd stretched forth to help-the hand that once caught the binking Peter, and lifted him up out of the depths. Each faithful soul leaneth on her lkloved. We need that support always, at every point of the long, wearisome path; at every step of the toilsome, upward climbing. Without Christ we can do nothing; we sink backwards; we become listless and slothful. But while we feel his presence, OH, VIII, 1-H.J THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 189