Evening, May 22
Go To Morning Reading
“Behold, thou art fair, my Beloved.”
Song of Solomon 1:16
From every point our Well-beloved is most fair. Our various experiences
are meant by our heavenly Father to furnish fresh standpoints from
which we may view the loveliness of Jesus; how amiable are our trials
when they carry us aloft where we may gain clearer views of Jesus
than ordinary life could afford us! We have seen him from the top
of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, and he has shone upon
us as the sun in his strength; but we have seen him also “from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards,” and he has lost none of his loveliness. From the languishing of a
sick bed, from the borders of the grave, have we turned our eyes to
our soul’s spouse, and he has never been otherwise than “all fair.” Many of his saints have looked upon him from the gloom of dungeons,
and from the red flames of the stake, yet have they never uttered
an ill word of him, but have died extolling his surpassing charms.
Oh, noble and pleasant employment to be forever gazing at our sweet
Lord Jesus! Is it not unspeakably delightful to view the Saviour in
all his offices, and to perceive him matchless in each?—to shift the kaleidoscope, as it were, and to find fresh combinations
of peerless graces? In the manger and in eternity, on the cross and
on his throne, in the garden and in his kingdom, among thieves or
in the midst of cherubim, he is everywhere “altogether lovely.” Examine carefully every little act of his life, and every trait of
his character, and he is as lovely in the minute as in the majestic.
Judge him as you will, you cannot censure; weigh him as you please,
and he will not be found wanting. Eternity shall not discover the
shadow of a spot in our Beloved, but rather, as ages revolve, his
hidden glories shall shine forth with yet more inconceivable splendour,
and his unutterable loveliness shall more and more ravish all celestial
minds.