The Patriarchs Part 26

In the imagery here we have Christ as a Suitor at the door, asking of the one He loves admission from "the drops of the night;" and in the New Testament we have Him standing and knocking at the reluctant heart, desiring that entertainment which revived and zealous affection would surely provide Him. Rev. iii. 20. And well for us, beloved, if our lukewarm Laodiceanism do but depart, like the drowsiness of this dear one in this lovely mystic song. Chap. v. 2-16.

And I know not that the constant self-congratulation of the espoused one in this book is a whit beyond that of Paul. She can always talk of her Beloved being hers, and say moreover, "I am my Beloved's, and His desire is towards me." But he can also always, in spirit, sing (let the toil and wear of life be what they may), "The life that I live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of G.o.d, _Who loved me, and gave Himself for me_." And that is the language of Paul, happy in the a.s.surance of Christ's devoted love to him.5

5 It is commonly interpreted as though Paul, in Gal. ii. 20, were expressing his _devotedness_ to his Master. But this is not so.

This robs the verse of its exquisite glory. He is rather speaking of the joy of his soul in the knowledge of what a devoted and glorious Lover he had.

If, I may also say, in the imagery of this book, the loved saint can say, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste," the plainer style of an epistle is not less fervent.

"Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Surely the heart is equally in possession of an Object which it knows is fitted to answer all its desires.

And further still. We have, in the actions of this book, souls in different elevations, the betrothed one, and "the daughters of Jerusalem." How much is that known among themselves, and contemplated in the ill.u.s.trations and teachings of the New Testament! All are not fully formed--not fully in the measure of the stature, so to express it. "We have a little sister, and she hath no b.r.e.a.s.t.s." All are not alike in the liberty of the dispensation. Such draw out the sympathy of the saint established in the grace of G.o.d, and solicitous care, and prayer, and inquiry of the Lord, are made about such, as here. See chap. viii. 8.

Indeed, I know not that anything can be more in the harmonies of the Spirit, in the combined and glowing lights of the Gospel, than the utterance of the betrothed one in this short pa.s.sage. Chap. viii. 8-10.

The actings of her soul, both towards others and towards the Lord, are the Spirit's sweetest and choicest workmans.h.i.+p. She has respect to "the infirmity of the weak," desiring for them strength and edifying in the fuller measure of Christ, and yet all the time owning full oneness and relations.h.i.+p with them in Him, while she rejoices in her own certain, happy a.s.surance, and the fulness of her growth, even to an ecstasy, that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were like towers! and because of that, knowing her Lord's favour towards her, and delight in her. And sure we may be, that all this is purely and richly the way of a believing, renewed soul. Full adoption of the weak, with desires for their larger liberty and a.s.surance, and yet certainty of personal standing in the most undimmed joy of entire a.s.surance, with perfect persuasion that all this liberty and confidence were thoroughly to the heart and mind of Jesus.

Nothing can be more perfect, I believe, than all this in the harmonies and lights of a spiritual mind, according to the strictest sense of evangelic truth.

So again and again, in the gospel history, we find Jesus led to forget His sorrows when beholding faith in a sinner. He found there, as I have already stated, the refreshment of His spirit. He found a transient forgetting of His sorrows among the Samaritans, from the Centurion, from Zaccheus, and from the spikenard and fellows.h.i.+p of Mary. He seeks the same here. He comes to His espoused one, that He might find, in fellows.h.i.+p with her, some other and far different thing than that rejection and refusal which He was ever meeting in the world. And is it not also so, that if the saint be sluggish and careless, the faithful kindred in Christ will help the discipline? If Jesus say, "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" Paul will say, "Quit you like men, be strong."

So in the action of this book. Jesus leaves a memorial of the soul's drowsiness on "the hole of the door," that the conscience may take alarm; and the watchman of the city smite her, and the keepers of the walls draw the veil from her face. Chap. v.

The harmonies of the "one Spirit" are heard in all this. And so, in the course of these little songs, I discern the way of the Lord toward a repentant, recovered soul. See chap. vi. 4-13. She had just refused to open her door to Him, but, through discipline, had been brought to fervent communion with Him again. v. 2-vi. 3. And now His eye and His heart are full of her again. He looks on her as beautiful as ever. She is His "undefiled," and nothing less; no upbraidings pa.s.s His lips. Her motion towards Him is comely and graceful in His esteem. And He lets her know that her repentance had given Him pleasant and wondrous refreshment. As soon as she was made willing (Psalm cx. 2), He got into a chariot to bear Him away speedily and joyously to her. vi. 12, margin.

She may be a wonder to herself, she may take a place unworthy of any notice (v. 13); but the Lord and angels rejoice over her. As we know in the Gospels, the ninety and nine just ones can be left for the one prodigal; the angels in heaven rejoice; the house makes merry; the friends of the beloved triumph over the returned Shulamite. She is like the returned Jacob: the Mahanaim, the hosts of G.o.d, salute them both, wait at the threshold of the land or of the house, to do their Lord's pleasure toward them, and express His welcome and concern for them. Gen.

x.x.xii. 1; Cant. vi. 13.6

6 Another once observed to me, that in the Canticles, the Beloved expresses _directly to herself_ the beauties He discerns in her; the betrothed one never does this, but recites His beauties _in the ears of others_; and further observed, that there was great moral propriety in this, something quite according to the dictate of a delicate affection.

And what is the longing here but that the day should break? And what is the longing of the same soul in the words of the Gospel? "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,"--so largely and so exactly do the teachings and the breathings of the New Testament, in these and kindred ways, measure the affections of the heart in this book? Christ dwells in the heart by faith. Christ lies all night between the b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Eph. iii. 17; Cant. i.

13. And has not the saint attuned his heart over Jesus in language of like fervour, such as we all use without shame?

"How tedious and tasteless the hours When Jesus no longer I see, Sweet prospects, sweet birds, and sweet flowers, Have lost all their sweetness for me; The midsummer sun s.h.i.+nes but dim, The fields strive in vain to look gay, But when I am happy in Him, December's as pleasant as May.

"His name yields the richest perfume, And sweeter than music His voice, His presence disperses my gloom, And makes all within me rejoice: I should, were He always so nigh, Have nothing to wish or to fear, No mortal so happy as I, My summer would last the whole year."

These are among the seals set upon this beautiful portion of G.o.d's Word by the spiritual mind of the believer, and also by kindred truths and principles found in other scriptures. And it has been happily said, that "if there be no express allusion to this book in the New Testament, the same allegory, as portraying the same truth, evidently appears to have been familiar to the minds of the writers of it, and to the minds also of the people whom they addressed. Not more abruptly does John the Baptist, for instance, refer to our Lord as 'the Lamb of G.o.d who taketh away the sin of the world,' as being the character of the Messiah which all would know and understand, than he does to the same blessed Person in the character of the Bridegroom of the Church--'he that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom.'"

And is it not seasonable, in these days of growing irreligiousness and worldliness, to warn one another, beloved, to keep our minds incorrupt in the simplicity that is in Christ? In the preparation-season, which the present age is, and which the Canticles contemplate, Eve was getting ready, under the forming hand of G.o.d, for Adam, and for Adam _only_.

Adam slept for Eve, and Eve was made for Adam. So with Christ and the Church. He slept in death for us, and we are preparing, under the Holy Ghost, for Him. "I have espoused you to _one_ husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." As he says also in another place, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again till _Christ_ be formed in you," Christ, and Christ only, Christ in His precious sufficiency for a sinner, in answer to the Hagar or Galatian thought of "days, and months, and times, and years," that other gospel which yet is not another.

But this is a.s.sailed. The Gospel, in its claim on the sinner to give his undivided confidence to Christ, has been abroad on the lips of a thousand witnesses, to the gladdening of thousands of souls. The enemy has watched and hated this. Working in the scene in which he goes "to and fro" and "up and down" (Job i. 7), he is busy to seduce the heart from this Gospel. And is not his success far beyond the measure of the fears of any of us? The religion of fleshly confidences or of ordinances is to this hour among us. It admits of worldliness; and worldliness is, at this same hour, flouris.h.i.+ng in company with it. There is the erection of temples for wors.h.i.+p, and of palaces for the wors.h.i.+ppers; stricter care to observe, in its season, due attendance in the sanctuary, together with unparalleled skill and energy and enterprise in advancing the indulgence and elegance of human life, so as to make the world a _desirable_ and _safe_ place to live in--a place where religion may now be seen to be observed and honoured.

This is all seductive from the principle of faith--this is corruption of the mind from the simplicity that is in Christ. The Gospel addresses itself to man, not only as a _guilty_ but as a _religious_ creature. It finds him under the power of _superst.i.tion_ or _religiousness_, as well as of sin. It is as natural for man to refuse to go into the judgment-hall lest he should be defiled, as it is, in very enmity to G.o.d, to cry out, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." And the Gospel gets as stern a refusal from the _religious_ man as from the _l.u.s.tful_ man. As the Divine Teacher tells us, the harlot goes into the kingdom before the Pharisee.

Religious vanities are deeply playing their part in our day, and fascinating many souls. What answer, beloved, do you and I give them? Is Jesus so precious that no allurement has power? Is the virgin purity of the mind still kept? and as chaste ones are we still betrothed to Christ only? Like the newly-formed Eve, are we in our place of earliest, freshest presentation to our Lord? or have we, apart from His side, opened our ear to the serpent?

The kingdom of heaven is as a supper, a royal, joyous feast got ready for sinners, that they might taste and see that the Lord is good, and that blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. It does not put G.o.d in the place of a _receiver_, for man _to bring Him His due_; but it puts Him in the place of a _giver_, and man is called _to value His blessing_.

But the question is, Who listens, with desirous heart, to the bidding?

Who wears "the wedding garment"? Who prizes Christ? Who triumphs in His salvation? Who longs for the day of His espousals? John had this garment on him, knowing, as he did, the joy of being the Bridegroom's friend. It was flowing at liberty on Mary's shoulders, as she sat at her Lord's feet and heard His words. Paul tucked it tight about him when he said, "G.o.d forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." The eunuch had just put it on as "he went his way rejoicing" in the faith of the name of Jesus. Every sinner adorns himself with it the moment his heart values Christ. And what joy is it thus to know that when we put on Christ it is not "sackcloth" we put on, nor is it "the spirit of heaviness" we enter into, but "a wedding garment" has clothed us, and with "the garment of praise" we array our spirits!

Have we thus learned "the kingdom of heaven"? Have we, in spirit, entered it as a banqueting-hall where both magnificence and joy welcome us? Are we, consciously, guests at the marriage of a King's Son? Have we learnt the mysteries of the faith? Have we gazed at them? Has the musing over them kindled a fire in the heart to burn up the chaff of worldly rudiments? Paul had this element in his soul as he travelled through Greece. And how did the glow of these mysteries address itself to "the princes of the world" there? It consumed them all. "Where is the wise?

where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" Precious ardour of the Spirit! What a pile was thus fired in the famed cities of the learned and the wise! and how were all the thoughts of men thrown as rubbish into it!

And how did he treat the rudiments of the _religious_ world? He bore the same fervent sense of Christ with him into their regions, to test what chaff and dross were there. In Galatia he found much of it; but he spared none of it. Though an angel from heaven gather such rubbish; though Peter himself help in the work; though the Galatians, who once would have plucked out their eyes for him, be enticed, nothing should stand before the heat of the Spirit that bore him onward. "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?... Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you."

Could he do less? Could he carry Jesus in his heart, and calmly stand and measure his light with the lights of Greece, or G.o.d's great ordinance with man's traditions?

It is to make much of Christ we want, beloved--much of Himself, and His glorious achievements for sinners. We want simplicity in that sense of the word--the breathings of a soul content with Him, and the peace of a conscience for ever at rest in His sufficiency. "What think ye of Christ?" is the test, as a dear hymn well known among us has it--

"Some call Him a Saviour, in word, But mix their own works with His plan, And hope He His help will afford, When they have done all that they can: If doing prove rather too light (A little they own they may fail), They purpose to make up full weight By casting His name in the scale.

"Some style Him the pearl of great price, And say He's the fountain of joys, Yet feed upon folly and vice, And cleave to the world and its toys-- Like Judas, the Saviour they kiss, And, while they salute Him, betray-- Ah, what will profession like this Avail in His terrible day!

"If asked what of Jesus I think, Though all my best thoughts are but poor, I say, He's my meat and my drink, My life, and my strength, and my store; My Shepherd, my Husband, my Friend, My Saviour from sin and from thrall, My hope from beginning to end, My portion, my Lord, and my all."

May these thoughts and affections be ours. They are the sweet witness of the one faith, the one Lord, the one Spirit (Eph. iv.), for they express the leading, ruling mind of the Canticles. There the soul in kindred affection has but one object, but that one is enough. It is satisfied, and never for a moment looks for a second. It has the "Beloved," and cares for nothing else. If it grieve, it is over the want of capacity to enjoy Him. It seeks for nothing but Jesus, lamenting only that it is not more fully and altogether with Him. And this is the experience we have to desire--to find in the Lord a satisfying object, a cure for the wanderings of the poor heart, which, till it fix on Him, will go about and still say, "Who will show us any good?" "The labour of the foolish wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to go to the city."

"That unsatisfiedness with transitory fruitions which men deplore as the _unhappiness_ of their nature is indeed the _privilege_ of it." Just indeed, and truly to be prized, is such a sentiment. For this thirsting again, this spending of "labour for that which satisfieth not," casts the heart on Jesus, As this has ever been, so is it now. The building of palaces, the planting of vineyards, the getting of singing-men and singing-women, the multiplying of the delights of the children of men, all these efforts and travails of the heart take their course and have their way still. Eccles. ii. But Jesus revealed to the heart, as in this book, commands these thoughts and purposes away. It speaks the language of the blessed Lord Himself; and the experience in it is the experience of the poor woman who was able to leave her pitcher at the well--"Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."

"I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star.... Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

HEAVEN AND EARTH.

"In the beginning G.o.d created the heaven and the earth." The scene of the divine handiwork was twofold; and, accordingly, "in the dispensation of the fulness of times," G.o.d will display Himself again, both in _heaven_ and on _earth_.

I would begin my meditation on this divine subject with Genesis i-xlvii., which presents, I judge, a beautiful view of the Lord acting, by turns, as in heaven and on earth, till, at the close, we find them together in a way typical of what their connection and yet distinctness will be in that coming dispensation of the fulness of times. May our meditations be always submitted to His truth and Spirit, and conducted in the temper of wors.h.i.+ppers.

_Genesis I. II._--It was only of the _earth_ that Adam was made lord.

The garden was his residence, and he was to replenish and subdue the earth. This was the limitation of his inheritance and of his enjoyments.

He knew of heaven only as he saw it above him, and by its lights dividing his day and his night. But he had no thoughts which linked him, personally, with it.

III.--But Adam transgressed and lost the garden, and became a drudge in the earth, instead of being the happy lord of it. Gen. iii. 17-19. He was now to get a bare existence out of it, till he was laid down in death upon it.

IV. V.--Such was his changed condition. To cling to the earth now as one's delight and portion was to act in bold defiance of the Lord of judgment. And such was the spirit of Cain and his family. He thought the earth good enough for G.o.d, and desired nothing better for himself. He gave G.o.d the fruit of it, and built a city for himself on the face of it, furnis.h.i.+ng it with desirable things of all sorts, unmoved by the thought of the blood with which his own hand had stained it, and of the presence of the Lord, on whom he had turned his back. But such was not Adam, or Abel, or Seth, or that line of wors.h.i.+ppers who "call on the name of the Lord." They have in the earth only a burying-place. But grace having provided a remedy for them as sinners, and righteousness having separated them from a cursed earth, they believe in the remedy, and seek no place or memorial in the earth, and the Lord gives them a higher and a richer inheritance, even in _heaven_ with Himself, as signified in the translation of Enoch.

VI.-IX.--But though the Lord is thus removing the scene of His counsels and the hopes of His elect from earth to heaven, yet the earth is not given up. It is, we know, destined to rejoice, by-and-by, in the liberty of the glory; or, as I have already quoted, in "the dispensation of the fulness of times." Eph. i. 9, 10. And, accordingly, this purpose the Lord will at times rehea.r.s.e and ill.u.s.trate, as He does now, in due season, in the history of Noah.

The heavenly family, as we have just seen, only died both to and in the earth. They could speak, it is true, both of its coming judgment and blessing. Enoch foretold of the one, and Lamech of the other. Jude 14; Gen. v. 29. But they were, neither of them, _in_ the scenes they thus talked about. But Noah, who comes after them, is a man of _the earth_ again. In his day the earth re-appears as the scene of divine care and delight. G.o.d has communion with man upon it again. It has pa.s.sed through the judgment of the water, and G.o.d makes a covenant with it, has the prophet, priest, and king upon it, providing for its continuance and G.o.dly government. Noah's connection with it was quite unlike that of either Cain or Seth. He did not, like the former, fill it and enjoy it in defiance of G.o.d; nor did he, like the latter, take merely a burying-place in it; but he enjoyed the whole of it under the Lord. The Lord sanctioned his inheritance of it, his dominion over it, and his delight in it.