one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honey-comb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire with spikenard; spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.

THE BRIDE.

Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

CHRIST.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.

F

CANTICLE IV.

CHAP. V. 2-VIII. 4.

CHRIST IS PROVOKED TO WITHDRAW, IS DESCRIBED IN HIS
BEAUTY; THE BRIDE'S LOVELINESS, AND PRAYER
FOR HIS PRESENCE.

PART I. CHAP. V. 2-VI. 3.

The redeemed soul, asleep in carnal security, does not cast off
Christ, but delays to receive him when calling.

He is provoked to withdraw, and the soul seeks him earnestly,
openly, and through all affliction.

The soul sees His glorious beauty in his absence, and describes it to inquirers, so as he had never been appreciated when present.

THE BRIDE.

I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.

I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?

My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had with

drawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.

The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.

I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

COMPANY OF INQUIRERS.

What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

THE BRIDE.

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold; his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers; his lips like lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh.

His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl; his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires: his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold.

His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars: his mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely.

This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

COMPANY OF INQUIRERS.

Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

THE BRIDE.

I

My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies.

PART II. CHAP. VI. 4-10.

In his own free sovereign love, Christ returns to the sorrowing soul. Along with other expressions of love, he repeats his former commendation (ch. iv. 1) in the same words, to show that he has thoroughly healed the backsliding.

He describes the redeemed as his one and only Bride.

CHRIST.

Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me.

Thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead: thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and

there is not one barren among them: as a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her: Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

PART III.- -CHAP. VI. II-VII. IO.

The redeemed soul searches into the hidden treasures of the Word, looks for new fruits of grace, and is filled with rapture by the Spirit. Inquirers desire to look on the beauty of the Redeemed.

They are warned that there is deformity along with beauty.

They describe the beauty of the Redeemed as apprehended by them; they desire to appropriate the consolations of the gospel, and they enter into personal union with Christ.

THE BRIDE.

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded. Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Ammi-nadib.

COMPANY OF INQUIRERS.

Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee.