For I am sick of love.

His left hand is under my head,
And his right hand doth embrace me.'

Shulamite describes her happy enjoyment of ler Beloved's fellowship and love. Represents it under the figure of a banquet of wine. He brought (or hath brought) me into the banquet-house' (or house of wine). Such a banquet among the highest of earthly enjoyments. Hence queen Esther's invitation to the king (Esther v. 4-6). The king's love already declared by Shulamite to be better than wine.' She now realizes this to the full. Her longing desires after the enjoyment of his fellowship and love now fully gratified. She has found him whom her soul loved, and experienced intense delight in his presence. Observe(1) The soul that earnestly seeks Jesus, and the enjoyment of His fellowship and love, will not seek in vain. Said I to the house of Jacob, seek ye me in vain?' Then shall ye seek me and shall find me, when ye search for me with all your heart. (2) The happiness in the enjoy ment of Christ's presence and love, such as infinitely to compensate for all the labour and pains in seeking Him. What it cost Shulamite to find her Beloved, forgotten in her happiness now that he is found. In Christ, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory' (1 Pet. i. 8). Notice, in regard to the

Banqueting House

I. The EXPERIENCE itself. The nature of the banqueting house' or 'house of wine,' indicated in the words that follow: His banner over me was love.' Perhaps in allusion to some practice of suspending bannercts with suitable mottoes or devices over the heads of honoured guests at entertainments; or to the burning cressets carried at the head of a marriage procession, to light the party to the banquet-house. The happy experience of the banqueting-house is the enjoyment of the King's presence, and of that love which is better than wine.' The

fellowship and love of one whom we ourselves greatly love. The poetry of every country full of this sentiment. Love, the poetry of life; the wine and cream of existence. Jacob's hard service of seven years for Rachael seemed to him but a few days, for the love he bare unto her.' The banner that floats over the head of believers' in the fellowship of Jesus, a banner of 'love.' Its emblemà Lamb as it had been slain;' and its mottoes: 'He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it;' 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.' This love-banner manifestly suspended over the disciples at the Last Supper. The same banner waving over every Communion Table. Love, the ground of all the Lord's dealings with His people. His love-(1) An electing love; (2) A redeeming love; (3) A covenanting or bridal love. The manifestation of Christ's love, the believer's feast. His loving presence a banquet of wine. The assurance of His love the believer's strength and joy in the battle of life.

'With Thee conversing, I forget
All time, and toil, and care;
Labour is rest, and pain is sweet,
If Thou, my Lord, art there.'

Heaven but the full bloom of this enjoyment. Christ's enjoyed presence and love the great attraction of Christian ordinances, especially of the Lord's Supper. The keynote in the Song of Solomon. The Song, like Psalm xlv., a Song of Loves.' The happiness in the enjoyment of Christ's love, and the language of the Song in describing it, perfectly natural. The naturalness of such language in the case of mere earthly love unquestioned. Why in the case of a Divine and spiritual one? Infinitely more in the God-man to fill the soul with delight in the enjoyment of His fellowship and love than in the loveliest, most loving, and most beloved creature. Mere creature love and creature loveliness, beside Christ's, a taper beside the sun. The love of the Man that is Jehovah's fellow, revealed in His thorn-rent brow, His nail-pierced hands, and His spear-wounded side. The language of each scar in His sacred body, love-love unspeakable, inconceivable; love of the most worthy to the most worthless; love of the Prince of the kings of the earth to a beggar on the dunghill; love of the all-glorious Creator to the degraded creature; love of God to a contemptible worm, though a worm originally made after His own image, and capable of loving Him with the ardour of the loftiest seraph. This love and loveliness able to be apprehended, realized, and felt by the human soul, made at the same time deeply conscious of its utter unworthiness of it. The soul

capable both of enjoying that amazing love and of reciprocating it; and of experiencing, while so doing, a joy superior to that connected with any mere earthly love-a joy characterized by one who knew it as 'unspeakable and full of glory.' Such joy in Divine fellowship and love, man's normal experience as a rational creature in an unfallen state. The object of Redemption to restore man to its enjoyment; with the superadded element, that the Creator has, for man's sake, assumed his nature, and in that nature endured for his deliverance the awful curse incurred by his sin. Delight in the love and fellowship of a Divine Redeemer the experience even of Old Testement saints before that Redeemer became incarnate. Hence the impassioned language and longing of the 'sweet Psalmist of Israel': 'In His favour is life.' 'My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee, in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; Thy loving kindness is better than life; my soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips, when I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate upon Thee in the night watches. 'As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.' 'My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God' (Ps. xxx. 5; lxiii. 1, 3, 5, 6; xlii. 1; lxxxiv. 2). Isaiah sings: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God' (Is. lxi. 10). Zephaniah exhibits the joy on both sides: 'Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord in the midst of thee is mighty: He will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love; He will joy over Thee with singing' (Zeph. iii. 14, 17). This joy in the Divine Redeemer and His love the experience of the early Christians. Raised them above the smiles and the frowns of the world, above the fear of torture and of death, of the lions and the stake. The experience of the Church in its times of greatest and spiritual prosperity, and of believers in their first-love and highest attainments in grace. Often specially realized by the Church and believers in times of suffering and persecution. The experience which gives such life, sweetness, and power to the hymns of Charles Wesley, the Moravian Brethren, and others. The banqueting-house' not confined to time or place; but especially found in the ordinances of God's house, and most of all in that of the Lord's Supper.

king recognized by Shulamite as not only preparing the banquet of love, but also bringing her to it. Her language that of amazement, admiration, gratitude, and joy. Our experience of the love and fellowship of Christ as our Bridegroom-Redeemer due entirely to Himself. Himself not only the Author of the bridal relation between Him and His people, but of their knowledge, acceptance, and enjoyment of it. The relation itself, with all the blessings connected with it, freely offered to men in the Gospel; but, apart from the grace of Christ, neither apprehended nor cared for. Who hath believed our report?' Wisdom hath mingled her wine, and furnished her table, and sent out her maidens with the invitation to the feast; but men reject the counsel of God against themselves, and begin to make excuse (Prov. ix. 1-3; Matt xxii. 2-6; Luke vii. 30). Blindness, carnality, pride and unbelief, only overcome by the same royal grace that spreads the feast. Why was I made to hear Thy voice?' &c. Christ brings to the banqueting-house

1. By His electing love. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.' His love an everlasting love, which in time lays hold of its object (Jer. xxxi. 3).

2. By His renewing grace. The carnal mind enmity against God, and so without any inclination to the banquet of His love. Its taste the swine-trough. Its enjoyment the creature, not the Creator.

3. By His gift of faith. Such amazing love to the worthless and undeserving not readily believed. Unbelief as to the freeness of the Gospel offer and the reality of Christ's love, to be removed by divine grace. This done by Christ Himself through His Spirit. Christ the Author as well as Finisher of our faith. His to give as well as increase' it. Exalted to give repentance, which includes it.

4. By Ilis conquest of the heart. His people willing in the day of His power (Ps. cx. 3). Loved with an everlasting love, and, therefore, drawn with lovingkindness (Jer. xxxi. 3). Drawn with cords of a man, and with bands of love (Hos. xi. 4). His free, forgiving love, apprehended by faith, breaks and conquers the heart. The case of the woman in Simon's house. Her many sins freely forgiven. Hence she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little (Luke vii. 47, &c.)

5. By helping the soul over every discouragement in the way of its full enjoyment of Christ's fellowship and love, and preparing it, both by His providence and grace, for such enjoyment. So the woman 'that was a sinner' enabled to enjoy the banquet of love at Christ's feet even in the Pharisee's house. 6. By pouring His love into the heart, and

,

affording the rich realization of it through His Holy Spirit (Rom. v. 5). Christ able to speak comfortably (margin, 'to the heart') even in the wilderness. I will love them freely (Hos. xiv. 4; ii. 14). So with the woman in Simon's house: "Thy sins are forgiven thee.' Christ able to tell the soul, 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love;' 'I have redeemed thee; thou art mine' (Jer. xxxi. 3; Is. xliii. 1).

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III. The EFFECT of the experience. Stay (or support) me with flagons (or cordialsperhaps raisin-cakes); comfort me (or surround me-strew my couch) with apples (or citrons-fruits of reviving fragrance): for I am sick of (or faint with) love. His left hand is (or, let His left hand be) under my head, and His right hand embrace me.' Shulamite, overpowered by a sense of the king's love, and the happiness she enjoyed in his fellowship, calls as if for aid in her fainting state, to the daughters of Jerusa lem,' or ladies of the Court, perhaps waiting at some distance; though probably intending only the king himself, as indicated in her concluding words: 'Let his left hand be under my head,' &c. The effect of her present rapturous enjoyment a sense of fainting, which requires the application of reviving cordials and odours, and the support of the king's own loving arms. "I am sick of (or faint with) love,' implying-(1) Overpowering sense of present enjoyment in the king's love; (2) Inability to sustain more of it in present circumstances; (3) Need of support under it. The sense of Christ's love sometimes attended with similar effects on the physical system. The human frame often unable to endure unusually powerful emotions without sensible weakness and derangement as the result. The language of one under the sense of Christ's love: Stay Thy hand or the vessel will burst.' Mr. Flavel, under a similar enjoyment while riding on horseback, felt himself at length so weak as scarcely to be able to retain his seat, and discovered that the blood had been oozing from his limbs, and flowing into his boots. Two of the writer's own friends the subjects of a similar experience. Observe (1) That love must be precious, and the experience of it desirable, which can cause the soul to faint under the sense of it. (2) Such Divine lovesickness only relieved by more of that_which is its cause. The fruit of the Apple-tree alone able to cure the sickness it makes. The Bridegroom's own arms must support the soul fainting under a sense of His love. Such sickness followed by a blessed healing, both here and in a better world. (3) Sense of Christ's love the highest enjoyment to be experienced on earth. Such sense, enjoyed in

a high degree, next door to the felicity of heaven. (4) The soul filled with, and fainting under, Christ's love, languishes for the fuller enjoyment of His presence in heaven. Full satisfaction only found where Christ is seen face to face. Love-sickness only on earth. Sense of Christ's love the most effectual means of weaning the affections from the world. The expulsive power of a new affection.' The love-sick soul only longs the more for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

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Uncertain from the original whether the 'love' be Shulamite or the king, or simply the love itself as now experienced and enjoyed. Translators and commentators divided in opinion as to the speaker. The words probably spoken by the king in regard to his Beloved, now so happy in his love, or perhaps sunk into sleep by his side. The charge addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem, or ladies of the Court, in the language of oriental poetry. Roes and hinds' familiar objects in the country. Beautiful, but timid animals, ready to start up at the slightest noise. From their affectionate disposition suitably introduced in connection with a matter of love. A man's wife to be to him as the loving hind and pleasant roe (Prov. v. 19). Shulamite, Solomon's Beloved, not to be disturbed in the enjoyment of his love, or in the sleep which was occasioned by it. Observe, in regard to the

Enjoyment of Christ's Love;

1. The temporary and uncertain duration of that enjoyment in the present world. A limit to it so long as the Church is militant

On earth. The banneret of love to be soon exchanged for the banner of war. The feast to give place to the fight. The banquethouse to be followed by the battle-field. Believers soldiers of Christ as well as His Bride. The bridal chaplet to be laid aside for the warrior's helmet. The high enjoyment of the Bridegroom's love on earth may be temporary, but not the love itself. That enjoyment easily disturbed, like the repose of the timid gazelle. Intimate fellowship with Christ a tender, delicate, and sensitive thing. Numerous causes of disturbance both within and without us. Even necessary duty in the battle of life and the service of the Master may disturb it. Sin, self, and the seductions of the world, however, its main disturbers. Satan as great a foe to such enjoyment as to that of our first parents in the bowers of Eden. Heaven the place of undisturbed enjoyment.

:

2. Great care necessary in order to preserve the enjoyment of Christ's love. That enjoyment precious, as-(1). Endearing the Saviour; (2) Engaging us to His service; (3) Deadening us to the world; (4) Tending to crucify sin and increase holiness in the soul. The love of Christ constraineth us. The sense of it, therefore, to be carefully preserved. Hence the caution at the Supper Table Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation: Continue ye in my love.' Important charge: Keep yourselves in the love of God, that is, in the enjoyment of it (Jude 21). The sense and enjoyment of Christ's love only preserved by (1) Watchfulness against sin; (2) Obedience to His will; (3) Faithfulness in His service; (4) Patient endurance of the cross. 'If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love' (John xv. 10). David and Peter lost for a time the joy of God's salvation through sin, but not the salvation itself. Care to be taken to preserve a tender and an unsoiled conscience. Especial

care necessary in our intercourse with the world, and even with the professing Church. Danger even of the daughters of Jerusalem disturbing our love. Believers to be most careful over themselves when they have been nearest to Christ.

3. The desire of Jesus that His people may enjoy the continuance of His fellowship and love. Exemplified at the Supper Table in the Upper Room. Continue ye in my love: These things have I spoken unto you that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full' (John xv. 9-11). His desire to come in and sup with believers, and they with Him (Rev. iii. 20). From no unkindness or unwillingness on His part if the enjoyment of His fellowship and love is not of longer continuance. Only necessity and duty compel the language: Arise, let us go hence' (John xiv. 31).

4. A time when sensible enjoyment of Christ's love and fellowship may be safely and properly suspended. Until he (or she) please." A suspension necessitated after the enjoyment in the Upper Room, both on the part of Christ and His disciples. Christ obliged to leave the 'banqueting-house' to go and redeem His lost sheep; believers to be ready to leave it to go and reclaim them. Others, still without, to be invited and brought to the Marriage-feast with ourselves. The loving self-denial of the Master the best way to preserve the assurance of His love, and to secure the frequent repetition of the sense of it. The temporary suspension of our own enjoyment well repaid by the Saviour's joy over another lost sheep found. Our love to Himself to be evinced by our care for His lambs (John xxi. 15). His promise to His faithful and self-denying servants: 'I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice' (John xvi. 22). Christ most likely to be found again by us, when joining Him in His own loved employment-seeking and saving that which is lost. Feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.'

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NARRATIVE OF THE BRIDEGROOM'S VISIT.

Verses 8-13.

The voice of my Beloved!
Behold, he cometh,
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills.

My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart:
Behold, he standeth behind our wall;
He looketh forth at the windows,
Shewing himself (glancing, like a rose
bud) through the lattice.

My beloved spake and said unto me
Rise up, my love, my fair one,
And come away.

For lo! the winter is past;

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth:
The time of singing is come;

And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs; And the vines, with the tender grape, (or,

now in blossom), give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come

away.

Shulamite relates the visit of her Beloved when he came to take her to the nuptials. The visit probably made in spring. The bridegroom's invitation, from its pleasant nature, poetically represented as a call to come forth and enjoy the beauties of that delightful season. The language implies a previous absence of the bridegroom. The believers most comfortable state on earth not abiding. Its interruption, however, subservient to higher advancement. The parts of which the Song is composed appear to shift and melt into each other like the dissolving views of a diorama.

The text a poetical and allegorical representation of what takes place in the history of the Church as a whole, and in the experience of believers individually. Historically, the

Church's experience-(1) At the return of the Jews from the captivity in Babylon; (2) At the time of the Saviour's incarnation and earthly ministry; (3) At any time of great revival in the Church-pre-eminently, at the commencement of the Gospel Dispensation on the Day of Pentecost, and at the Reformation in the sixteenth century. A time of the Church's

Revival,

a time of Spring. The voice of the heavenly Turtle-dove, like the harbinger of an oriental Spring, then heard in the land. The Gospel,

the voice and dispensation of the Spiritthen clearly and earnestly preached, and accompanied with the Spirit's own power. Sleepers awakened and the dead made alive. The anxious inquiry heard: What must I do to be saved? Sanctuaries thronged with thirsting hearers. Converts multiplied. Believers quickened-made holy, happy, and useful; bold in testifying for Christ, and their testimony blessed. The spirit of prayerthe voice of the Turtle-dove in the believer's heart-eminently poured out. Gatherings for prayer, numerous, lively, and largely attended. The fruits of the Spirit conspicuous. Love, peace, and goodwill prevailing in the Church and in the neighbourhood. Satan may rage, and some may persecute; but the believers are unmoved, rejoicing to walk 'in the footsteps of the flock,' and to be counted worthy to suffer shame for their Master's sake. serve-A necessity laid on believers to pray for such a Spring-time to the Church and the world (Zech. x. 1).-The Church's experience farther indicated in the text-(4) At the time of the Saviour's second coming. The new heavens and the new earth then created. The whole creation, now groaning and travailing in pain together, then 'delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.' No more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain; for the former things are passed away' (2 Peter iii. 13; Rom. viii. 21; Rev. xxi. 4).

Ob

The experience of individual believers ex