Love’s Vigilance Rewarded

Love's Vigilance Rewarded

(No. 2485)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 4, 1896.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 7, 1877.

"Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found Him whom my soul loves. I
held Him and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him to my
mother's house and into the chamber of her that conceived me." Song of
Solomon 3:4.

WHEN I look upon this great assembly of people, I think to
myself–there will be many here to whom these chapters that we have
read out of Solomon's Song will seem very strange. Of course they will,
for they are meant for the inner circle of Believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ! This sacred Canticle is almost the central Book of the Bible.
It seems to stand like the Tree of Life in the midst of the garden of
Eden, in the very center of the Paradise of God. You must know Christ
and love Christ, or else many of the expressions in this Book will seem
to you but as an idle tale.

The subject on which I am about to speak will be very much of the same
character. Outsiders will not be able to follow me, but then we are
coming to the Communion Table so I must, for a while, forget the
unsaved among my hearers, and think only of those who do know the
secret of the Lord which is with them that fear Him. To my mind, it is
a very melancholy thought that there should be any who do not know the
sweetest thing in all the world, the best and happiest thing beneath
the stars–the joy of having Christ in their heart as the hope of
Glory! While I may seem to forget you, dear Friends, for a while, I
cannot really help remembering you all the time and it is the earnest
desire of my heart that while I am speaking of some of those delights
which are enjoyed only by the people of God, you may begin to long for
them–and I remind you that when you truly long for them, you may rest
assured that you may have them! Around the garden of the Lord there is
no wall so high as to keep out one real seeking and trusting soul–and
in the wall, itself, there is a gate that always stands ajar–no–that
is always wide open to the earnest seeker.

I am not going to try so much to preach a sermon as to talk out freely
from my heart some of those delightful experiences which belong to the
children of God. I want this service to be a time not of carving meat,
but of eating it–not of spreading tables, but of sitting at them and
feasting to the full on the bounteous provisions that our Lord has
prepared for us.

I. First, before we actually come to our text, we may notice THREE
PRELIMINARY STEPS IN THE SPOUSE'S PROGRESS.

The first one is implied in the words, "I love Him." She refers to her
Beloved under the title of, "Him whom my soul loves." Can you, dear
Friend, give the Lord Jesus that title? If He were to come here just
now as He came to the Lake of Galilee and pass along these crowded
ranks and say to each one of us, "Do you love Me?" what would be your
answer? I am glad that I speak to many whose answer would be, "Lord,
You know all things; You know that I love You." I can at this moment
think of many reasons why I should love the Christ of Calvary, but I
cannot think of one reason why I should notlove Him. If I turn to what
I read about Him in this blessed Book, it all makes me love Him. If I
recall what I have experienced of His Grace in my heart, it all makes
me love Him. When I think of what He is, what He did and what He is
doing, and what He will yet do–it all makes me love Him! I am inclined
to say to my heart, "Never beat again if you do not beat true to Him."
It were better for me that I had never been born than that I should not
love One who is, in Himself, so inconceivably lovely–Who is, indeed,
perfection's self!

Yet there is one reason that rises above all others why you and I
should love the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this, "He loved me and gave
Himself for me." It used to be said by the old metaphysicians that it
was impossible for love not to be returned in some measure or other. I
do not think that statement is universally true, but I hope it is true
concerning our Lord's love to us and our heart's love to Him. If He has
loved us with an everlasting love. If He loved us even when we were His
enemies and loved us so as to take upon Himself our nature–if this
dear Son of God loved us so that He became Man for our sakes and, being
found in fashion as a Man, humbled Himself and became obedient to
death, even the death of the Cross–oh, then, we mustlove Him in
return! We would be worse than the beasts that perish if, conscious of
such love as this, we did not feel that it melted us and that, being
melted, our soul did not bow down in love to Him, alone! Can you stand
at the foot of the Cross and not kiss the feet of Him who was wounded
for your transgressions? Can you see Him dead and taken down from the
Cross–and not wish to wrap Him in your fine linen–and bring your
sweet spices to embalm His precious body? Can you see Him risen from
the grave, and not call Him, "Rabboni," and long, as Mary did, to hold
Him by the feet? Can you, by faith, see Him in our assemblies saying,
"Peace be to you," and not feel that you delight in Him in your inmost
soul? It cannot be! Surely, it cannot be! We must and will say, and we
feel that we may appeal to the Searcher of all hearts while we say it,
"I love Him, I dolove Him because He first loved me."

Then, in the spouse's progress, there came another step, "I sought
Him." Notice how the chapter begins–"By night on my bed I sought Him
whom my soul loves," for love cannot bear to be at a distance from the
Loved One. Love longs for communion, love will do anything to get at
the object of its affection. Where there is true love to Jesus Christ,
we cannot bear to be away from Him and since we must be so, from His
Presence, for a while–till the day breaks and the shadows flee
away–we long to be with Him in heart and to feel that He is also with
us in spirit according to His promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even
to the end of the world."

"I sought Him." Can you put your finger on that sentence and say, "That
is true, too"? Have you been seeking Him this Sabbath? Are you coming
to His table, tonight, seeking Him? Were you at the Saturday night
Prayer Meeting, or at this morning's early gathering, seeking Him with
His people? Or, in your private devotions, did you make a point of
crying, "Lord, let me meet with You, let me find You"? If not, begin
now! Seek Him with your whole heart! Let your soul breathe out its
burning desires after Him.

"I sought Him." He is not far from any of us. You sought Him once, when
you were burdened with your sin, and then you found Him. He cast that
sin of yours into the depths of the sea. Come and seek Him, again, and
your fears, your doubts, your distresses of mind shall be buried in the
same deep grave!

So the spouse sings of her Beloved, "I sought Him."

Then comes in a little minor or mournful music, for the next clause is,
"I sought Him, but I found Him not" The spouse is so sad about it that
she tells of her woe twice, "I sought Him, but I found Him not." Do you
know that experience? I hope you are not realizing it at this time, but
many of us have known what it is. If we have been indulging in any sin,
of course we could not find Him, then! If we have been cold-hearted,
like the spouse who sought Him on her bed– like she, we have not found
Him. We have had to rise, we have had to stir ourselves up to lay hold
of Him, or else we have not found Him. You have known what it is to go
to the public service of the sanctuary, where others have been fed, yet
you have had to come away and say, "There has not been a morsel for
me." Have you not ever turned to the Bible and to private prayer–and
still you have had to say, "I sought Him, but I found Him not"? This is
a very sad experience, but if it makes you sad, it will be good for
you. Our Lord Jesus Christ would not have us think little of His
company and, sometimes, it is only as we miss it that we begin to
appreciate the sweetness of it! If we always had high days and
holidays, we might not be so thankful when our gala days come round.

I have even known some of Christ's people get so pleased with the joy
of His company that they have almost forgotten Him in the joy! If a
husband gave his wife gold rings and ornaments and she was so gratified
with the presents that she took but little note of him, but only prized
the jewels that he gave her, I can well understand what would be the
jealousy of his heart. It may be that this is why your Lord hides His
face, for you never know His value so much as when the darkness deepens
and the Star of Bethlehem shines not. When real soul-hunger comes on
and the Bread of Heaven is not there. When you feel the pangs of the
thirst of the spirit and you are like Hagar in the wilderness and
cannot find the well of water, then will your Lord teach you His true
value! And when you really know Him and know Him better than you
formerly knew Him, then you shall no longer have to sigh, "I sought
Him, but I found Him not," but you shall change your dolorous ditty for
the cheerful language of the text, "It was but a little that I passed
from them, but I found Him whom my soul loves."

So I have brought you back to the text. These are the three steps by
which we have ascended to the holy gate–first, "I love Him." Next, "I
sought Him." And then, "I found Him not."

II. Secondly, inside the text there are THREE FURTHER STEPS–"I found
Him," "I held Him," "I brought Him into my mother's house and into the
chamber of her that conceived me."

This is the first of the second series of steps, "I found Him." I do
not wish to stand here and speak for myself, alone, but I want,
Beloved, that you should, each one of you, also say, "I love Him," "I
sought Him" and now "I have found Hm." Notice what the spouse said, "I
found Him." She was not satisfied with finding anything else–"I found
Him." If she had found her nearest and dearest friend. If the mother of
whom she speaks had met her, it would not have sufficed. She had said,
"I love Him, I sought Him," and she must be able to add, "I found Him."
Nothing but Christ consciously enjoyedcan satisfy the craving of a
loving heart which once sets out to seek the King in His beauty!

The city watchmen found the spouse and she spoke to them. She enquired
of them, "Saw you Him whom my soul loves?" She did not sit down and say
to any of them, "O watchman of the night, your company cheers me! The
streets are lonely and dangerous, but if you are near, I feel perfectly
safe and I will be content to stay a while with you." No, but she
leaves the watchmen and goes along the streets until she finds Him whom
her soul loves! I have known some who love the Lord to be very happy
while the preacher is proclaiming the Truth of God to them, but they
have stopped with the preacher and have gone no further. This will
never do, dear Friends! Do not be content to abide with us who are only
watchmen, but go beyond us and seek till you find our Master! I would
groan in heart, indeed, if any of you believed simply because of my
words, as if it were my words, alone, that led you to believe, or if
you should look merely to me for any-thingyou need for your soul. In
myself I amnothing and I havenothing–I only watch that if I can, I may
lead you to my Lord, whose shoelaces I am not worthy to unloose.

O you who love Christ, go beyond the means of Grace! Go beyond
ordinances, go beyond preachers, go beyond even the Bible, itself, into
an actual possession of the living Christ! Labor after a conscious
enjoyment of Jesus, Himself, till you can say with the spouse, "I found
Him whom my soul loves." It is good to find sound doctrine, for it is
very scarce, nowadays. It is good to learn the practical precepts of
the Gospel. It is good to be in the society of the saints, but if you
put any of these in the place of communion with your Lord, Himself, you
do ill! Never be content till you can say, "I found Hm." Dear Souls,
did you ever find Him? Have you yet found Him? If you have not, keep on
seeking, keep on praying till at last you can say, "Eureka! I have
found Him whom my soul loves. Jesus is, indeed, mine!"

What is meant by the words, "I found Him"? Well, I think a soul may
say, "I found Him," in the sense employed in the text when, first of
all, it has a clear view of His Person. My Beloved is Divine and Human,
the Son of God and yet the Son of Man. My Beloved died, yet He is alive
again. My Beloved was on earth, but He is now in Heaven and He will
shortly come again. I want thus to find Him, myself, and I want each
one of you to do the same. Picture Him on Calvary, see Him risen from
the dead. Try, if you can, not so much by imagination as by faith, to
behold Him as He now sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
where harps unnumbered tune His praise! Yet, even there, He bears the
wounds He received for us here below. How resplendent shine the
nail-prints! The marks of His death on earth are the Glory of His
Person above–

"This is the Man, the exalted Man,

Whom we unseen adore. But when our eyes behold His face,

Our hearts shall love Him more!" Let your soul picture Him so plainly
that you can seem to see Him, for this will be a part of your finding
Him.

But that will not be enough. You must then get to know that He is
present with you. We cannot see Him, but yet He that walks amidst the
golden candlesticks is, in spirit, in this House of Prayer at this
moment. My Master, You are here. There is no empty seat at the table
left to be filled by You, nor do we expect to see You walking among us
in Your calm majesty, clothed with Your seamless garment down to Your
feet. And we do not need to see You. Our faith realizes You quite as
well as sight could do and we bless You that You hear us as we speak to
You. You are invisible, yet assuredly present–You are looking into our
faces, You are delighting in us as objects of Your redeeming love. You
do especially remember that You died for us and, as a mother gazes upon
the babe for whom she has endured so much, or as a shepherd looks upon
the sheep that he has brought back from its long wanderings, so are You
now looking upon each one of Your loved ones. If, dear Friends, you can
get that thought fully into your minds–that Christ is really here in
our midst– you can then, each one, begin to say, "I have found Him."

But you need more than that, namely, to feel that He loves you, loves
you as if there were nobody else for Him to love! Loves you even as the
Father loves Him. That is a daring thing to say and I would never have
said it if He had not first uttered it. But He says, "As the Father has
loved Me, so have I loved you." Can you comprehend how each one of the
blessed Trinity loves each of the others and especially how the Father
loves the Son? Even so does Jesus Christ love you, my believing
Brother, my believing Sister! Note that He loves you–it is not only
that He didlove you and died for you, but He stillloves you! He says to
you, individually, "I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands."
Look at the nail-print–that is His memorial, His forget-me-not and, by
it He says to you–

"Forget you I will not, I cannot, your name Engraved on My heart does
forever remain! The palms of My hands while I look on I see The wounds
I received when suffering for thee."

Now, have you found Him? If you have pictured Him in your mind's eye.
If you are certain of His Presence with you and then, above all, if you
are fully assured of His love, you can say, "I have found Him."

If you can, in truth, say that, I hope there will come with it this one
other thing, namely, an exceedingly great joy. I cannot speak to you as
I would wish–my words cannot express the joy of heart which I feel in
knowing that I have found Him–that He is with me and that He has loved
me with an everlasting love! I shall never understand, even in Heaven,
why the Lord Jesus should ever have loved me. I can say to Jesus what
David said in his lamentation over Jonathan, "Your love to me was
wonderful, passing the love of women." There is no love like it and why
was it fixed upon me? Have you never felt that you could go in, like
David, and sit before the Lord and say, "Who am I, O Lord God? And what
is my house, that You have brought me to this point?" Yet wonderful as
it is, it is true–Jesus loves you, loves you, now, at this very
moment! Do you not rejoice in it? I assure you that in the least drop
of the love of Christ, when it is consciously realized, there is more
sweetness than there would be in all Heaven without it! Talk of
bursting barns, overflowing wine-vats and riches treasured up–these
give but a poor solace to the heart! But the love of Jesus, this is
another word for Heaven! And it is a marvel that even while we are here
below we should be permitted to enjoy a bliss beyond what the angels
know, for–

"Never did angels taste above Redeeming Grace and dying love," but that
joy is ours if we can truly say, "I have found Him."

If you have come as far as that–and if you have not, may God help you
to this point right speedily–come to the Table of your Lord! You are,
indeed, His children, so you have a right to come. Hear the King's
invitation, "Eat, O Friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O Beloved."
These joys are not merely for some of the Lord's people but for all His
saints! Then, stand not back, but come and feast on the rich provision
of Divine Love!

Now we come to the second step. The spouse says, "I held Him. "This is
a deeper experience than the former one. "I held Him," means more than,
"I found Him." Sometimes Jesus comes to His children and manifests
Himself very sweetly to them, but they behave in an unseemly manner and
soon He is gone. I have known Him reveal Himself to His people most
delightfully, but they have grown cold, wayward, foolish–and He has
been obliged to go away from them. When you get to the top of the
mountain, it needs great Grace to stay there! I do not find it
difficult to get into communion with Christ, but I confess that I do
not find it so easy to maintain that communion. So that, if you have
found Him, do as the spouse says that she did, "I held Him."

How are we to hold Christ? Well, first, let us hold Him by our heart's
resolve. If now we have Him near us, let us lovingly look Him in the
face and say, "My Lord, my sweet, blessed Lord, how can I let You go?
My All in All, my heart's Lord and King, how can I let You go? Abide
with me, go not from me." Hold Him by your love's resolve and it shall
be as chains of gold to fasten Him to you! Say to Him, "My Lord, will
You go away from me? See how happy You have made me. A glimpse of Your
love has made me so blest that I do not envy the angels before Your
Throne! Will You take that joy away from me by taking Yourself away?
Why did You give me a taste of Your love if You do not mean to give me
more? This little has but made me dislike all things else–You have
spoiled me, now, for all my former joy! O tarry with me, my Master,
else am I unhappy, indeed!"

Further say to Him, "Lord, if You go, Your chosen one will be unsafe!
There is a wolf prowling about–what will Your poor lamb do without
You, O mighty Shepherd? There are cruel adversaries all around seeking
my harm–how can I live without You? Will You deliver your turtledove
over to the cruel fowler who seeks to slay her? Be that far from You, O
Lord! Therefore, abide with me." Tell Him how you will sorrow if He
goes away–

"'Tis paradise if You are here, If you depart, 'tis Hell."

"Nothing can revive my spirit if You are gone from me. Oh, stay with
me, stay with me, I beseech You, most blessed Lord!" As long as you can
find arguments for His staying, Christ does not want to go from you.
His delights are with the sons of men and He is happy in the society of
those whom He has purchased with His precious blood! Keep on giving
your reasons why He should remain with you and so hold Him. Be bold
enough to even say to Him, "I will not let You go." Get Jacob's
boldness when he said to the Angel of the Covenant, "I will not let You
go unless You bless me." But go even beyond that–do not put in any,
"unless," at all, but say, "I will not let You go, for I cannot be
blest if You are gone from me."

Further, Brothers and Sisters, hold Him by making Him your All in All.
He will never go away if you treat Him as He should be treated. Yield
up everything to Him! Be obedient to Him. Be willing to suffer for Him.
Grieve not His Holy Spirit. Crown Him, extol Him, magnify Him, keep on
singing His praises for so will you hold Him! Renounce all else for
Him, for He sees that you truly love Him when you count all things but
dross for His dear sake. He says, "I remember you, the kindness of your
youth, the love of your espousals, when you went after Me in the
wilderness." Those were the days when some of you could accept a
father's frown for the sake of Christ's love! When you could have given
up your job and all your prospects in life to follow Jesus! It was then
that He delighted in you and, in proportion as you break your idols,
put away your sins and keep your heart chaste and pure for Him, alone,
you shall abide in His love! Yes, and you shall get deeper and deeper
into it till what was a stream up to your ankles shall soon be chest
deep and, by-and-by, shall be waters to swim in!

Christ and you cannot fully agree unless you walk as He would have you
walk, in careful holiness and earnest service for Him. "Can two walk
together, except they be agreed?" And is there anything in this vile
world that is fit to stand in rivalry with Him? Is there any gain, is
there any joy, is there any beauty that can be compared with His gain,
His joy, His beauty? Let each of us cry, "Christ for me! Go,
harlot-world! Come not near even the outside of my door. Go, for my
heart is with my Lord and He is my soul's chief treasure!" If you will
talk like that, you will hold Him fast till you have your heart's
desire and bring Him to your mother's house!

Hold Him, too, by a simple faith. That is a wonderful hold-fast. Say to
Him, "My Lord, I have now found You and I rejoice in You, but still, if
You hide Your face from me, I will still believe in You. If I never see
a smile from You, again, till I see You on Your Throne, yet will I not
doubt You, for my heart is fixed, not so much upon the realization of
Your Presence, as upon Yourself and Your finished work. Though You slay
me, yet will I trust in You." Ah, then He will not go away from
you–you can hold Him in that way! But if you begin to put your trust
in enjoyments of His Presence instead of in Him, alone, it may be that
He will take Himself away from you in order to bring you back to your
old moorings, so that, as a sinner, you may trust the sinner's Savior
and trust in Him, alone!

One word more before we leave this point. The only way to hold Christ
is to hold Him by His own power. I smiled to myself as I read my text
and tried to make it all my own–"I held Him and would not let Him go."
I thought to myself, the spouse said of her Bridegroom that she would
not let Him go–and shall I ever say to my Lord that I will not let Him
go? He is the King of Kings, the Omnipotent Jehovah–can Ihold Him? He
is the mighty God and yet a poor puny worm like myself says, "I would
not let Him go"? Can it be really so? Well, the Holy Spirit says that
it is, for He guided the pen of the writer of this Song when he wrote,
"I held Him and would not let Him go." Think of poor Jacob, who, when
the Angel did but touch him, felt his sinews shrink, directly, yet he
said, "I will not let You go." And I, a poor trembling creature, may
hold the Omnipotent, Himself, and say to Him, "I will not let You go."

How is that wonder to be accomplished? I will tell you. If Omnipotence
helps you to hold Omnipotence, why, then, the deed is done! If Christ
and not you, alone, holds Christ, then Christ is held, indeed, for
shall He vanquish His own self? No, Master, You could slay death and
break the old serpent's head, but You cannot conquer Yourself! And if
You are in me, I can hold You, for it is not I, but You in me, that
holds Yourself and will not let You go! This is the power which enables
us, with the Apostle, to say, "I am persuaded that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord."

The next step is described in the words, "I brought Him." With this we
finish. "I brought Him into my mother's house and into the chamber of
her that conceived me." And where, I pray you, Beloved, is our mother's
house? I do not believe in any reverence for mere material buildings,
but I have great reverence for the true Church of the Living God. The
Church is the House of God and the mother of our souls. It was under
the ministry of the Word that most of us were born to God. It was in
the assembly of the saints that we heard the message which first of all
quickened us into newness of life and we may well be content to call
the Church of Christ our mother, since our elder Brother–you know His
name– when one said to Him, "Behold, Your mother and Your brethren
stand outside, desiring to speak with You," pointing to His disciples,
answered, "Behold, My mother, and My brethren. For whoever shall do the
will of My Father which is in Heaven, the same is My brother, and
sister, and mother." Surely, where Jesus chooses to call the assembly
of the faithful by the sacred name of mother, we may rightly do the
same!

And we love the Church, which is our mother. I do hope that all the
members of this Church love the whole Church of God and also have a
special affection for that particular part of it in which they were
born for God. It would be unnatural–and Grace is never unnatural,
though it is supernatural–it would be unnatural not to love the place
where we were born into the heavenly family! I do not know and never
shall know on earth the man who was the means of my conversion. I may
know him when I get to Heaven, but if he is still living anywhere in
this world, God bless him! And I know that many of you would say the
same of the outward instrument which was used as the means of blessing
to you–and you will say the same, will you not, of all the brotherhood
of which some of us are but the spokesmen and representatives? We love
the Church of God! Well, then, whenever we find our Beloved, we have to
hold Him and not let Him go. And then to bring Him down to the house of
our mother and to the chamber of her that conceived us.

How can you bring Christ to His Church? Partly, you can bring Him by
your spirit. There is a wonderful power about a man's spirit, even
though he does not speak a word. Silent worshippers can contribute very
greatly to the communion of saints. I know some brethren–I will not
say that any of them are now here–but I have known some brethren whose
very faces dispirit and discourage one whose every movement seems to
make one feel anything butspiritual. But I know others of whom I can
truly say that it is always pleasant to me to shake their hands and to
have a look from their eyes. I know that they have been with Jesus, for
there is the very air of saintliness about them. I do not mean
sanctimoniousness–that is a very different thing! In the old pictures,
the painters used to put a halo round the head of a saint–a most
absurd idea, but I believe that there is a realspiritual halo
continually surrounding the man who walks with God.

If you, dear Friend, have really found Christ and bring Him with you
into the assembly, you will not be the man who will criticize and find
fault, and quarrel with your neighbor because he does not give you
enough room in the pew. You will not be the person to pick holes in
other people's coats, but you will be very considerate of others. As
for yourself, anything will do for you, and anywhere will do for you,
for you have seen the Beloved! You want other people to get as much
good as they can. You are no longer selfish–how can you be, when you
have found Him whom your soul loves? And now your poor Brother need not
be very choice in the selection of his words–if he will only talk
about Jesus, you will be quite satisfied! If his accents should be a
little broken, you will not mind that. So long as you feel that he
wishes to extol your Lord, that will be enough for you!

So, in this manner you will, in spirit, bring the Beloved to your
mother's house, to the chamber of her that conceived you.

But, dear Friend, it will also be a happy thing if you are able to talk
about your Lord, for then you can bring Him to the Church with your
words. Those of us who are called to preach the Word have often to cry
to the Lord to help us to bring Christ into the assembly by our
words–though, indeed, the words of any human language are but a poor
conveyance for the Christ of God! Oh, let the King, my blessed Master,
ride in the chariot of angelic song and not in the lumbering wagon of
my poor sermons! I long to see Him flying on the wings of the wind and
not in the car of my feeble language! Yet has He come to you many a
time that way and you have been glad. Let Him come as He will, if He
will but come, it is our delight to bring Him into our mother's house,
into the chamber of her that conceived us!

Therefore, dear Friends, each one of you, in turn, as you are able,
talk to your brother and to your sister and say, "I have found Him whom
my soul loves." You know that when Samson killed the lion, he said
nothing about it. It would have been a great feat for anyone else to
boast of, but Samson could kill a lion any day, so he did not think
much of doing that. But when he later found a swarm of bees and honey
in the carcass of the lion, he took some of it and began to eat– and
carried a portion of it to his father and mother. So, if ever you find
sweetness and preciousness in Christ, the true Strong One, be sure that
you carry a handful of the honey to your friends and give portions to
those for whom otherwise nothing might be prepared!

Thus hold Christ fast and bring Him to your mother's house by your
spirit and by your words.

But if, alas, you feel that you cannot speak for Christ, then, Beloved,
bring Him by your prayers. Do pray, especially at these communion
seasons, that the King, Himself, will come near and feast His saints.
Ask Him not only to bless you, but to bless alHis saints, for you are
persuaded that they all love Him better than you do and that they all
want Him as much as you do–and that they will all praise Him even more
than you do if He will but come and manifest Himself to them! In this
way, each one of you, as you come to the House of Prayer and to the
place of fellowship, will be a real benefit to our spiritual force and
we shall seem to get nearer and nearer to our Master as the house fills
with loving worshippers who have found Him, and held Him, and brought
Him here.

Now may we find all this to be especially true as we gather around the
Table! The Lord be with you all, for His dear name's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: SOLOMON'S SONG 2; 3:1-5.

Here we have a dialogue of love between the Lord Jesus and His people.

Song of Solomon 2:1. I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the
valleys. Among all flowers, there is none that can be compared with
Him–

"White is His soul, from blemish free,

Red with the blood He shed for me."

2. As the lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters. The
child of God cannot long be mistaken for a worldling. The lily rises up
above its thorny companions, but everybody knows that it is not a
thorn–and quickly do the eyes of the Lord Jesus discern His people
wherever they may be found. You, dear Friend, may, perhaps, come of a
graceless family, or you may live in a house where God is all but
unknown–yet Christ always knows His pure lilies, even if they grow
among the cruel piercing thorns.

3. As the apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my Beloved
among the sons. I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His
fruit was sweet to my taste. You who love the Lord Jesus know what this
verse means. He is a great variety of delights to you–food for your
soul, a shadow for your head in the day of the sun's burning heat. When
you are near Him, the sun does not strike you by day, nor the moon by
night. There is no shadow like Christ's shadow, and no fruit like His
fruit!

4. He brought me to the banqueting house. That, I trust, He will do
again as He has often done before, both while we are hearing His Word
and when we approach His Table–"He brought me to the banqueting
house."–

4. And His banner over me was love. Not the fiery ensign of war, but
the peaceful banner of love! You have had enough of the world, Beloved,
during the past six days–you will again have enough of it in the six
days yet to come– but just now let Love's royal banner wave over you
and give your thoughts entirely to Him who has loved you with an
everlasting love, and sealed His love to you by the blood that streamed
from His pierced heart.

5. Sustain me with cakes of raisins, comfort me with apples: for I am
lovesick. The love of Christ shed abroad in our heart sometimes quite
overpowers it. It is very possible to be so delighted, so full of joy
with a sense of the love of Jesus, that one feels unable to bear any
more of it! Oh, for more of this blessed sickness! "It is a strange
thing," says one, "this love of Christ"–

"For, oh, when whole, it makes me sick, When sick, it makes me whole!"

6. 7. His left hand is under my head, and His right hand does embrace
me. I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the
hinds of the field. Those lovely, but timid creatures that are so
easily scared away–

7. That you stir not up, nor awake my Love, till Heplease. O you
carking cares, keep away from us! You distractions that are so apt to
arise in our crowded assembly, you aches and pains that come in and
make the body drag down the spirit, keep away from us for a while!

8. The voice of my Beloved! The spouse knows it at once! Her ears are
so trained that she recognizes it as soon as she hears it. Jesus said
that His sheep follow Him, for they know His voice. And He added, "A
stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know
not the voice of strangers."

8. Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the
hills. "I thought my sins would keep Him back, for they seemed like
great mountains–how could He come to me? But, 'behold,' He makes
nothing of those barriers! 'He comes leaping upon the mountains,
skipping upon the hills.'"

9. My Beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, He stands behind
our wall, He looks forth at the windows, showing Himself through the
lattice. When we observe the ordinances, aright, they are like latticed
windows–we cannot see our Lord through them as clearly as we would
like, but still, we do see Him and we are thankful for these windows
until we get up yonder, where we shall see Him face to face!

10-13. My Beloved spoke and said to 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 the singing of birds is
come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree
puts forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a
good smell. Arise, My love, My fair one, and come away. No matter what
the weather is outside, it may be spring within. If your hearts have
been frost-bound and barren, may they now begin to thaw at the approach
of Jesus! Many of us have asked for His company and believe that He
will be here–and when He comes, He will make our souls rejoice! They
shall be as watered gardens when the spring returns.

14. O My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the
stairs, let Me see your countenance, let Me hear your voice; for sweet
is your voice, and your countenance is comely. Christ calls youout, you
hidden ones! You who are half ashamed to be seen, He bids you come to
Him! Come away from your doubts and your fears, your halting and your
hesitating–it is Jesus who calls you–therefore come to Him at once!

15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our
vines have tender grapes. Drive away every sin that would keep Christ
away. Ask for His Grace to subdue every wandering thought that He may
be with you in undisturbed communion.

16. 17. My Beloved is mine, and I am His: He feeds among the lilies.
Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, turn, my Beloved, and
be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Song of Solomon 3:1-5. By night on my bed I sought Him whom my soul
loves: I sought Him, but I found Him not. I will rise, now, and go
about the city in the streets, and in the broadways I will seek Him
whom my soul loves: I sought Him, but I found Him not. The watchmen
that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw you Him whom my
soul loves? It was but a little that Ipassed from them, but I found Him
whom my soul loves: I held Him and would not let Him go, until I had
brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that
conceived me. I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes,
and by the hinds of the field, that you stir not up, nor awake my Love,
till He please.