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mind is able to do this, and then we have something of what the Scriptures represent Jesus Christ as he is in glory. Yes, add to these the splendour of the burning bush, the grandeur of Sinai, the vision of Isaiah with its overpowering majesty, (Isa. chap. vi.,) the wondrous sight unfolded to Ezekiel, (chap. i.,) the vision of Daniel, (chap. vii. 9,) the cloud of glory that dwelt between the cherubim, the effulgence of the transfiguration, the appearance to Paul on the road to Damascus, the revelation to the beloved disciple at Patmos, the ideas of beauty grouped together in the Song, (v. 10—16,) the picture presented when he stood on the mount of Olives and wept over Jerusalem; when the mind can gather to its bosom all these ideas at once, it can feel all that God has now opened of the grandeur, glory, and loveliness of Christ. These rays, small, very small part though they are of his excellence, when gathered to a focus are overpowering. When thus attempting to comprehend even what is revealed of our Lord, the mind feels its incapacity, and sees the wisdom of having him revealed to us as God has done it in the Scriptures, by unfolding a part of his perfections at a time. We thus get a better comprehension of those detached scenes, and ultimately of the glory of Christ, by studying them independently, than could be done by having them all crowded into one. Yet, when the heart has studied them separately, it is anxious to rise to the highest conceptions possible of Jesus, by bringing these clusters of glories together; but it finds its powers to fail under the effort. These gems of truth

are as fitly set in the Scriptures, as were the stones in Aaron's breast-plate; and with what effulgence do they beam, when the Urim and Thummim of the Holy Spirit kindles there his light; what a mellow radiance do they throw over all the intermediate truths and spaces of the word of God; the radiance poured abroad by the Spirit through these representations of the glory of Christ, lighting up all the other Scriptures with a more heavenly glow. And they light up all nature with a beauty and splendour before unseen. The Holy Spirit causes us as it were to see lamps of heavenly fire burning in every thing around us, until all creation becomes to our view like the golden candlestick in the view of the worshipper in the sanctuary-every created thing, not only every star, but every tree, every flower, becoming a lamp more beauteous than gold, on which burns the richness. of the splendour of the divine glory. To the eye of faith all this is reality. And to the soul whose vision has been purified by grace, the works of God convey sensations more delightful than could be experienced, were every bud, every blossom, every blade of grass, and every flower, a lamp burning with living fire.

"The clouds that gather round the setting sun
Do take a purer colouring from an eye

Illumined with this inward purity:

To such the humblest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."*

Substituting holy sensibility for mere literary taste, and the inward illumination of the Spirit of grace for

* Wordsworth's Intimations of Immortality.

the love of the beautiful, we may use the words of Wordsworth for expressing nobler emotions than they seem to have been intended to embody:

"I have seen

A curious child who dwelt upon a tract
Of inland ground, applying to his ear
The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell;
To which, in silence hushed, his very soul
Listened intensely; and his countenance soon
Brightened with joy; for murmurings from within
Were heard,-sonorous cadences! whereby
To his belief, the monitor expressed
Mysterous union with its native sea.
Even such a shell the universe itself
Is to the ear of faith; and doth impart
Authentic tidings of invisible things;

Of Him who formed and has redeemed them all.
Thus by the Spirit led, whate'er we see,
Whate'er we feel, by agency direct.

Or indirect, shall tend to feed and nurse
Holy affections, fix in calmer seats

Of moral strength, and raise to loftier heights
Of love divine, our intellectual soul,

And help the great Redeemer to adore."

In heaven we shall see that blessed one combining all these visions of beauty and glory in his one person, together with innumerable others of which the heart of man cannot now conceive.

"Cease then, my tongue! and lend unto my mynd
Leave to bethinke how great that beauty is,
Whose utmost parts so beautifull I fynd;
How much more those essentiall parts of his,
His truth, his love, his wisedome, and his blis,
His grace, his doome, his mercy, and his might,

By which he lends us of himselfe a sight;
His goodnesse, which his beautie doth declare,
For all thats good is beautifull and faire."*

Thus contemplating our adorable Redeemer by a living faith, through the Holy Spirit, we say with humble exultation, in the language of the spouse, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend, my companion, O daughters of Jerusalem." So far from being ashamed of him, as in our unrenewed state, in him alone we now glory. He is the absorbing centre of our affections; his company is the desire and delight of our heart.

CHAPTER VI.

VER. 1.-Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

SUCH a description of the beloved might well make the daughters of Jerusalem anxious to see him, and inquire where he might be found. A judicious holding forth of the character and loveliness of Christ, has ever been the leading means of drawing sinners to the cross. The salvation of souls is effected by preaching to them Christ crucified. Great multitudes of people followed Jesus, because his fame went throughout all Syria. Had those who saw his mighty works and were the subjects of his healing power,. said nothing, his name could not have been known abroad, and many whose lives were spared must *Spenser's Hymn of Heavenly Beauty.

have perished. "Ye are the light of the world. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Strange that there should be such backwardness among Christians in speaking to each other of their Lord, and in commending his grace to sinners. Love breaks through this icy restraint, even at the risk of being looked on with disfavour. While a relief to our own soul, this speaking of Jesus is often made a blessing to others. When the woman of Samaria "went her way into the city, and said unto the men, Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city and came unto him." John iv. 29. And what was the result of her so doing? "Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did." Nor did the results of this conduct stop here. "They besought him that he would tarry with them; and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word."

VER. 2. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather

lilies.

. All the gardens mentioned in Scripture, like those in the East of the present day, were not in any way connected with the residence; but were outside the several towns, and were from half a mile to a mile

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