:

opening rose, bespeaking timidity as well as humility, and some imagine that the narcissus, which flourishes abundan ly in Palestine, is meant instead of the rose, a plant rare in that locality but whatever flower is intended, the bride who though confident of the love of her Lord, and rejoicing in his presence, is conscious that all the graces she is clothed away are derived from him alone and without any semblance of a false or dishonoring inferiority, calls herself a mere rose-bud, a mere lily; she is simply by such language attributing all the perfections with which she is endowed to the free gift of him who brought her out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Great errors exist regarding our standing before God, most people imagine that true humility exists in acknowledge themselves unworthy of accepting his gifts, or of approaching his presence without having done something to warrant their acceptance: but if it be understood that no possible worthiness on our part, no acts, no prayers could of themselves render us acceptable in the Beloved, that eternal life can never, or could be ever, attained by any effort of our own but that Christ has done all for us, has worked out our salvation by offering himself as a perfect and acceptable sacrifice to God the Father on our behalf, and that all our sins are blotted out in his precious blood: if a person can receive and believe this, then is he in a position to come to God though Christ, and accept as a free gift eternal life: this is the Gospel, that "whilst we yet sinners Christ died for us.' He did not wait till we had repented or were worthy, but gave himself for us when our sins cleaved to our flesh like a filthy garment: he washed us from our sins in his blood, and bore them all away, nailing them to his cross, and this is our joy, hope and exceeding great reward: for had it not been for this transcendant, superhuman love of him who in the volume of the book, said "lo I come to do thy will, O God"; who not only in his own person bore our sins upon the cross, but for our sakes endured the withdrawal of his Father's countenance, we never could have come to him at all, we must have died in our sins.

What a blessed source of joy and comfort is this to all poor sinners. We were lost but are found, and true humility consists in acknowledging this, and, standing afar off, cry out with the publican, "God be merciful to me a sinner;"

this is what God loves; all he requires is that we admit we are sinners, and have pressing need of his righteousness to clothe us with. It is this what the woman who was a sinner felt when she rushed unbidden into the Pharisee's house and stood behind him kissing his feet, washing them with her tears and drying them with the hairs of her head; she felt she was a sinner, she made no vain oblations, she offered no excuses, she brought with her no promises of reformation, but she felt, she acknowledged that in Christ and through Christ solely and alone was remission of sins; and her heart was gladdened, for she heard the gracious word, "thy sins are forgiven."

Here we

See another instance in God's dealings with the prodigal son; the poor wretched creature, deserted by all, famished, destitute, and miserable, says, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; make me as one of thy hired servants.' see a feeling of sorrow for grieving a loving Father, mingled at the same time with a feeling that repentance could be attained by working as a hired servant; but see the abounding unapproachable love of God; He waits not till the last phrase is completed, but he sees his long-lost wayward child returning along away off, and falling on his neck, presses him to his bosom, and clothes him with his righteousness; So, dear reader, may it be with you-wait not till you think yourself worthy, but go just as you are, and accept eternal life as the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord; in the world you may have, as the Prodigal, trials and tribulations, it is the lot of all who follow Jesus; but be of good cheer, he has overcome the world (John, xvi, 33).

Sharon signifies a "plain;" it extends from Cæsaria to Joppa, and in former days was celebrated for its fertility. In the days of Solomon it was used as a royal pasturage for cattle (1st Chro., xxvii, 29); but in the days of Hezekiah it was like a wilderness (Isa., xxxiii, 9); and so it continues, as we learn from various travellers, bleak and desolate in winter, and from want of water untraversed by the wandering Arab. The Lord is wrath with the land, as he is with his people. "He turneth the water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein" (Ps., cvii, 33, 34. His curse upon the Israelites if they serve other gods is here

proclaimed aloud: "For he has shut up the heavens that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit (Deu., xi, 17). And again, "I have withheld rain from you," &c. (Am., iv, 7). But blessed be God; "his anger endureth but a moment: in his favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Ps., xxx, 5). And in the day of Israel's redemption, “Sharon shall be again a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in" (Isa., lxv, 10).

The bride again, in saying she is the lily of the valleys, confesses to him, her happy bridegroom, that she possesses his undivided love. She has a consciousness that for her sake he suffered all things, and that she is his rose, his lily: and how could she think otherwise? She was once black, black as the tents of Kedar, filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, &c. (Rom., i, 29); but now washed in his blood, and accepted in the beloved, she can say and feel with joy unspeakable and full of glory, she is his lily, his rose, nothing in herself, but all and everything in him. "He will rest in his love, he will joy over her with singing" (Zeph. iii, 17). He says to her, "many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all" (Pro. xxxi, 29); and the bride replies, "of all the flowers in the field thou hast chosen one lily" (Esd., 5, 24).

May not our blessed Lord have had this lity in his mind when he says, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin"-meaning that all their grace, purity and beauty flows from him; no work of theirs entitle them to perfection; all was a free, undeserved, and unconditional gift-" and I say unto you (his disciples) that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these" (Mat., vi, 28, 29).

"As the lily among the thorns, so is my love among the daughters."

The Lord is here addressing the bride, and contrasting her in her love, purity, and constancy to a beautiful flower struggling to free herself from the wild garbage of the earth, which by its rank and odious embrace seeks to prevent the gentle lily from rising above the tangled web of this world's defilement; but the lovely flower, weak and tender though she be, sees the glorious sun of righteousness shining above her, and in the full confidence of its warm and inspiring rays, bursts through the thorny meshes, and

shows her pure and ravishing face to admiring God and angels.

So is it with the believer here below, so with the church, and so with the holy remnant; do what we may, contact with the world is an essential part of our existence. There is no escape from it: no asceticism, no voluntary seclusion, no artificial retirement, can exclude the world, or its baneful influences upon the heart as long as we are in this body of sin, this corruptible flesh, we must necessarily, whether in the secret chamber or in the crowded mart, experience the bitter fruits of the primeval curse it is a lesson which all must undergo, and it is only in the full assurance of Christ's most holy blood purging us from sin and all its fatal effects that can give to the believing, trusting soul the power to cry out in the exulting voice of triumph, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”

The sinner washed in the blood of Christ, and fully conscious of its efficacious power, can and does resist sin, Satan, and the world, and be more than conqueror through Him that loved us (Rom., viii, 37): and we find throughout Scripture that this is God's way of dealing with his people. Each and every one must, more or less, be tried in the furnace of affliction, either mentally, by the temptation of a corrupt heart, or bodily by the bitterness of unkindness or persecution. It is the divine law, that through suffering we enter into glory: and how could it be otherwise? Is it not the necessary result of the fall? Was not the earth cursed in consequence, and instead of the tree pleasant to sight and good for food, and the tree of life and of knowledge, was it not doomed to bring forth thorns and thistles? And was it not by the sweat of his brow that man should eat his bread? Oh, see what Isaiah says, speaking of the well-beloved of the Lord; see the overbounding, overweening love of Christ for his vineyard; and mark the depravity of the human heart, for at last the Lord laid waste her pleasant land: "it shall not be pruned or digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns.' See the following verse, and weep with Jeremiah at the wickedness and desolation of his people. Isa., v, 6, 7; xxxii, 13; Pro., xxvi, 30, 31; Jer., xii, 13; Hos., ix, 6.

Let us see also what another prophet says of man and his works;-"The best of them is as a brier; the most

upright is sharper than a thorn hedge" (Mic., vii, 4); and it is with these and against these the Christian has to contend the struggle is hard, incessant, and laborious; but we have in Christ a shield and buckler wherewith to withstand all the snares of the devil and the world. Let us take comfort by the examples set before us; who, though environed by bitter and cruel trials and temptations, came scatheless through them all, leaning not on their own strength but on that of the Rock of Ages. See Ezekiel among the Chaldeans, Joseph among the Egyptians, Lot in the cities of the Plain, Job a brother to dragons and companion to owls, David amongst the inhabitants of Meshec and in the tents of Kedar, the Church at Smyrna tormented with the synagogue of Satan, that of Pergamos tortured with false teachers, who taught the doctrines of Baalim. See Moses disbelieved by his brethren in the flesh, and compelled to flee into the desert; Esther under the persecuting hand of Haman the Agagite; Elijah, Elisha, and all the prophets mistrusted by the rulers of the people, and shamefully maltreated; see Nehemiah and Ezra undergoing cruel calumny and detraction from those of their own race; and then judge whether the believer, be he Jew or Christian, must not expect the same treatment from those who differ from him.

The world naturally dislikes any one who opposes himself to its self-will and ungodliness, but the bitterest, sharpest pangs are those the Christian receives at the hand of false brethren; he has more to fear from a lukewarm professing church than from the world: the world, like Gallio, cares for none of these things, and treats the saint, as he is styled, more with contempt and ridicule than with vindictive animosity; but the church, she who prophecies smooth things, crying out peace when there is no peace, who cringes to the rich, truckles to popularity, and fawns upon all, cares naught for religion or the glory of God, but looking only to retain its position with the sensuous votaries of the day, and to appropriate to itself all the good things within its grasp, is a far more dangerous enemy to the real believer than is the outward world, and the saints in God may reckon as a certainty that the persecutions coming on the earth, and which, perhaps, are not so far off as some would think, will proceed from a vapouring, timeserving Church.

When the bridegroom adds, "so is my love among the