December 6

1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou art doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead

2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely; thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.

4 Thy neck is like the tower of David, built for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.

5 Thy two breasts are like two young toes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.

6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frank moose.

7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

8 9 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon, look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shemir and Hermon, from the hons' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.

9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

10 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!

11 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.

12 A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spiked sand.

14 Spiken and saffron; calamities and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.

16 7 Awake, O myrrh wind; and come, thou swath; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

(685)

The Church of Jesus is His garden (verses 12-15), and every plant in it, which the heavenly Father has planted, must flourish, with all the increase of God, as trees of the Lord's right hand planting. Even the tenderest plants, the youngest of His people, form a part in this orchard of pomegranates; for every one has been taken out of nature's wild wilderness, and brought, by God's grace, into the Lord's garden, His Church; and, like pomegranates, a large and full-bearing fruit, sweet and delicious, they are in Jesus' eye most pleasant, from the beauty and comeliness He hath put upon them

"Come with Me," says Jesus (verse 8). "I do not think we consider enough how we disappoint the love of Jesus when we refuse to come with Him. For He does truly and literally desire us to be with Him. . . . Love craves nearness. This is the very thing that differences love from the lesser glow of mere pity, or kindness, whatever their degrees or combinations. The Lord Jesus would not say, 'Come with Me,' if He did not feel towards us something far beyond any degree of pity and kindness. It is the Royal Invitation of His kingly love. . . . There is a beautiful type which tells us how a maiden was chosen to be the bride of the son of 'a mighty prince' in a far off land. She was to answer for herself about it, and so they said, 'we will call the damsel and enquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said, 'Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.' Shall this be your answer to-day?"—F. R. Havergal.

Closet Promise.—I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine.—Sol. Song vi. 3.

"There are who sigh that no fond heart is theirs: None loves them best! O vain and selfish sigh! Out of the bosom of His love He spares, The Father spares the Son, for the eto die! For thee He died; for thee He lives again: O'er thee He watches in his boundless reign.

Thou art as much His care as if beside Nor man nor angel lived in heaven or earth. Thus sunbeams pour alike their glorious tide To light up worlds, or wake an insect's mirth: They shine and shine with unexhausted store, Thou art thy Saviour's Darling—seek no more!"