Song of Solomon 2:1-2. I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
It is the nature of love to make the thing beloved like itself. If Christ be a lily. he makes his people lilies too. Certainly he is the lily of the valley, and ere long his Church is able to say, «As the lily among the thorns, so am I,» while for the present Jesus says it. She is among the thorns, thorns that hurt and vex her. The people of God are still in the tents of Kedar, still among the wicked, having their ears vexed with their filthy conversation. But the lily is all the more beautiful on account of the thorns that make the background, and so your piety may be all the more resplendent because of the evil men among whom you sojourn.
Song of Solomon 2:3. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.
The citron tree towered aloft in the midst of the forest, and it was covered with its golden apples. Such is Jesus Christ, the most lovely of all objects, and though there be some that pretend to contend with him, yet to the believer, rivals are left in the distance, nay, they are altogether forgotten. «As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, the most distinguished and the most lovely, so is my Beloved among the sons.» How dost thou know?
Song of Solomon 2:3. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
I know his loveliness, for I have felt it, and I not only have comfort without, but I have food within.
Song of Solomon 2:4-5. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.
A strange thing is this love of Christ, for, as Erskine puts it:
«When well, it makes me sick;
When sick, it makes me well.»
There is no infirmity which this love of Christ cannot cure, no conflicting passion which it cannot remove; and, on the other hand, a great amount of this love shed abroad in the heart will often prostrate the Christian with excess of delight, till he be ready to cry out, with good Mr. Welsh, the Scotch pastor, «Hold, Lord; hold; it is enough; remember I am but an earthen vessel, and if I have too much of glory I shall not live.» I am afraid we shall not often have to say this, yet there are times when the believer's joy knows no bounds, and his hallowed delight in his God is so excessive that he needs to have some supernatural support to enable him to endure the delight which his Father gives him.
Song of Solomon 2:6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.
The hand with which he smites his enemies cannot smite me, for it is under my head, my sweet support; and his right hand, the hand with which he blesseth, the hand of his power and his glory, doth embrace each one of his people.
Song of Solomon 2:7. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.
The next passage we shall read is at the commencement of the third chapter, and presents quite a different scene. Perhaps you will scarcely think it is the same person that writes it, but, oh! we are very variable. See now how that sunshine has just gilded that side of the house, and in another minute see it melts away and has gone again! Just so is it with our experience. We rejoice for a few moments, but anon the clouds hang heavy over us, and we scarce know what and where we are. The Spouse has now faltered, but her Husband never does falter, the Lord, the King, abideth still the same, and herein is our joy.
This exposition consisted of readings from Song of Solomon 2:1-7; Song of Solomon 3:1-5.