I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
This is a very interesting verse, and full of divine matter. The departure of Jesus from his people doth not mean a total departure, or a loss of covenant interest in Christ's righteousness, or an union with his person. Neither his love nor his affection can he take away; for having loved his own which are in the world he loveth them unto the end. John 13:1. And his betrothing his church unto himself is forever. Hosea 2:19. But it means the hiding of his countenance, the suspension of the influences of the Holy Ghost. And if Jesus thus withdraws, the soul of a believer will feel what the Church felt, when she expressed herself as in this verse. Reader! pause over this subject. If you know the Lord you will know also, what a blessedness it is to live always under the visits of his love; and if at any time he remits those visits, to mourn after him. My soul can derive no joy, no comfort, from the consciousness that the Holy Ghost is with the Church always, if at the same time he is not with my soul. I still go heavily all the day if I have nothing of his quickening, upholding, and communicating grace, leading me into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Hence the cry of the Psalmist, Psalms 51:11, and again Psalms 143:7. The Church seeking Christ as expressed in the latter part of this verse, hath been observed upon, Song of Solomon 3:2.