I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, [and] was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
Ver. 6. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone.] Or, "He was gone, he was gone"; a passionate complaint for his departure, which lay so much the heavier upon her spirit, because, by her unworthy usage of him, she had foolishly occasioned it. "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquity, are afflicted." And when affliction comes with a sting in the tail, it is very grievous. But then they "cry unto the Lord in their trouble; he saveth them out of their distress; he sendeth his word and healeth them," Psa 107:17-20 he sendeth for them by his Spirit, and brings them back again into his own bosom, "that his banished be not expelled from him," 2Sa 14:14 though to themselves and others they may for the present seem to be as "water spilled on the ground, that cannot be gathered up again." Those fragrant footsteps and heart attracting stamps of his favour, that sweet smelling myrrh, mentioned in the former verse, had so eneagered and edged her affections, that she could not rest till she had recovered him. She opened unto her beloved, and, presuming upon his patience, was in good hope to have had him at hand; but patientia loesa fit furor, Christ will not always bear with our evil manners, a "but hide his face from us, like as we have behaved ourselves evil in our doings." Mic 3:4 And whereas spiritual desertions are of three sorts, (1.) Cautional, for preventing of sin, as Paul's seems to be; (2.) Probational, for trial and exercise of grace, as Job's; (3.) Penal, for chastisement of spiritual sloth and sluggishness, as here in the Church; this last is far the heaviest.
My soul failed when he spake.] Or, Because of his speech, that sweet speech of his when he so passionately wooed her. Son 5:2 Then he could have no audience nor admittance; now, if he would but offer himself he might be sure of both. The word spoken doth not always presently take effect in the hearers, but lies long as the seed under a clod, till Christ the good husbandman come with some temptation, as with his clotting beetle, and give it room to rise. Then as the water casts up her dead after a time, so do their memories cast up that which seemed buried therein, by the help of the Holy Ghost, their remembrancer. Joh 14:26 Joh 2:22 The new birth of some, the recovery of others out of their relapses, is like the birth of the elephant, fourteen years after the seed is inserted into the womb. Peter remembered Christ's words and repented. Mat 26:75 If we remember not what hath been preached unto us, all is lost. 1Co 15:2 If we leak, b and let slip, actum est de nobis. The deed is by us. Heb 2:1 If we keep the word, the word will keep us. Pro 6:22
I sought him.] So soon as recovered out of my swoon, I set to seek him. The Church went not to bed again to sleep as before, neither stays she longer within than to cast her veil or her scarf over her head; without any further dress, abroad she gets to seek him whom her soul loveth. She sought him by serious and set meditation of the word and promises; but after all that toil and travail she took therein she found him not. This is the greatest grief that can befall a good heart in this present world; it is to such little better than hell itself. "Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled" saith David. Psa 30:8 Non frustra praedicant mentes hominum nitere liquido die, coacta nube flaccescere, saith Symmachus. Men's minds are either clear or cloudy, as the weather is; but more truly, good men's minds are as God's countenance is. It is with the godly in desertion, as with vapours drawn up by the sun, which, when the extracting force of the sun leaves them, fall down again to the earth. And as in an eclipse of the sun there is a drooping in the whole frame of nature; so it is with the saints, when Christ withdraws himself. Hell itself is said to be a separation from his presence; the pain of loss there is worse than the pain of sense, the tears of hell are not sufficient to bewail the loss of heaven. Laetemur igitur in Domino, sed caveamus a recidivo. c
I called him, but he gave me no answer.] And it was but just, for she had dealt so by him. Son 5:2 Christ loves to retaliate. Such a proportion many times one may see between sins and punishments, that you may say, such a sin brought forth this affliction, it is so like the father. Howbeit, "his ear is not heavy that he cannot hear; but your iniquities have hid his face from you that he will not hear." Isa 59:1-2 And this the saints take, as well they may, for a sore affliction, Lam 3:8 when to all other their miseries, he addeth this, that he will not come at them, that he casteth out their prayers, that he deals by them as the lionness doth by her young ones, which she seems sometimes to leave, till they have almost killed themselves with roaring. This is to make them more careful another time. None look at the sun but when it is in the eclipse; neither prize we, for the most part, God's loving countenance till we have lost it. In this case, the course is to set up a loud cry after him, as Micah did after his gods. Jdg 18:23 Or rather as the Church here doth after her beloved, in many strong cries and bitter tears, continuing instant in prayer. Rom 12:12 The Greek word d imports a metaphor from hunting dogs, that do not stop pursuing the game till they have got it. For encouragement, see the happy success the Church here had; and further, take that saying of Brentius, Etiamsi fides tua nec lucem hominibus, nec calorem cordi tuo afferat, tamen non abiecit Christus, modo incrementum ores, i.e., Although thy faith, as smoking flax, yield neither light to others nor heat to thine own heart, yet Christ will not cast thee off, so thou pray for more and follow thy work close till thou have gotten it.
a Heu rara hora, et parva mora. - Bernard.
b μηποτε παραρυωμεν .
c Bernard.
d προσκαρτερουντες .