The communion of the bridegroom and the bride.
I. THE APPROACH OF THE BRIDEGROOM.
1. His address. He compares the bride to a beautiful mare of his own in the chariots of Pharaoh. The words come fitly from the lips of the speaker. He was the first king of Israel who took delight in horses and chariots, and he imported them from Egypt. The words are thought to have suggested a similar comparison in Theocritus ('Idyll,' 18.30); they indicate the stateliness of the bride's beauty; they remind us of Psalms 147:10,Psalms 147:11, "He delighteth not in the strength of a horse ... The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy." Men like Solomon take delight in horses; the Lord in the graces of his people. The king calls the bride "my love," or "my friend;" the word is derived from a verb which in its secondary sense means to take delight in the companionship of those whom we love. We are reminded of the Lord's gracious words, "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (John 15:15). The king proceeds to commend the graces of the bride; he promises costly gifts. She was wearing the simple ornaments of a country maiden (the words "jewels" and "gold" are not in the original of Psalms 147:10). "We will make thee," he says (that is, his servants will make at his order), "borders of gold with studs of silver." Whatever graces the Church possesses come from the gift of the heavenly Bridegroom; it is he who will "present her to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;" but holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27). It is only God who can "keep us from falling, and present us at the last faultless before the presence of his glory with. exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). The fine linen, clean and white, the wedding garment of the bride, is the Bridegroom's gift (Revelation 19:8).
2. The bride's delight in the bridegroom. The king is come; he sitteth at his table in the midst of the circle of his friends. We are reminded that the presence of his father David was once required to complete such a circle. "We will not sit around" (the literal translation of Samuel's words) "till he come hither" (1 Samuel 16:11). The bride anoints him with "ointment of spikenard very costly;" the house is filled with the odour of the ointment. While the heavenly Bridegroom is present in the blessed sacrament, or in the circle of true worshippers, whenever two or three are gathered together in his Name, the sweet odour of prayer and adoration giveth forth its fragrance. Such worship, worship in spirit and in truth, is always acceptable. "My Father," he saith in his condescending love, "seeketh such to worship him." It is his presence which draws forth that holy worship. While he is with us, in the circle of worshippers, the heart goeth forth unto him. "Lord, it is good to be here;" "Thy Name is as ointment poured forth." It is sweet to the believer; it refreshes his soul in sorrow, and in the hour of death; therefore do thy people love thee. The King's presence is very sacred; those whom he deigns to visit must respond with their heart's love, with the sweet odours of true spiritual worship.
3. What the bridegroom is to her. The odour of her spikenard is pleasant to him; he is to her as a bag of myrrh, or a cluster of henna flowers. So, in Psalms 45:8, the royal Bridegroom's garments smell of myrrh, aloes, and cassia. The bag of myrrh was kept in the bosom for its sweetness and its medicinal properties; the henna flowers which grew abundantly among the vines of Engedi were highly esteemed for their fragrance. The Savior's presence in the heart sheds a fragrance through the soul. "He that hath the Son hath life;" a principle of life which preserves the soul from the corruption of sin, which heals its diseases, which prepares it for the hour of death. The Saviour's body lay for a while in the mixture of myrrh and aloes which Nicodemus brought; that holy body needed not the earthly unguent. The Christian needs the preservative virtue which the Saviour giveth. No flowers of earth, no earthly fragrance or beauty, can compare for one moment with the blessedness which his presence bringeth.
II. THE CONVERSE OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE BRIDE.
1. The voice of the beloved. He commends the beauty of the bride; her eyes, as they look on him, are like doves, gentle, innocent, loving. So, in Psalms 45:1-17; the king greatly desires the beauty of the bride. She "is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold." The Lord would have the Church, his bride, to be "a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;" but holy and without blemish. Alas! in the visible Church the evil are ever mingled with the good, and there is none that sinneth not. But just in proportion as the Christian walks in the light (in the light of his presence who is the Light of the world), the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing him from all sin, and he becomes in his poor measure a light, shining with the reflected light of the Saviour's holiness. Christ is made unto his people wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; whatever beauty of character they possess comes only from communion with him. "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image from glory to glory." They must be harmless as doves, gentle, humble, innocent. The Lord in his condescending love accepts their imperfect service. "I know thy works, and thy love, and faith, and ministry, and patience; and that thy last works are more than the first."
2. The answer of the bride. Perhaps they have now gone forth into the air; they are sitting together, as the words seem to imply, on a green couch, on some grassy slope in the Lebanon country, under the interlacing boughs of cedars and fir trees. The bride enjoys the fair prospect around her; she delights still more in the presence and love of the bridegroom. She calls him "my beloved;" the Hebrew word is another form of the name of the king's father, David, which means "beloved." He is very fair in her eyes; yea, pleasant. The Lord is fairer than the children of men; to the Christian there is no vision of earthly beauty which will bear one moment's comparison with the tender loveliness of the Saviour's character, the exalted beauty of his self-sacrificing love. The Christian soul delights in the fair beauty of the Lord; it is to him the one thing to be desired above all others. "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord" (Psalms 27:4). So Isaiah, who alone of the prophets uses the bride's word of endearment, "my Beloved" (Isaiah 5:1), has the blessed promise, "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty" (Isaiah 33:17). The king is pleasant also; not only fair to look upon, but possessed of every charm, of all spiritual grace. We have the same word applied to God in Psalms 27:4 and Psalms 90:17. May God "shine into our hearts, to reveal to us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"!
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY