but I speak concerning Christ and the Church" (Eph. v. 29-32).

And she

The mystic union is involved in the attributing of the song to Solomon'; for it is uttered mutually by Christ and by his Church, but it is attributed to him only, for they are not twain, but one. is lost sight of in him. The same Spirit actuates both; for the Head and the members form but one Christ. The song is, therefore, emphatically" Solomon's," or Christ's.

THE BRIDE.

Ver. 2. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth."

This abrupt commencement bespeaks the impassioned affections of the Bride. She is so wholly engrossed with thoughts of her Beloved, that she does not stay to explain of whom she speaks. Just as Mary at the sepulchre, looking for Jesus, addressed herself to one whom she believed to be the gardener, exclaiming, "If thou hast borne him away, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away"—as though every one must know whom she sought (John xx. 15)-as though there were but one object to be cared for-One for whom she would count all things else but loss (Phil. iii. 7, 8); and one pearl of great price, to buy which she would sell all that she had (Matt. xiii. 44-46). For, "Whom have I in heaven, but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire beside

thee," must ever be the language of the Bride of Christ.

"Let him kiss me." A kiss is a token of very near and intimate friendship, or of relationship. It, therefore, bespeaks, in this instance, the intimacy and closeness of the relationship between Jesus and his Church. We have a striking representation of it in the case of David and Jonathan, in 1 Sam.

xx. 41: " They kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded."

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But a kiss is also a token of reconciliation, which we have beautifully brought before us in the Prodigal Son returning to his father's house :When he was yet a great way off, his Father saw him, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him,” &c. (Luke xv. 20). And a similar instance of reconciliation occurs in the history of Joseph, who, in making himself known to them, "kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them and after that his brethren talked with him" (Gen. xlv. 15). "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. v. 18-21 ; Rom. v. 10, 11; Col. i. 21; Heb. ii. 17).

"With the kisses of his mouth;" for his mouth is most sweet" (Cant. v. 16); "Neither was guile found in his mouth;" "All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth" (Luke iv. 22; 1 Pet. ii. 22; Matt. iv. 4). And, therefore, Job declares: "I have

esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food" (Job. xxiii. 12).

Contrast his mouth" with ours (James iii.

2-10).

"For thy love is better than wine."

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Thy love"-the love of Jesus-truly it is sweet. Very tender is the love between the Husband and his Bride; therefore she exclaims, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Dearer is such love than the choicest earthly good-more refreshing, more reviving, more strengthening. It is "an everlasting love" (Jer. xxxi. 3). "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John xiii. 1). How unlike a mere earthly passion, producing a sudden flash of excitement, and dying away again! "Thy love is better than wine"

"Thy lovingkindness is better than life" (Psalm lxiii. 3). Oh! to comprehend more of "the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge!" "Greater love hath no man." It was love "strong as death" (John xv. 13; Cant. viii. 6). It was the very same love as that wherewith the Father loved the Son!" as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you" (John xv. 9). Well, therefore, may we exclaim with David, "How excellent is thy loving-kindness, O God!" for "thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures" (Psalm

xxxvi. 7-10), an exhaustless streamwine!"

BETTER than

Ver. 3. "Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth."

When Mary brake the box of ointment of spikenard very costly, we read that "the house was filled with the odour of the ointment" (John xii. 3). It is thus when the "name" of Jehovah is revealed: "thy name is as ointment poured forth."

For God's name is the expression of his nature, character, and attributes, as we may learn from the proclamation of it to Moses (Exod. xxxiv. 5-7). But it is essentially Jesus: "thou shalt call his name Emmanuel, which, being interpreted, is, God with us" (Matt. i. 23); in him the ointment is "poured forth," the name of God is exhibited; and wheresoever Jesus comes, the place is filled with the sweet odour of the name" of our God. Thus it is written, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory;" there was, as it were, the breaking of the box, that the ointment might be "poured forth.” God revealed his name

in the person of his dear Son

(Isaiah vii. 14; ix. 6).

It is compared to ointment because it was

1, Most precious and costly (Exod. xxx. 23-25;

Ps. cxxxiii. 2; Mark xiv. 3; John xii. 3;

1 Peter ii. 7).

"Unto you, therefore, which

believe, he is precious."

2, Of sweet odour (Eph. v. 2).

loved us, and hath given

"Christ also hath

himself for us, an

offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour" (John xii. 3).

3, Compounded of a variety of parts (Exod. xxx. 23-28). "It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell" (Col. i. 19; ii. 9).

4, It had healing properties (Acts. iii. 16). "His name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong."

Lastly, Nothing was ever to be made like it. (Exod.

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xxx. 31-33, 37, 38). "There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12).

Therefore do the virgins love thee."

It is as the Father is known in the person of Christ that he is loved. "This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John xvii. 3). Because in Jesus there is such a full manifestation and exhibition of the character and name of God, like ointment poured forth, "therefore do the virgins love thee." (Compare 1 John iv. 9, 19). "We love him because he first loved us." (See also Luke vii. 47).

"The virgins" are so called for their spiritual chastity. "That I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Cor. xi. 3). The same word is rendered "thy hidden ones," in Psalm lxxxiii. 3.