I charge you by the roes and by the hinds,
Ye sons and daughters of Almighty God,
Be watchful too;-(b) be jealous over prayer, (c)
With sensitive alarm observe and shun
Whate'er disturbs (d) or threatens to disturb
Communion with your God!-The roving thought, (e)
The self-exalting fancy, (f) and the doubt
Mistrustively unjust; (g)—come they not oft
(Come they not more and more successfully
As less and less your strong repellings wane),
Struggling to quench the flame of holy love
Enkindled in the soul, and intercept
Glory's bright dawning from the eager eye?
I charge you, daughters of Jerusalem,
Chase not away your gracious Comforter! (h)
Invite his visiting! (i) Let nought impede
That sacred fellowship, that sweet repose
Of contrite confidence in love Divine, (k)
Wrought in the bosom where the Spirit dwells; (7)
"Stir not unthinkingly " the sacred Dove!

By cares extraneous, nay, by cumbering thoughts (m)
Of very duty, shorten not the time

Of holy communing.-Not thy best friends
Permit to draw thee from that better Friend,

Who to the vigilant, however near,
Reveals no mercy to the idler's gaze: (n)
(0) Why should the hope of Israel to thee
Be as the traveller that tarrieth not,
Awaked and interrupted, and provoked (p)
To leave the tent where he vouchsafed to dwell
In wondrous condescension, or to hide

(q) Nearness of access from thy future path?
O favoured ones! be jealous over prayer! (r)
Shrink from the deadening contact of a world (s)
Whose ways are "vanity," and live to God,
Redeem'd and filial citizens indeed (t)
Of new Jerusalem; that "holy home'
Of present peace, and future happiness.

VERS. 7, 8.-"The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself at the lattice."

The voice of my Beloved! the ancient Church
Exclaimed in her delight; He comes, He comes, (u)
And beauteous on the mountains are His feet (v)
Who brings salvation, and who peace proclaims.

Prov. xix. 15. (0) Jer. xiv. 8.
Romans v. 2; Eph. ii. 18; and iii. 12.

(s) 1 John ii. 15; James iv. 4.

(t) Phil. iii. 20, "Let your conversation
heaven."
(u) Zech. ix. 9.

B

(p) Exodus xxiii. 21. (r) 1 Pet. iv. 7.

(citizenship), be in

(v) Isa, lii. 7.

The fulness of the promises is near,

The waited-for deliverance is at hand, (w)
A Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, (x)
Wonderful! Counsellor! the Prince of Peace! (y)
Already we behold Him! Types and signs

(z) Are lattice-work through which our longing eyes
Gaze on the Star of Jacob from afar ;

Behind the wall (a) that now divides his fold,
And screens his full development from man,
And through the windows of his promises (b)
He shows himself to Patriarchs and Seers,
And all his faithful people; lo! He comes!

Thus spake his ancient Church anticipant,
And, in the season's ripeness, lo! He came ! (c)
O'er the dark mountains (d) leaping to the aid
Of his poor sheep bewilder'd and astray,
His scatter'd people, cherishing apart

His advent's expectation, Jesus came. (e)

He came! He sought, He found them where they strayed, Yea, with the antelope-agility of love

Gladly on-bounding; (f) hastening to his work

(His joy-conferring, (g) grace-unfolding work, Though perilous,) the willing Pastor came;

(w) Gen. xlix. 18; Isa. xxv. 9, and lix. 20; Luke ii. 25.

Isa. vii. 14.

(y) Isa. ix. 6.

(c) Gal. iv. 4.

Gen. xlix. 10; John viii. 56; 1 Pet. i. 11. (a) Eph. ii. 14. (b) Acts xxvi. 6, 7. (d) Ezekiel xxxiv. 6; (f) Ps. xl. 7, 8.

John x.

(g) Heb. xii. 2.

(e) Ezekiel xxxiv. 11, 12;

Luke xix. 10.

He bore them on the shoulders of his strength,
Rejoicing mightily; He bears them still,
With words mellifluous (h) and pitying tones,
Leading, enabling, all their homeward way;
He goes before them, and they know his voice, (i)
They hang enraptured on its accents sweet,
He knows his sheep, and He is known of them. (k)

The voice of the Beloved! but hark, it comes,
Borne on the fitful hurricanes which shake

The kingdoms of the earth! (7) His still small voice
Was never to his sheep inaudible,

But now it echoes forcefully; the world itself
Stands in perplexity, and listening, asks
Is He at hand then? Is it true, indeed,
That Zion's Monarch to his triumph rides?

Yea, come! come quickly, Lord; Amen! Amen! (m)
Still to the glad announcement shall respond

The choral welcome of his waiting saints!

Still do we see thee darkly, through the glass (n)
Of prophecy not fully cleared by time;

The hindering wall of this disordered frame (0)
Still intervenes to mar our perfect view.

When shall we see, as we ourselves are seen,

And know as we are known? How long, how long?

(n) 1 Cor. xiii. 12.

(i) John x. 4, 27.

(k) John x. 14. (m) Rev. xxii. 20. (0) 1 Cor. xv. 50.

VERS. 10, 11, 12, 13.-" My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away!"

Then comes, as from embodied harmony,
That tender invitation in reply;

Rise up, my love, my fair one; come away,
Soar on the wings of your victorious faith (p)
Above the realms of darkness and of sin!
(q) Substantiate the future! see the day
As if already present, when the storm (r)
Of wintery tribulation shall have passed,

And clouds have ceased to pour their torrents down, (s)
And floods restrained their overwhelming rage:
See earth made beautiful; (t) the lovely proofs
Of sacred cultivation all around,

The flowers up-springing-As from mounting lark,
And loving turtle, hear the song of praise (u)
Sound joyous through the renovated lands!
The fig-tree buddeth, (v) Judah's sapless bough,
And severed Ephraim, are grafting in, (w)
Wondrous precursors of the summer nigh!

(p) 1 John v. 4. (9) Heb. xi. 1.
(s) Isa. xxv. 4; xxx. 30; xxxii. 18, 19.
(t) Isa. lv. 13; lxi. 11.

(v) Luke xxi. 29, 30.

(r) Ps. lv. 6-8; Matt. xx. 24, 25.

(u) Isa. xii. throughout. (w) Rom. xi. 23, 24.