Do ye resemble them in the strength and durability of your faith? Are ye like Paul, and James, and Cephas, pillars of strength, "beams of cedar," in these shifting, perilous days? Or, as Demas and Diotrephes, clouds tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine?

Ye Saints of God, earnestly and solemnly does the Lord call upon you to be strong-cemented to one another in holy love; and thus grow up as a holy temple in the Lord.

Stand fast, therefore, in the truth. Quit yourselves like men. Be strong and of good courage Days of rebuke and blasphemy are gathering thickly round the Church of Christ. Be united. Be determined. Cleave to one another in Christ. Then shall the Church of Christ, militant here on earth, for strength and durability of faith, and fragrancy and comeliness of life, be like unto a house, whose beams are "beams of cedar and its rafters of fir."

CHAPTER. II.

1. I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.

This is so like the language of Him, who "spake as never other man spake" in the days of His flesh, and said- "I am the Vine". "I am the Good Shepherd," that I cannot doubt that it is the Bridegroom, even Jesus, to whom they must be ascribed.

Besides, it is far more likely for Christ to commend His Church, than for His Church to commend itself.

The Church would not be so unmindful of Solomon's advice "let another praise thee and not thine own lips."

"I am the rose of Sharon." The rose, in Eastern countries was esteemed the goodliest of all: flowers; and those of Sharon the choicest of any in Israel.

The comparison seems evidently intended to set forth His fulness and excellency-in whom dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily: who was "God manifest in the flesh."

He also adds " and the lily of the valley:" foreshadowing that deep humility to which He stooped, when He emptied himself of His glory and assumed our nature and was made in the likeness of sinful

man.

Then, indeed, He appeared without either "form or comeliness:" as a "root out of dry ground." When He taught His disciples, saying, “Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart, and give grace to the humble," He fulfilled the words of this Song "I am the lily of the valley.”

2. As the lily among thorns, so is

the daughters.

my

love among

"As the lily among thorns." Christ compares His Church to the "lily." lily." The comparison is most beautiful and appropriate. The lily is the emblem of purity. In the previous verse He does not disdain applying the same comparison to Himself" I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley." For in the days of His humiliation, though brought down to this vale of humiliation, He was pure and spotless as a "lily"-being holy, harmless, and undefiled.' And His Church, which "He hath purchased with His own blood," is pure and white in His eyes: clothed with fine linen, clean and white,

1. Heb. vii. 26.

which is the righteousness of the Saints, having all its sins washed out by His most precious blood. It was for this purpose that Jesus gave himself, that He might "purify for himself a peculiar people," and present them to Himself a glorious Church— not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing! If then, Reader, thou art justified by the blood of Jesus Christ: if thy soul hath been washed in that fountain of blood, which was opened for sin and all uncleanness : see in what light thy Saviour regardeth thee "As the lily among thorns," &c." "Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.—(iv. c. 7 v.) The world despises you -derides claims-sneers at your pretensions. Be it so. It neither knows you nor your Master. But He knows you. Though in the eyes of the ungodly you are "black as the tents of Kedar," in the esteem of your Saviour you are beautiful as the "lily among thorns!"

your

Oh! be amazed at His grace. Be filled with humble adoring gratitude.

You are still in the

desert. Still in the midst of thorns.

The Church of Christ is like the lily because of its fruitfulness."Nothing is more fruitful than the lily, for oftentimes one root send's forth fifty bulbs." And who so fruitful, in every good word and work, as the true Church of Christ: souls begotten again

1. Titus ii. 14.

unto love and the hope of eternal life, and which are watered with the dew of the Holy Spirit

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They grow as the lily, and cast forth their roots as Lebanon: their branches spread, and their beauty is as the olive tree." They "bring forth much fruit," to the glory of their heavenly Father. They do not run along the ground, as the wild plants of the earth: they do not cleave to earthly things: but like the lily, "which in the day is three cubits high," lift up their heads toward Heaven. Their hearts are there. Their treasures are in Heaven. Like the flower of the lily, which is open towards the firmament of the Heavens but shut towards the earth, the Believer's affections, hopes, and desires, are altogether weaned from the earth. and its vanities, and set upon heavenly things.

Reader, is it THUS with thee? Do you, in spiritual life, resemble the tall and white lily, lifting up its graceful flower towards the sky?

Is your soul set on heavenly things? Can you say, with a Saint of old-" I delight in the law of God after the inward man ?"-Are you like the fruitful lily, setting forth the beauty of holiness?-Or do you find, that, in your case, the comparison does not hold good?

Whosoever reads, let him understand and know this-if Christ, by His Spirit, has made you willing

1. Hosea xiv. 5.

2. Rom. vii. 22.