Is not the Church of GOD to-day more like these untrained steeds than a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot? And while self-will and disunion are apparent in the Church, can we wonder that the world still lieth in the wicked one, and that the great heathen nations are barely touched? Changing His simile, the Bridegroom continues:-- Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, Thy neck with strings of jewels. We will make thee plaits of gold With studs of silver. The bride is not only beautiful and useful to her LORD, she is also adorned, and it is His delight to add to her adornments. Nor are His gifts perishable flowers, or trinkets destitute of intrinsic value: the finest of the gold, the purest of the silver, and the most precious and lasting of the jewels are the gifts of the Royal Bridegroom to His spouse; and these, plaited amongst her own hair, increase His pleasure who has bestowed them. * * * * * In verses 12-14 the bride responds:-- While the King sat at His table My spikenard sent forth its fragrance. It is in His presence and through His grace that whatever of fragrance or beauty may be found in us comes forth. Of Him as its source, through Him as its instrument, and to Him as its end, is all that is gracious and divine. But _HE HIMSELF_ is better far than all that His grace works in us. My Beloved is unto me as a bundle of myrrh, That lieth betwixt my breasts. My Beloved is unto me as a cluster of henna-flowers In the vineyards of En-gedi. Well is it when our eyes are filled with His beauty and our hearts are occupied with Him. In the measure in which this is true of us we shall recognize the correlative truth that His great heart is occupied with us. Note the response of the Bridegroom:-- Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are as dove's. How can the Bridegroom truthfully use such words of one who recognizes herself as Black as the tents of Kedar? And still more strong are the Bridegroom's words in chap. iv. 7:-- Thou art all fair, My love; And there is no spot in thee.