How different her position from what it might have been! Instead of seeking Him alone, desolate and in the dark, she might have gone forth with Him in the sunshine, leaning upon His arm. She might have exchanged the partial view of her Beloved through the lattice, when she could no longer say "Nothing between," for the joy of His embrace, and His public confession of her as His chosen bride! The watchmen that go about the city found me: _To whom I said_, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, When I found Him whom my soul loveth. She had already obeyed His command, "Arise, and come away." Fearless of reproach, she was seeking Him in the dark; and when she began to confess her LORD, she soon found Him and was restored to His favour:-- I held Him, and would not let Him go, Until I had brought Him into my mother's house, And into the chamber of her that conceived me. Jerusalem above is the mother of us all. There it is that communion is enjoyed, not in worldly ways or self-willed indulgence. Communion fully restored, the section closes, as did the first, with the loving charge of the Bridegroom that none should disturb His bride:-- I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the roes, and by the hinds of the field, (By all that is loving and beautiful and constant), That ye stir not up, nor awake My love, Until she[3] please. May we all, while living down here, in the world, but not of it, find our home in the heavenly places to which we have been raised, and in which we are seated together with CHRIST. Sent into the world to witness for our MASTER, may we ever be strangers there, ready to confess Him the true object of our soul's devotion. How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O LORD of hosts! My soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out unto the living GOD. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: They will be still praising Thee. . . . A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my GOD Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD GOD is a Sun and Shield: The LORD will give grace and glory: No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee! FOOTNOTE: [3] See note on p. 26. SECTION III THE JOY OF UNBROKEN COMMUNION Cant. iii. 6-v. 1 O JESU, KING most wonderful, Thou CONQUEROR renown'd, Thou sweetness most ineffable, In whom all joys are found! Thee, JESU, may our voices bless; Thee may we love alone; And ever in our lives express The image of Thine own.