No sooner has she uttered these words and acknowledged herself as His rightful possession--a claim which she had practically repudiated when she kept Him barred out--than her Bridegroom Himself appears; and with no upbraiding word, but in tenderest love, tells her how beautiful she is in His eyes, and speaks her praise to the daughters of Jerusalem. To her He says:-- Thou art beautiful, O My love, as Tirzah, [the beautiful city of Samaria,] Comely as Jerusalem, [the glorious city of the great KING,] Terrible [or rather brilliant] as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from Me, For they have overcome Me. (See vv. 4-7.) Then, turning to the daughters of Jerusalem, He exclaims:-- There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, And maidens without number. My dove, My perfect one, is but one; She is the only one of her mother; She is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed; Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her, saying, Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, Brilliant as an army with banners? Thus the section closes with communion fully restored; the bride reinstated and openly acknowledged by the Bridegroom as His own peerless companion and friend. The painful experience through which the bride has passed has been fraught with lasting good, and we have no further indication of interrupted communion, but in the remaining sections find only joy and fruitfulness. FOOTNOTE: [4] The Church of Popular Opinion, as pointed out by the Rev. Charles Fox in an address at Keswick, as the Church of Philadelphia is the Church of Brotherly Love. SECTION V FRUITS OF RECOGNIZED UNION Cant. vi. 11-viii. 4 IN the second and fourth sections of this book we found the communion of the bride broken; in the former by backsliding into worldliness, and in the latter through slothful ease and self-satisfaction. The present section, like the third, is one of unbroken communion. It is opened by the words of the bride:-- I went down into the garden of nuts, To see the green plants of the valley, To see whether the vine budded, _And_ the pomegranates were in flower. Or ever I was aware, my soul set me _Among_ the chariots of my willing people.