We will be glad and rejoice in Thee, We will make mention of Thy love more than of wine: Rightly do they love Thee. Another discovery not less important awaits her. She has seen the face of the KING, and as the rising sun reveals that which was hidden in the darkness, so His light has revealed her blackness to her. "Ah," she cries, "I am black";--"But comely," interjects the Bridegroom, with inimitable grace and tenderness. "Nay, 'black as the tents of Kedar,'" she continues. "Yet to Me," He responds, "thou art 'comely as the curtains of Solomon!'" Nothing humbles the soul like sacred and intimate communion with the LORD; yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that _He_ knows _all_, and, notwithstanding, loves us still. Things once called "little negligences" are seen with new eyes in "the secret of His presence." There we see the mistake, the sin, of not keeping our own vineyard. This the bride confesses:-- Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother's sons were incensed against me, They made me keeper of the vineyards; But mine own vineyard have I not kept. Our attention is here drawn to a danger which is pre-eminently one of this day: the intense activity of our times may lead to zeal in service, _to the neglect of personal communion_; but such neglect will not only lessen the value of the service, but tend to incapacitate us for the highest service. If we are watchful over the souls of others, and neglect our own--if we are seeking to remove motes from our brother's eye, unmindful of the beam in our own, we shall often be disappointed with our powerlessness to help our brethren, while our MASTER will not be less disappointed in us. Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do; and that all fruit borne when not abiding in CHRIST must be fruit of the flesh, and not of the SPIRIT. The sin of neglected communion may be forgiven, and yet the effect remain permanently; as wounds when healed often leave a scar behind. * * * * * We now come to a very sweet evidence of the reality of the heart-union of the bride with her LORD. She is one with the GOOD SHEPHERD: her heart at once goes instinctively forth to the feeding of the flock; but she would tread in the footsteps of Him whom her soul loveth, and would neither labour alone, nor in other companionship than His own:-- Tell me, O Thou whom my soul loveth, Where Thou feedest Thy flock, where Thou makest it to rest at noon: For why should I be as one that is veiled Beside the flocks of Thy companions? She will not mistake the society of His servants for that of their MASTER. If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, And feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.