Daily Encouragementنموونە

Are we right to hear in the words of this Song the heavenly Lover speaking to our hearts? Has the Bride of Christ erred, since down the centuries she has heard the voice of her Beloved here? Let us hear testimony.

Bernard of Clairvaux wrote: “Here is the ocean of the love divine for the whole church.”

Jonathan Edwards, writing of his conversion, said, “These words used to be abundantly with me, ‘I am the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys.’ The words seemed to me, sweetly to represent the loveliness and beauty of Jesus Christ. The whole book used to be pleasant to me, and I used to be much in reading it.”

The testimony from missionary sources is particularly abundant. Let Hudson Taylor represent them. Most of them could not have penned Union and Communion, his classic book on the Song. However, they would have known what he was talking about.

Many hymns reflect the language of this book and the experience of a myriad Christian souls:

I lift my heart to Thee,
Saviour Divine,
For Thou art all to me
And I am Thine.
Is there on earth a closer tie than this
That my Beloved’s mine and I am His.