dantly, O Beloved.

The consecration of all to our MASTER, far from lessening our power to
impart, increases both our power and our joy in ministration. The five
loaves and two fishes of the disciples, first given up to and blessed by
the LORD, were abundant supply for the needy multitudes, and grew, in
the act of distribution, into a store of which twelve hampers full of
fragments remained when all were fully satisfied.

We have, then, in this beautiful section, as we have seen, a picture of
unbroken communion and its delightful issues. May our lives correspond!
First, one with the KING, then speaking of the KING; the joy of
communion leading to fellowship in service, to a being all for JESUS,
ready for any experience that will fit for further service, surrendering
all to Him, and willing to minister all for Him. There is no room for
love of the world here, for union with CHRIST has filled the heart;
there is nothing for the gratification of the world, for all has been
sealed and is kept for the MASTER'S use.

JESUS, my life is Thine!
And evermore shall be
Hidden in Thee.
For nothing can untwine
Thy life from mine.

SECTION IV

COMMUNION AGAIN BROKEN--RESTORATION

Cant. v. 2-vi. 10

THE fourth section commences with an address of the bride to the
daughters of Jerusalem, in which she narrates her recent sad experience,
and entreats their help in her trouble. The presence and comfort of her
Bridegroom are again lost to her; not this time by relapse into
worldliness, but by slothful self-indulgence.

We are not told of the steps that led to her failure; of how self again
found place in her heart. Perhaps spiritual pride in the achievements
which grace enabled her to accomplish was the cause; or, not improbably,
a cherished satisfaction in the _blessing_ she had received, instead of
in the BLESSER Himself, may have led to the separation. She seems to
have been largely unconscious of her declension; self-occupied and
self-contented, she scarcely noticed His absence; she was resting,
resting alone,--never asking where He had gone, or how He was employed.
And more than this, the door of her chamber was not only closed, but
barred; an evidence that His return was neither eagerly desired nor
expected.

Yet her heart was not far from Him: there was a music in His voice that
awakened echoes in her soul such as no other voice could have stirred.
She was st