erusalem.

It is interesting to compare the bride's description of the Bridegroom
with the descriptions of "the Ancient of Days" in Dan. vii. 9, 10, and
of our risen LORD in Rev. i. 13-16. The differences are very
characteristic.

In Dan. vii. we see the Ancient of Days seated on the throne of
judgment; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like
the pure wool; His throne and His wheels were as burning fire, and a
fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. The Son of Man was
brought near before Him, and received from Him dominion, and glory, and
an everlasting kingdom that shall not be destroyed. In Rev. i. we see
the Son of Man Himself clothed with a garment down to the foot, and His
head and His hair were white as wool, white as snow; but the bride sees
her Bridegroom in all the vigour of youth, with locks "bushy, and black
as a raven." The eyes of the risen SAVIOUR are described as "a flame of
fire," but His bride sees them "like doves beside the water brooks." In
Revelation "His voice is as the voice of many waters . . . and out of His
mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword." To the bride, His lips are as
lilies, dropping liquid myrrh, and His mouth most sweet. The countenance
of the risen SAVIOUR was "as the sun shineth in his strength," and the
effect of the vision on John--"when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one
dead"--was not unlike the effect of the vision given to Saul as he
neared Damascus. But to His bride "His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent
as the cedars." The LION of the tribe of Judah is to His own bride the
KING of love; and, with full heart and beaming face, she so recounts His
beauties that the daughters of Jerusalem are seized with strong desire
to seek Him with her, that they also may behold His beauty.

Whither is thy Beloved gone,
O thou fairest among women?
Whither hath thy Beloved turned Him,
That we may seek Him with thee?

The bride replies:--

My Beloved is gone down to His garden, to the beds of spices,
To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine:
He feedeth His flock among the lilies.

Forlorn and desolate as she might appear she still knows herself as the
object of His affections, and claims Him as her own. This expression, "I
am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine," is similar to that found in
the second chapter, "My Beloved i