Jesus was making himself absent

JESUS WAS MAKING HIMSELF ABSENT
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Song of Solomon5:6 6I opened for my beloved, but my
belovedhad left; he was gone. My heart sank at his
departure. I looked for him but did not find him. I
calledhim but he did not answer.
THE SOUL’S DESERTIONNO. 3552
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1917
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON
“My beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone.” Solomon’sSong 5:6
The happiest condition of a Christian out of heaven is to live in the conscious
enjoyment of the presence of the Lord Jesus. Whenthe love of Christ is shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, the believer need not envy an angel his
harp of gold. It matters not what may be his outward trial, the Holy Ghostis
able to make the heart live above all surrounding circumstances, so thatwe
can have summer in the midst of winter, and pluck our ripest fruits when
there are neither leaves nor fruits upon the tree. But the Christian is
unhappy, unhappy to the utmost degree, wheneverhe loses the sense of the

presence ofhis Lord. Then the pillars of his house are made to tremble, his
fresh springs are dried up, the sun is hid from his eyes, and the sky is so dark
overheadthat he walks, or rather wanders, about a world which cannot
render to his soul any substantial comfort. Were he a worldling he could live
upon the world, but having been taught by grace to aspire after something
nobler and better, the loss of that is exceedinglygrievous to his spirit. I
question whether the most of Christians do not sometimes lose the enjoyment
of the Lord’s company. I question yet further, whether there are not very
many professors who live contentedly under that loss, nor canI accountfor
this, except on the supposition that they canhave known but little of that
presence in their best estate. Otherwise, theymust be in a most sicklyand
slumbering condition of soul, gradually becoming worse and worse, orelse
they never could bear to have things as they are with them. It seems to me
that a real believer in a sound state of health no soonerloses the presence of
his Lord than he begins to cry for Him. Whither has Christ gone? Why have I
lost sight of Him? The sounds of His footsteps still linger in the ear. The
believer wakens and starts, and asks himself, “How is this? Whither has my
Belovedgone? What is it that has chasedHim from me? I cannotlive if He
remove, therefore, let me speedily seek Him, and never rest until once more I
am restoredto full communion with Him.” Let me, then, talk a little with such
believers as have lost for awhile the comfortable presence oftheir Lord. The
first question shall be— I. WHY WAS THE BELOVED GONE? According
to the text, He was gone. Readthe preceding verses or perhaps you have them
upon your memories. The spouse had been asleep. This was the beginning of
the mischief. “I sleep, but my heart waketh.” If we begin to fall asleep, we
must not wonder if we miss the quickening and comforting influences of our
Lord’s presence. Jesus Christdid not put us in His church that we might sleep
awayour time on earth. Do not fancy that such an active spirit as that which
burned and blazed in our Savior’s flesh can be content to hold communion
with lazy sluggards who toss upon their beds and say, “Yet a little more sleep
and a little more folding of the arms to slumber.” It is the active Christian
who keeps pace with Christ. Christ is a quick walker, if you crawl along the
path of duty, He will soonleave you behind, until you begin to inquire,
“Whither is he gone?” andquicken your pace to overtake Him. Are there any
here who have missedChrist’s presence, and who may trace it to the fact that

they have been drowsy in prayer of late, heavy in all the exercisesofstudy and
duty, and in fact, sleepy altogether? Have they been without care for the
conversionof others, having scarcelyanyconcerneven about their own
children, perhaps indifferent to the welfare of Christ’s church, feeding little
upon the Word, and resorting but little to the assemblies ofthe saints? Marvel
not if the Belovedwithdraws
2 The Soul’s DesertionSermon #3552
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Himself when His spouse does nothing but nod and sleep, instead of keeping
company with Him in active service! After the spouse had fallen asleep, her
Belovedcame and knockedatthe door, saying, “Opento me, my sister, my
love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with
the drops of the night.” Yet she refused to open the door to him. Surely this is
another sin which drives Christ away, when admonished for falling into a
drowsy state, not to regard it. Depend upon it there is extreme peril to a soul
that does not acceptthe warning. Awful as it is to sin when unwarned, it is still
more horrible to persevere in sin in the teeth of rebuke, and after gentle,
loving expostulations. What! did conscience prick me, and will I not be
scrupulous? After having seenmy fault and smarted for it, do I still persistin
it? Have I been lukewarmand indifferent? Does the Holy Spirit visit me,
remonstrate with me, and make me feelthat I am gradually backsliding, and
little by little declining? Have I vowed and resolvedthat I would seek spiritual
recovery, and am I still as dull, careless,and unconcernedas ever? This
argues ill and augurs ill for my soul! The Belovedwill not put up with these
rebuffs forever. Out of love to us, He will hide His face, if we grieve Him, He
will go, if we walk frowardly towards Him, He will soonwalk frowardly
towards us. These are God-provoking sins, it is a defying of His Spirit when
you thus spurn His gentle admonitions. Note, further, that the spouse, when
her Belovedknockedatthe door, made idle excuses that she had put off her
cloak, and put off her sandals, and could not put them on. She was taking her
rest upon her couch, and could not bring herself to come to the door to let him
in. Ah! how often self-indulgence lies at the bottom of the sin that drives
Christ away!A believer cannot let his lower nature get the uppermost, and yet

find that he is walking agreeablyto the Lord’s mind. Your spiritual nature
ought to keepyour mental nature under control, and your mental nature
ought to keepyour bodily or animal nature entirely in check. A man who is a
thinker and a philosopher will scorn to let the mere passions governhim, but
a true Christian, having a yet higher spirit within him than the mere mind,
having that new living seedwithin himself which comes from God, and leads
him to God, should not and must not allow his basernature to reign supreme.
If we indulge the flesh, depend upon it Christ will not be with us. He does not
come to dwell with swine, but with men, and not with men of the earth earthy,
exceptin order to renew them and make them like Himself, who is the second
man, the Lord from heaven, to make them heavenly. If your conversationis
to be with Christ, your conversationmust be in heaven. If you would enjoy the
sunlight, you must not bow your face down to the earth. If you seek to be
enriched in the things of God, you must not be forever groping among the
dark pits and bogs, and morasses ofearth. Oh! soul, are you indulging
yourself and taking things easy? Carnalsecurity is one of your worstenemies.
Do I hear any man say, “It is enough, my soul, you have much spiritual goods
laid up for many years, take your ease”? Do you think that there is no need
for you to watch? You have become so experiencedthat there is no occasion
for you to be much in prayer, for a word with you is as goodas an hour with
some, that there is no cause for you to be continually striving againstyour
besetting sin, you have got such complete mastery over these infirmities. Oh!
when we talk so we betray the darkness in which we are living, the self-
deceptionwe are fostering, the corruption we are degenerating into, and the
desertionwe are provoking. Such backsliding as this will soonmake Jesus
hide His face from us. Beloved, the simple reasonof Christ’s conscious
absence from our souls is, in most cases, sin. I sayin most cases, for sometimes
Christ may hide Himself in absolute sovereignty, but I am always jealous lest
we should charge God foolishly. You are so apt to put too many saddles on
that stalking horse. There are such multitudes of professors who would even
excuse their sins upon the plea of a divine sovereigntywhich exposedthem to
temptation, that I scarcelylike to mention it. I believe that God does not
afflict willingly or arbitrarily the children of men. Neither does Christ hide
His face from His people for nought, but your sins have separatedbetween
you and your God. He chastisesus, not as silly parents may do, out of mere

spleenor caprice, orto please themselves, as the apostle seemedto think some
fathers did in his day, for he says, “Theyverily chastenedus after their
Sermon #3552 The Soul’s Desertion3
Volume 63 3
own pleasure.” But when God chastens us, it is for our profit. Our goodis His
aim, and His end in using the rod of correction. He makes us smart for the sin
which seemedsweet. He nauseatesour palate with the bitter fruits of
disobedience, that we may afterwards relish the peaceable fruits of
righteousness. Now, beloved, in eachindividual case the hiding of the Lord’s
face may be occasionedby a different sin. It is very probable that my Lord
thinks that to be a high sin in me which He would take little notice of in you. It
is equally possible that He may think that to be peculiarly offensive in you
which He would not visit in my case withstripes, for according to our
constitution, our office, our experience, our light, and our several
circumstances, ourtransgressionsmay be estimated. You are not provoked,
perhaps, by a gooddeal of noise from one of your children, but half that noise
from another of your children would vex you exceedingly. Becausethe one
happens to be of a quick, impetuous temperament, you set it down to natural
disposition, but the other, being of gentler habit and quieter mood, you
upbraid him for his excitement, as if it were of evil pretense and intended to
aggravate andannoy. So you may have a confidential servant in your family,
from whom you may reasonablyexpectmore care, thoughtfulness, and
circumspectionthan you look for in any of the other servants. The more trust
you repose, the more scrupulousness yourequire. Let us, then, eachone
according to his position, seek graceto walk uprightly, carefully, tenderly. It
has been well saidthat what an ordinary subject might do or say, one of the
Cabinet Council must not even think. The favorite of kings has a dangerous
path to walk, and though it is a blessedprivilege to be the favorite of heaven,
it involves a very solemn responsibility. “You only have I known of all the
inhabitants of the earth; therefore, I will punish you for your iniquities.” You
can see defilement on a white slabwhich you would not have noticedon the
common soil, so there are sins which spoil the characterof saints that would
hardly be observedin ordinary society. The presence ofChrist can only be

preservedwith incessantwatchfulness and inviolate fidelity. The sacredDove
is soondisturbed. The Belovedis soonwakedup and made to stir. Hence it
should be our cry, “I charge you by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that
ye stir not up, nor awake, my love until he please.” Having thus consideredthe
cause why the Belovedis gone, let us inquire— II. WHAT ENSUES UPON
THE WITHDRAWAL OF HIS PRESENCE? Greatmistakeshave been
made upon this subject. Some have supposedthat believers suddenly cease to
be followers of Christ, go back into the world, apostatize and perish. But the
Lord does not desertHis people after this fashion. He has not castawayHis
people whom He did foreknow, and He never will. Has He put His hand to the
work of their salvation, He will not turn awayfrom them. When He turns
awayit is always with a gracious motive, hence the consequences, though
often very sad, are not fatal. The withdrawal of His conscious presence is not
intended to slay us, though it brings us very low, and would leave us a prey to
destruction were it not that He stays His hand in time and gives grace to keep
the soulalive under His desertion. As soonas Christ is gone, there is a
suspensionof those influences that once made the Christian happy and strong.
The Holy Spirit no longercomforts the soul. The Word does not enliven or
invigorate. The sweetestsermons fail to cheerthe heart. Even the promises of
God’s Holy Book are like lanterns without candles, they bring no light. When
Christ hides His face from a disciple, his spirits flag, and he feels a general
depression. He cannot pray as it was his wont to do, he cannot preachas he
once did. The holy duties to which he tenaciouslyclings become rather a
burden than a pleasure. Insteadof those delightful walks he had alone when
his soulwent up to God in quiet meditation, he finds his thoughts all
dissipated, scatteredhither and thither. Norcan he by any means concentrate
them, far less can he make them soarand mount towards Christ. He goes to
his Bible—notso often as he did, nor yet so solemnly as he did—but the Book
does not speak to him. God answers him neither by Urim nor by Thummim,
nor by open voice. And now he does not seemto have the illuminations of
God’s Spirit. He does not dive into the meaning of the Word as once he did.
Providence, again, seems dark. The secretof the Lord does not appear to be
with him as

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it formerly was. He has no enjoyment. The soul follows after God after a
fashion, but alas!he has to cry, “Why art thou castdown, O my soul, and why
art thou disquieted within me?” Thus divine influences are for a while
suspended. Then it follows that he loses much of his assurance. He used to
know he was a Christian. Now he begins to sing, “’Tis a point I long to know.”
So he has to furbish up his old evidences, and eatsome of the stale meat that
he used to care little for when he used to live upon a daily portion from the
King, even a portion from the King’s table. He sits down in the ashes and is
glad to sit there. Sometimes he mourns because he cannotmourn, and frets
because he cannot fret. While he sees his sin, he is afraid he has not a true
feeling of it. Though he still looks to the cross ofChrist and to the precious
blood of atonement, he does not seemto have the powerof looking that he
once had, nor to derive that comfort from casting himself upon the finished
work which aforetime he did when Jesus Christ was manifestly with him. But
perhaps it will aid you in realizing the dark features of this desertionif I use a
little simile. You see full often a house that is left by its former tenant and is
shut up. Jesus Christ never altogetherleaves a heart of which He has once
takenpossession. There is one room in a believer’s soul which the Holy Ghost
never quits. Where He comes, He comes to abide and to abide forever. Still,
that room is so secretthat while He resides there, the whole house may look as
if it was deserted. Compare that empty house with a cheerful home. What a
contrastbetweenits previous and present condition! Why, the joy has gone
from it. The blinds are drawn down—or perhaps, the windows stare at you in
their desolation. The house looks unfurnished. It is no longer an ornament to
the street. Its decorations have vanished since its inhabitants have fled. The
house is there, with all its capacities,the home, with all its vivacities, is
awanting. The life and the loveliness have gone from it. And so a child of God
soonloses allhis joy and comfort when the tenant of his soul is withdrawn. No
sparkling of the eye, no singing of the great hallelujahs, no sounding of the
cymbals, even the highsounding cymbals. He will be glad enough to get a note
out of the sackbutnow. He cannot get up to those glorious songs which once
made his spirit keeptune with the angels because the joys of heaven had come
down to earth. Then the house, being empty, is sure to get into a state of filth.

There is nobody to cleanthe dust, all sorts of spiders and foul things get into
the corners and crannies, and the longer the house is shut up the more these
creatures multiply. Downin the cellar there is a little vegetation—long yellow
stalks and roots trying to live—left there by some old inhabitant. But there is
nothing fair, nor beautiful, all is uncomfortable. So it gets to be in our hearts.
All sorts of evils spring up. Evils we little suspected, whichwould have been
kept in check by the presence of Christ, begin to multiply and increase upon
us, and the little goodthat is in us seems to be an unhealthy sprout, bringing
forth nothing unto perfection. Then a house with nobody in it decays. How the
metal rusts! How the paint gets stained! How the woodbegins to rot! How the
whole thing has a damp kind of smell! It is all going to ruin. Why, ten years of
habitation would not do so much mischief as these twelve months of shutting
up. When Jesus Christis gone, everything is amiss—love nearly expires, hope
scarcelyglimmers, faith is well-nigh paralyzed, no grace is in lively exercise.
Without the life of God in the soul, there is a total collapse, anda chill strikes
right through the spirit. Has the house been long empty? The boys outside are
pretty sure to mark it for their sport, and to break the windows. In fact, it
stands exposedto all sorts of outward damage. So, too, with malice and
mischief, the devil will come upon a man when he knows that he has lost the
light of God’s countenance. Whata horrible old cowardhe is! When the child
of God is rejoicing in the company of Christ, he has not often to encounter
Satan. The accuserofthe brethren wellknows how to time his tactics and his
temptations. But when he sees that the Lord has departed, then Satantakes
courage, andattacks the child of God to his serious damage and hurt. I heard
the other day of a goodcountry ploughman who told a story of victory over
temptation in his ownsimple style. He was a man who fearedGod above his
neighbors and seemedto live above the
Volume 63 5
world in spiritual things. A minister askedhim if he did not gettempted and
worried sometimes by Satan. “Yes,” he said, “I have known much about being
tempted by Satan in my time. Why, sir, ten years ago I was threshing in this
barn here, and the devil came upon me with a strong temptation. It plagued

and worried me so, that I could not getrid of it, till at length I put down my
flail, and got awayinto a corner, just beyond the wheat there, and I wrestled
with God againsthim until I gained such a victory that I came back to my
place rejoicing. Many a time since that,” said the old man, “he has lurked
about my path, but I never stop to parley. I repeatthe promise by which I
found a way of escape that day in this barn, and I feel myself made strong by
the remembrance of that victory.” Ay, and just so when we can remember
some of those occasionswhenwe seemedto overcome temptation by private
communion with God, then we get strong, but—
“Let the Lord be once withdrawn. And we attempt the work alone, When new
temptations spring and rise, We find how greatour weakness is.”
Like Samson, whenhis hair was lost, we think we shall defeat Satanas at
other times, but we—
“Shake ourlimbs with vain surprise, Make feeble fight, and lose our eyes.”
When houses have been long left without tenants and look deserted, they get
up a rumor that they are haunted. And sure I am that when a heart has been
left by Christ, and there have been no comfortable enjoyments of His
presence, our souls do get haunted with strange, mysterious doubts and fears,
vexations and forebodings which you cannot grapple with, horrors that do not
take any shape, troubles that ought not to be distressing, alarms that are made
up of shadows, dangers thathave not any realexistence. Oh! that Christ were
there! As phantoms would all vanish in the sunlight, so would all these dreary
doubts and dismal dilemmas be chasedawayif Christ returned. Oh! that our
poor empty house could once more have its gates flung wide open, and that
the King could come to dwell in His own palace, and make it all bright and
lustrous with His presence!Master, see how sick we are without You! Come,
blessedPhysician!Jesus, see what wretchedbeings we are if You withdraw!
Come, our Beloved, come to us! Let the sad effects of Your departure quicken
Your footsteps, and bring You over the mountains of division to the longing

spirits of Your fainting children. Passing on, let us inquire— III. WHAT
COMFORT IS THERE FOR A SOUL WHEN THE BELOVED HAS
WITHDRAWN HIMSELF AND IS GONE? Let me reply, there is no comfort
at all that will be of any service to you unless you get Him back. Ah! but if a
wife loves her husband, and he is gone, we may quote the old song—
“There is nae luck about the house When the gude man’s awa’.”
The dear man, the joy of her heart, being gone, she could not make anything
go well. And so, where the loving heart has lost its Beloved, its best Beloved,
there seems to be no joy anywhere. Nothing can make up to a regenerate soul
for the loss of the societyofher Lord. And yet some considerations may help
to stay us while we are seeking forit. Though He is gone, He is our Beloved
still. Though we cannotsee Him, yet we love Him, and if we cannot enjoy Him,
we thirst after Him, and that is some consolation, though it be a poor
consolation, to think it has not quite lostall its life, for it has got life enoughto
smart, and life enough to be in pain, and life enough to feel itself in exile until
Christ’s return.
6 Volume 63
I think, too, there is some comfort in this, that though He is gone, He is gone
out of love. Was it in a tiff of anger? yet it was rather a rebuke of our sins
than a rejectionof our persons. Christ withdraws because He wants to bring
us to our senses, andto draw us more closelyto Himself. He knows that if we
were to have enjoyments, and yet walk in sin, this would be highly dangerous,
therefore, these enjoyments must be withheld till the heart is broken, and the
soul abhors itself in dust and ashes. Itis some comfort also, that though He is
gone, He is not gone out of earshot. Jesus Christcan still hear the cry of His
people. Nay, He is not gone beyond the reach of His eyesight. He is looking
upon His poor desertedone to see whatthe effectof His hiding Himself is.
And there is this to be said, that He is not so far gone but what at any moment
He can return, and His return can at once make our souls like the chariots of

Amminadib. He can rise upon our darkness, andthat in the next instant if so
it pleasedHim. He is gone, but He is not altogethergone. He has not takenHis
love from us, nor shall His loving-kindness utterly fail. Still on His hands He
bears the marks of His passionfor our salvation. Still on His breastplate
glitter the jewels that bear our names. He cannotforget us, though He hides
Himself. He may be asleep, but it is in the same vesselwith us, and near the
helm. He may appear to have utterly desertedus, but “cana woman forget
her sucking child that she should not have compassionon the son of her
womb?” Yea, they may forget, but Christ shall never forgetHis saints. But
now, lastly— IV. WHAT IS OUR DUTY IN SUCH A PLIGHT? If He is
gone, what then? I answer—ourduty is to repent of that which has driven
Him away. We must institute a searchatonce. Bunyan describes the citizens
of Mansoulas searching for the cause why Immanuel had withdrawn Himself,
and they took MasterCarnal-Security, and burned his house, and hanged him
on a gallows on the site where the house stood, for it was through feasting with
him that the Prince was angered, and His subjects lostHis presence. Search
yourselves if you are not as happy as you were, if you are not living as near
heaven-gate as you were, searchyourselves. And having so done, and found
out the evil, ask grace to be purged of it. Oh! you will fall into that evil againif
you trust to your own strength, but in reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s power,
you canovercome it, you can put your footupon the neck of this evil, and so
destroy it that it shall not molest you again. And then, beloved, let me
earnestlyentreat you—and I am speaking more to myself, perhaps, than I am
to any of you—to stir up your whole soulto recoverlostground. Be ashamed
that there is any lost ground to recover. Oh! it is easierto lose Christ than it is
to find Him after we have lostHim. It is easierto go straight on in the strength
of grace than it is to have to go back to find your roll which you have lost
under the settle in the Harbor of Ease, andthen, after going back, to have to
go over the same ground again. When you have gotthe wings of an eagle,
what blessedwork it is to soar, and to pass over long tracks ofcountry! But
when the eagle-wing is gone, and you have to limp painfully along, like David,
with broken bones, it is hard work. But beloved, if you have slipped at all, ask
for grace to recovernow. For my ownpart, I feel I have so little grace that I
have none to lose. As to falling back—oh!what should we be if we fell at all
back, for we are back enough now! We are nowhere at all in comparison with

the saints of God in the olden time. We are but beginners and babes, but
where, where, where shall we be if we are to go farther back still? Nay, nay,
sovereigngrace, preventso dreadful a catastrophe!Press forward. And
brethren, will it not be a greatthing and a right thing for us to endeavorto set
apart much time for specialprayer that we may have lost grace restored?
Should we not setourselves to this one thing, that we must get back by the
simplicity of faith to the cross-foot, andby the earnestness oflove unto the
bosom of the Masteronce more, and that we will not be satisfiedwith
preaching, and praying, and going to places of worship, or with ordinances, or
with anything—until we getChrist back again? Oh! my soul, I charge you be
content with nothing till you getyour Lord again. Say, with the good
housewife I spoke of just now, whose husband was from home, “Yes, this
room shall be decorated, and every part of the house shall be cleansed, but ah!
the joy of my heart will be to see him return, and until
Volume 63 7
he come the house cannot be cheerful and joyous.” It is so with our souls. We
must have the King back, and back soon. But when He does come back, we
must hold Him fast, and not let Him go. Charge your souls to be more careful
in the future, lest you again provoke Him to jealousy. Alas!for those who
never knew my Lord! Oh! may they seek Him early and find Him speedily! If
it is sad to lose His presence for awhile, what must it be to live and die without
Christ? Oh! that is a black word for anyone to have written on his brow,
“Without Christ.” If you are in that condition, dear hearer, may divine grace
bring you to Christ, and Christ to you, that you may enjoy the fellowshipof
His love! Amen.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

The Dreamof Distress
J.R. Thomson
Songs 5:6
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was
gone:my soul failed when he spoke:I sought him…
No passage in the Canticles is more pathetic than this. Whilst the prevalent
tone of the Song of Songs is a tone of joyful love, we meet here with the
sentiment of anxious sorrow. We are reminded of the grief of Mary, when, on
the resurrection-morn, she exclaimed, "They have takenawaymy Lord, and I
know not where they have laid him." A true transcript of the moods to which
experience is subject! And not without spiritual lessons whichmay be turned
to true profit.
I. A TRANSIENT ESTRANGEMENTAND BRIEF WITHDRAWAL. There
have been periods in the history of the Church of Christ, resembling the
captivity of Israel in the East, whenthe countenance ofthe Lord has been
hidden from the sight of his people. The heart, which knoweth its own
bitterness, is now and againconscious ofa want of happy fellowshipwith the
best and dearestFriend. But it is not Christ who changes. Whenthe sun is
eclipsed, it does not cease to shine, though its beams may not reachthe earth.
And when Christ is hidden, he remains himself "the same yesterday, and
today, and forever." But something has come betweenthe Sun of
Righteousnessand. the soul which derives all its spiritual light from him, and
the vision is obscured. Selfishness, worldliness,unbelief, may hinder the soul
from enjoying the Saviour's presence and grace. The fault is not his, but ours.

II. DISTRESSINGSYMPTOMSOF SUCH ESTRANGEMENT AND
WITHDRAWAL. How simple and how touching is the complaint of the bride!
"I sought him, but I could not find him; I calledhim, but he gave me no
answer." Yetit is the nature of Christ to delight in the quest and the cry of
those he loves, to reveal himself to such as ever ready to approachand to
bless. There may, however, be a reason, and faith cannotquestion that there is
a reason, for the withholding of an immediate response. There may be on the
Saviour's part a perception that a strongerconfidence, a more evident desire,
a truer love, are needed, and are thus only to be called forth. It may be well
that for a seasonthe soul should suffer for its sin, that it may be encouragedto
deeper penitence and to more fervent prayer.
III. AFFECTIONATE YEARNING THE EARNEST OF SPEEDY
RECONCILIATION AND RENEWEDHAPPINESS. The parable represents
the bride as sad and anxious, as enduring bitter disappointment, as oppressed
by the heartless insult and injury of those indifferent to her woes;yet as
retaining all her love, and only concernedas soonas may be to find her
beloved. A true picture of the devout and affectionate friend of Christ, who is
only drawn to him the Closerby the sorrowfulexperiences and repeated trials
of life. When the Christian offends his Lord, it is a goodsign that he is not
really forsaken, it is an earnestof the restorationof fellowship, if he ardently
desires reconciliation, and takes measures to recoverthe favour which for a
seasonhe has lost. The beauty of Christ appears the more inimitable and
supreme, the fellowship of Christ appears the mere precious and desirable.
And this being so, the hour is surely near when the face of Christ shall appear
in unclouded benignity, when the voice of Christ shall be heard uttering
Divine assurances andpromises in tones of kindliest friendship. - T.
The Dreamof Gethsemane
S. Conway

Songs 5:2-8
I sleep, but my heart wakes:it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying,
Open to me, my sister, my love…
Under the imagery of this dream devout students have seenpictured forth the
pathetic facts of the gardenin which our Lord was in agony, and his disciples
slept (cf. Matthew 26:40-43 and parallels). We have -
I. THE DISTRESSED SAVIOR. (Ver. 2.) He desiredhis disciples to watch
with him. He needed and desired their sympathy and the solace whichtheir
watchful love would have given him. His soul was troubled. He was as he who
is told of here, and to whom the cold drenching dews and the damp chills of
the dreary night had causedmuch distress, and who therefore asks the aid of
her whom he loved. So did Jesus seek the aid of those he loved. He had right to
expectit. He said to Peter, "Simon, sleepestthou? - thou so loved, so
privileged, so loud in thy professionof love to me, so faithfully warned,
sleepestthou? And still the like occurs. The Lord looking for the aid of his
avoweddisciples, distressedby manifold causes,and that aid not forthcoming,
though he has such right to expect it. But he too often finds now what he
found then -
II. HIS DISCIPLES ASLEEP. (Ver. 3.) So the spouse here, as the disciples
there, and as man now, had composedherselfto sleep. The repeatedcalls of
him who by voice and knock soughtto arouse her failed. And so did the
repeatedvisits of Jesus to his disciples fail. And he finds the same still. The
poor excuses ofver. 3 serve well to set forth the excuses oftoday when he calls
on us now to aid and sympathize with him. Who really rouses himself for
Christ, and puts forth earnestself-denying endeavour to help his work? No
doubt the disciples had their excuses, andChrist then, as now, makes all

allowances. Butthe factremains the same. Christ wants us, and we are asleep.
The sleepertold of in this dream evidently was filled with self-reproach. It can
hardly have been otherwise with the disciples, and it is so with us now when in
our holier moments the vision of our Lord in all his love for us comes before
our hearts. Then we confess, It is high time to awake outof sleep."
III. THE SORROWFULAWAKENING. The sleepertold of here awoke(ver.
5) to find her beloved gone. And in Gethsemane the disciples awokeatlast. In
this song (ver. 5) we are told how he had thrust in his hand by the latch hole
(see Exposition). But he had withdrawn it, as she whom he had appealed to
had not awaked;and, finding this, her heart was touched, and she rose to
open to him. And doubtless when the disciples saw the gleam of the lanterns
and heard their Lord's word, "Arise," and the tramp of the armed multitude
who had come to arresthim, then their hearts were touched, and. they arose.
But it was too late. And like as the sleeperhere (ver. 5) did not withhold
tokens of her affection - she richly perfumed herself, her hands especially, in
tokenthereof as the Oriental manner was - so, too, the disciples in their way
made plain their love for their Lord. They would have fought for him - Peter
drew his swordat once - had he let them. But the opportunity for real service
was gone. The sleeperof this song tells how her heart smote her when her
beloved spoke, and we may well believe that it was so when the disciples heard
their Lord's voice. But in both cases it was too late. Who does not know the
sorrow that smites the soulwhen we realize that opportunities of succouring,
serving, and making glad the heart of some beloved one have been allowedto
pass by us unused, and now cannotbe recalled? Oh, if we had only been
awake then!
IV. THE UNAVAILING SEARCH. (Ver. 6.) Cf. Peter's tears;the sorrow of
the disciples. The reproaches ofconscience - they were the watchmen who met
and sternly dealt with her who is told of here, and made her ashamed. Such
failures in duty are followedby unavailing regrets and prayers. "Oh that I
knew where I might find him!" Conscience, the Word of God, faithful pastors,

- these are as the watchmen who meet such souls, and scantcomfort is or
ought to be had from them, but only deservedrebuke and reproach. It is all
true. What is told of in this verse must have happened then, does happen now.
Our Lord has left us, our joy is gone, we cannotfind him, tears and prayers
and searchseemall in vain.
V. THE HELP OF THE HOLY WOMEN. (Ver. 8 and Song of Solomon6:1.)
It was wise of the sleeper, now awake,to solicit help from the friends of her
beloved. And in the Gospelnarrative it is plain that the holy women who loved
and ministered to our Lord when on earth were a great help to his sorrowing
disciples. They were last at the cross and first at the sepulchre; they first
brought the gladtidings that he was risen. They representhis true Church.
And the sorrowing soul cannot do better than seek the sympathy and prayers
of those who love the Lord. Restorationoften comes by such means. Here is
one of their intercessions:"Thatit may please thee to strengthen such as do
stand, to comfort and help the weak hearted, to raise up them that fall, and
finally to beat down Satanunder our feet." Blessedis he who hath
intercessions suchas that offered for him. But better still not to need them. -
S.C.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(6) When he spake.—Wecansuppose an ejaculationof disappointment
uttered by the lover as he goes away, which catches the earof the heroine as
she wakes.
BensonCommentary

Song of Solomon 5:6. My beloved had withdrawn — Denied me his
comfortable presence, as a just punishment for my former neglect. My soul
failed — Hebrew, went out of me. I fainted, and was ready to die away; when
he spake — Or, for what he spake;for those endearing expressions related
Song of Solomon 5:2, which then I did not heed. I sought him — By diligent
inquiry and importunate prayer.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
5:2-8 Churches and believers, by carelessnessandsecurity, provoke Christ to
withdraw. We ought to notice our spiritual slumbers and distempers. Christ
knocks to awakenus, knocks by his word and Spirit, knocks by afflictions and
by our consciences;thus, Re 3:20. When we are unmindful of Christ, still he
thinks of us. Christ's love to us should engage ours to him, even in the most
self-denying instances;and we only can be gainers by it. Carelesssouls put
slights on Jesus Christ. Another could not be sentto open the door. Christ
calls to us, but we have no mind, or pretend we have no strength, or we have
no time, and think we may be excused. Making excusesis making light of
Christ. Those put contempt upon Christ, who cannotfind in their hearts to
bear a cold blast, or to leave a warm bed for him. See the powerful influences
of Divine grace. He put in his hand to unbolt the door, as one wearyof
waiting. This betokens a work of the Spirit upon the soul. The believer's rising
above self-indulgence, seeking by prayer for the consolationsofChrist, and to
remove every hinderance to communion with him; these actings of the soul
are representedby the hands dropping sweet-smelling myrrh upon the
handles of the locks. Butthe Beloved was gone!By absenting himself, Christ
will teachhis people to value his gracious visits more highly. Observe, the soul
still calls Christ her Beloved. Every desertionis not despair. Lord, I believe,
though I must say, Lord, help my unbelief. His words melted me, yet, wretch
that I was, I made excuses. The smothering and stifling of convictions will be
very bitter to think of, when God opens our eyes. The soul went in pursuit of
him; not only prayed, but used means, soughthim in the ways wherein he
used to be found. The watchmen wounded me. Some refer it to those who
misapply the word to awakenedconsciences. The charge to the daughters of
Jerusalem, seems to mean the distressedbeliever's desire of the prayers of the

feeblestChristian. Awakenedsouls are more sensible of Christ's withdrawings
than of any other trouble.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Sweetsmelling myrrh - Or (as in the margin) "running myrrh," that which
first and spontaneouslyexudes, i. e., the freshest, finest myrrh. Even in
withdrawing he has left this tokenof his unchanged love.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
6. withdrawn—He knockedwhenshe was sleeping;for to have left her then
would have ended in the death sleep;He withdraws now that she is roused, as
she needs correction(Jer2:17, 19), and can appreciate and safelybear it now,
which she could not then. "The strong He'll strongly try" (1Co 10:13).
when he spake—rather, "because ofHis speaking";at the remembrance of
His tender words (Job 29:2, 3; Ps 27:13;142:7), or till He should speak.
no answer—(Job23:3-9;30:20;34:29; La 3:44). Weak faith receives
immediate comfort (Lu 8:44, 47, 48); strong faith is tried with delay (Mt
15:22, 23).
Matthew Poole's Commentary
Withdrawn himself; denied me his gracious and comfortable presence, as a
just punishment for my former neglectand folly.
And was gone;either she repeats the same thing to show how deeply she was
affectedwith it; or this is added to imply that he had not only stepped aside,
but was quite gone away.
My soulfailed, Heb. went out of me. I fainted and was ready to die away
through excessive passion, as this phrase is used, Genesis 35:18 42:28, and
elsewhere.

When he spake;or, for what he spoke;for those endearing expressions related
Song of Solomon 5:2, which then I did not heed, but this sad occasionbrings
them to my remembrance; as ofttimes that word which is ineffectualwhen it is
preached, is afterwards brought to a man’s mind, and, produceth blessed
effects.
I sought him by diligent inquiry and importunate prayer. He gave me no
answer;that so he might both chastise herfolly, and quicken her desires, and
prepare the wayfor a more hearty welcome, andhis longerabode with her.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
I opened to my beloved,.... Which was what he desired, and was done in virtue
of his putting in his hand by the hole of the door; or by the exertion of his
efficacious grace, working in her both to will and to do, without which it
would not have been done; namely, her heart dilated, the desires and
affections of her soul enlargedtowards Christ, and every grace drawn forth
and exercisedonhim; and though the heart of a believer is sometimes shut to
Christ, yet when it is opened, it is only patent to him; the church thought
Christ was still at the door, and might be the more confirmed in it by what she
found on the handles of the lock;but lo her mistake,
but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone:a sad disappointment
this! she expectedto have seenhim, and been receivedin his arms and
embracedin his bosom; but insteadof that, he was gone out of sight and
hearing: this withdrawing was to chastise her for her former carriage, andto
show her more the evil of her sin, and his resentment of it; to try the truth and
strength of her grace to inflame her love the more, and sharpen her desires
after his presence, to prize it more when she had it, and be careful not to lose
it: her using two words of the same import, "he turned himself" (h), and was
gone, signifies that he was really gone, and not in her imagination only; and
that he was gone suddenly, at an unawares, and, as she might fear, would
never return; and these words being without a copulative, "had withdrawn
himself, he was gone", show herhaste in speaking, the confusion she was in,
thee strength of her passion, the greatness ofher disappointment and sorrow;

it is as if she was representedwringing her hands and crying, He is gone, he is
gone, he is gone;
my soulfailed when he spake;or "went out" (i); not out of her body, but she
fell into a swoon, and was as one dead; for a while; and this was "at" or
"through his word" (k), as it may be rendered; through what he said when he
turned about and departed, expressing his resentment at her behavior; or
rather at the remembrance of his kind and tender language he used when he
first calledher to arise, "saying, opento me, my sister, my spouse", &c. Sol
5:2; and when she called to mind how sadly she had slighted and neglected
him, it cut her to the heart, and threw her into this fainting fit;
I sought him, but I could not find him; in the public ordinances of his house;
See Gill on Sol3:2;
I calledhim, but he gave me no answer;calledhim by his name as she went
along the streets and broad ways of the city, where she supposed he might be;
praying aloud, and most earnestlyand fervently, that he would return to her;
but had no answer, atleastnot immediately, and thus be treated her in the
same manner she had treated him; he had called to her and she disregarded
him, and now she calls to him, and he takes no notice of her; but this was not
in a way of vindictive wrath and punishment, as in Proverbs 1:24; but of
chastisementand correction.
(h) "verteret se", Pagninus;"circuerat", Montanus. (i) Sept. "egressaest",
Pagninus, Montanus, Marckius. (k) , Sept. "in loquela ejus", Marckius.
Geneva Study Bible
I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was
gone:my soul failed when he spake:I sought him, but I could not find him; I
calledhim, but he gave me no answer.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges
6. had withdrawn himself] Lit. had turned away. This disappointment is just
such as comes in dreams.

my soulfailed when he spake]R.V. My soul had failed me when he spake.
This is the explanation of his departure. She had fainted when she heard his
voice, and when she came to herselfand opened the door he was gone. This
seems to be the simple explanation of a clause which has greatlyvexed
interpreters. Hitzig, Ewald, and Oettli would read for bĕdhabbĕrô = ‘when he
spake,’bĕdhobhrô, in the sense ‘whenhe turned away.’But this is an
Aramaic meaning, and though, according to the Oxford Heb. Lex. this is
probably the root meaning of the word from which all the others are derived,
the verb is not found in Heb. in this sense. As the ordinary signification of the
verb gives a goodmeaning here it seems unnecessaryto go beyond it.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 6. - I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself,
and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spake:I sought him, but I could
not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The meaning is this -
The voice of my beloved struck my heart; but in the consciousness thatI had
estrangedmyself from him I could not openly meet him, I could not offer him
mere empty excuses.Now I am made sensible of my own deficiency. I call
after him. I long for his return, but it is in vain (cf. the two disciples going to
Emmaus, Luke 24, "Did not our heart burn within us," etc.?). Similar allusion
to the effectof the voice of the beloved is found in Terence, 'And.,' 1:5, 16,
"Oratio haec," etc. The failing or departing of the soul at the sound of the
voice must refer to the lack of response at the time, therefore it was that she
sought him and cried out after him. When he spake;literally, in his speaking;
i.e. when he said, "I will not now come because atfirst refused;" cf. Proverbs
1:20-33, the solemn warning againstthe loss of opportunity. It is a coincidence
betweenthe two books of Solomonwhich cannotbe disregarded. If there is
any spiritual meaning at all in Solomon's Song, it certainly is a book which he
who wrote the first chapterof Proverbs is likely to have written.
Keil and DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament
The king's praise is for Shulamith proof of his love, which seeksa response.
But as she is, she thinks herselfyet unworthy of him; her modesty says to her

that she needs preparation for him, preparation by that blowing which is the
breath of God in the natural and in the spiritual world.
16 Awake, thou North (wind), and come, thou South!
Blow through my garden, cause its spices to flow -
Let my belovedcome into his garden,
And eat the fruits which are precious to him.
The names of the north and south, denoting not only the regions of the
heavens, but also the winds blowing from these regions, are of the fem.
gender, Isaiah 43:6. The eastwind, ‫,םידק‬ is purposely not mentioned; the idea
of that which is destructive and adverse is connectedwith it (vid., under Job
27:21). The north wind brings cold till ice is formed, Sir. 43:20; and if the
south wind blow, it is hot, Luke 12:55. If cold and heat, coolnessand
sultriness, interchange at the proper time, then growth is promoted. And if the
wind blow through a garden at one time from this direction and at another
from that, - not so violently as when it shakes the trees of the forest, but softly
and yet as powerfully as a gardencan bear it, - then all the fragrance ofthe
garden rises in waves, and it becomes like a sea ofincense. The gardenitself
then blows, i.e., emits odours; for (‫חּפ‬ equals the Arab. fakh, fah, cf. fawh, pl.
afwâh, sweetodours, fragrant plants) as in ‫וּיּפ‬ ‫,חּורם‬ Genesis 3:8, the idea
underlies the expression, that when it is evening the day itself blows, i.e.,
becomes cool, the causative ‫,יּפיפח‬ connectedwith the object-accus.ofthe
garden, means to make the garden breezy and fragrant. ‫לזנ‬ is here used of the
odours which, setfree as it were from the plants, flow out, being carriedforth
by the waves of air. Shulamith wishes that in her all that is worthy of love
should be fully realized. What had to be done for Esther(Esther 2:12) before
she could be brought in to the king, Shulamith calls on the winds to
accomplishfor her, which are, as it were, the breath of the life of all nature,
and as such, of the life-spirit, which is the sustaining backgroundof all created
things. If she is thus prepared for him who loves her, and whom she loves, he
shall come into his garden and enjoy the precious fruit belonging to him. With
words of such gentle tenderness, childlike purity, she gives herself to her
beloved.

PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BRUCE HURT MD
Shulamite (young woman)...
Song 5:6 "I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned awayand had
gone!My heart went out to him as he spoke. I searchedfor him, but I did not
find him; I calledhim, but he did not answerme.
NET - I opened for my beloved, but my lover had already turned and gone
away. I fell into despair when he departed. I lookedfor him but did not find
him; I calledhim but he did not answerme.
NLT - I opened to my lover, but he was gone!My heart sank. I searchedfor
him but could not find him anywhere. I calledto him, but there was no reply.
ROLE REVERSAL
SHE SOUGHT AND CALLED
RSB - At this point the dream (Ed: But not everyone sees this as a dream)
becomes a nightmare as the girl’s fears rise up to confront her. First is the
fear of losing her lover.
Constable - She went to the door and found that he had been ready to make
love (Song 5:5; cf. Pr. 7:17; Song 4:6, 5:13). She opened it but discoveredhe
had gone. (Ibid)
My heart (soul) went out - Hebrew idiom connoting great despair(e.g., Ge
35:18;Jer 15:9). NIV = “my heart sank at his departure." Young’s Literal =
“my soul went forth.” Her breath—her very life—wentout of her. The word

for soulis nephesh which is frequently translated"life" (and is translatedin
Lxx with psuche which means breath, as the breath of life), so the picture I get
is of her even gasping for breath as she realized what had transpired. Many of
us have had a close, harrowing callwhile driving and narrowly missed being
smashed, leaving us virtually breathless. This is how she felt at this moment
and so she flies out of her bedroom trying to find him, calling out but all to no
avail. She is too late. He has gone.
Carr - My soulfailed suggestsa fainting spell. Rachel’s death is describedthis
way (Gen. 35:18). (Ibid)
POSB on my beloved had turned awayand had gone - Men want to be
wanted. As much as they feel that they need their wives at times, they do not
want to make love with an unwilling spouse. Many times women grudgingly
satisfy their husbands out of obligation. Such efforts may meet a husband’s
physical need, but they leave him with the emotionalpain and scars of
rejection. In Solomon’s case (within the context of Song 6:8), he walkedaway
not only feeling rejectedbut also dejected—perhaps realizing the
consequencesofhis choices and his own responsibility in his wife’s response to
him. Yes, he was on his way to becoming the most powerful king of his day,
but what a price he was paying! And what a price his darling—his one true
love—was paying for his success!He had nobody to blame but himself, and he
should not have been surprised that his beloved would not welcome his
advances. (Ibid)
Guzik - If we considerthis all happening, it lends to the idea that this is in fact
a dream sequence ofthe maiden. In the sense ofthe text, it does not seemthat
she lingered so long that when she did open the door it was too late to see
where he went. Yet in the creative nature of dreams, it is entirely natural. In
whateversense dreams make, the slownessofher response was directly
connectedto her difficulty in finding him. (Ibid)

LANGE
Song of Solomon 5:6. I openedto my beloved, comp. on5a.—Andmy beloved
had turned away, was gone. My soul failed when he spoke. ThatIsaiah,
before, when he was speaking to me through the window ( Song of Solomon
5:2; Song of Solomon5:4), my breath for-sook me, my soul almostwent out of
me.[FN96]It is consequently a supplementary remark, whose principal verb,
however, is not necessarilyto be takenas a pluperfect (vs. Döpke).—Isought
him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answerme. With the
first of these lines comp. Song of Solomon 3:2 b; with both togetherProverbs
1:28; Proverbs 8:17.
Song of Solomon 5:7. Found me then the watchmen,etc. Comp. Song of
Solomon3:3, Hitz. correctly:“In her previous dream the watchmen make no
reply to her question; here without being questioned they reply by deeds.”—
Took my veil off from me.‫יד‬ ‫ד‬‫ד‬ ‫י‬‫ו‬ (from ‫ד‬ ָ‫ד‬ ‫י‬‫ו‬ spread out, disperse, make thin) is
according to Isaiah3:23 a fine light material thrown over the person like a
veil, such as was worn by noble ladies in Jerusalem;comp. Targ. on Genesis
24:65;Genesis 38:14 where ‫ודידר‬ represents the Heb. ‫יצ‬‫נד‬ ‫[.ףי‬FN97]‫יני‬ָ‫מיל‬ ֵ‫ע‬‫רּי‬ ‫י‬
certainly means not a bare “lifting” (Meier), but a forcible tearing off and
taking awayof this article of dress; else this expressionwould not form with
the preceding “they struck me, wounded me,” the climax, which the poet
evidently intends.—The watchmenof the walls;not the subjectof the
immediately preceding clause (Weissb.), but a repetition of the principal
subject which stands at the beginning of the verse. In her complaint she
naturally comes back to the ruffians who had done all this to her, the
villainous watchmen.—“Watchmenofthe walls,” whose functions relate as in
this instance to the interior of the city, and who, therefore, were not appointed
principally with a view to the exteriorcircuit walls, occuralso Isaiah62:6.
HEAVENLY LOVE-SICKNESS!NO. 539

A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER8, 1863,
BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN
TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell
him that I am sick of love.” Song of Solomon 5:8.
SICK! That is a sadthing. It moves your pity. “Sick of love”—love-sick!That
stirs up other emotions which we shall presently attempt to explain. No doubt
certain sicknesses are peculiarto the saints—the ungodly are never visited
with them. Strange to say, these sicknesses, to which the refined sensibilities of
the children of God render them peculiarly liable, are signs of vigorous health.
Who but the beloved of the Lord ever experience that sin-sicknessin which
the soulloathes the very name of transgression, is unmoved by the
enchantments of the tempter, finds no sweetnessin its besetting sins, but turns
with detestationand abhorrence from the very thought of iniquity? No less is
it for these, and these alone, to feel that self-sicknesswherebythe heart revolts
from all creature confidence and strength, having been made sick of self, self-
seeking, self-exalting, self-reliance,and selfof every sort. The Lord afflicts us
more and more with such self-sickness till we are dead to self, its puny
conceits, its lofty aims, and its unsanctified desires. Then, there is a twofold
love-sickness.Ofthe one kind is that love-sicknesswhichcomes upon the
Christian when he is transported with the full enjoyment of Jesus, evenas the
bride elated by the favor, melted by the tenderness of her Lord, says in the
fifth verse of the secondchapterof the Song, “Stayme with flagons, comfort
me with apples: for I am sick of love.” The soul overjoyedwith the divine
communications of happiness and bliss which came from Christ, the body
scarcelyable to bear the excessive delirium of delight which the soul
possessed, she was so glad to be in the embraces of her Lord, that she needed
to be stayedunder her overpowering weightof joy. Another kind of love-
sickness, widelydifferent from the first, is that in which the soul is sick, not

because it has too much of Christ’s love, but because it has not enough present
consciousnessofit. Sick, not of the enjoyment, but of the longing for it. Sick,
not because ofexcessofdelight, but because of sorrow for an absent lover. It
is to this sicknesswe callyour attention, this morning. This love-sickness
breaks out in two ways and may be viewed in two lights. It is, first of all, the
soul longing for a view of Jesus Christ in grace. And then again, it is the same
soul possessing the view of grace and longing for a sight of Jesus Christ in
glory. In both these senses we, as accuratelyas the spouse, may adopt the
languishing words, “If you find my beloved, tell him that I am sick of love.” I.
First, then, let us consider our text as the language of a soul LONGING FOR
THE VIEW OF JESUS CHRIST IN GRACE. 1. Do you ask me concerning
the sicknessitself—Whatis it? It is the sickness ofa soulpanting after
communion with Christ. The man is a believer. He is not longing after
salvationas a penitent sinner under conviction, for he is saved. Moreover, he
has love to Christ and knows it. He does not doubt his evidence as to the
reality of his affectionfor his Lord, for you see the word used is, “My
Beloved,” whichwould not be applicable if the person speaking had any doubt
about her interest. Nor did she doubt her love, for she calls the spouse, “My
Beloved.” It is the longing of a soul, then, not for salvation, and not even for
the certainty of salvation, but for the enjoyment of presentfellowship with
Him who is her soul’s life, her soul’s all. The heart is panting to be brought
once more under the apple tree. To feel once againHis “left hand under her
head, while his right hand does embrace her.”
Heavenly Love-sickness!Sermon #539
Volume 9
2
2
She has known, in days past, what it is to be brought into His banqueting
house, and to see the banner of love wavedover her, and she, therefore cries
to have love visits renewed. It is a panting after communion. Gracious souls,
my dear friends, are never perfectly at ease exceptthey are in a state of
nearness to Christ. Formark you, when they are not near to Christ, they lose

their peace. The nearerto Jesus, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven, and
the further from Jesus, the nearerto that troubled sea which images the
continual unrest of the wicked. There is no peace to the man who does not
dwell constantly under the shadow of the cross. ForJesus is our peace, and if
He be absent, our peace is absent too. I know that being justified we have
peace with God, but it is “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So that the
justified man himself cannotreap the fruit of justification, exceptby abiding
in Christ Jesus, who is the Lord and Giver of peace. The Christian without
fellowship with Christ loses allhis life and energy. He is like a dead thing.
Though saved, he lies like a lumpish log— “His soul canneither fly nor go To
reacheternal joys.”
He is without vivacity, yea, more, he is without animation till Jesus comes.But
when the Lord sensibly sheds abroad His love in our hearts, then His love
kindles ours. Then our blood leaps in our veins for joy, like the Baptist in the
womb of Elizabeth. The heart when near to Jesus has strong pulsations, for
since Jesus is in that heart, it is full of life, of vigor, and of strength. Peace,
liveliness, vigor—alldepend upon the constantenjoyment of communion with
Christ Jesus. The soulof a Christian never knows what joy means in its true
solidity, except when she sits like Mary at Jesus’feet. Beloved, allthe joys of
life are nothing to us. We have melted them all down in our crucible and
found them to be dross. You and I have tried earth’s vanities and they cannot
satisfy us. Nay, they do not give a morselof meat to satiate our hunger. Being
in a state of dissatisfactionwith all mortal things, we have learned through
divine grace that none but Jesus, none but Jesus canmake our souls glad.
“Philosophers are happy without music,” said one of old. So Christians are
happy without the world’s good. Christians, with the world’s goodare sure to
bemoan themselves as naked, poor, and miserable, unless their Savior is with
them. You who have evertasted communion with Christ will soonknow why
it is that a soul longs after Him. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is
to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What
bread is to the hungry, clothes to the naked, the shadow of a greatrock to the
traveler in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us. What the turtle is to her
mate, what the husband is to his spouse, what the head is to the body, such is

Jesus Christ to us. And therefore if we have Him not, nay, if we are not
conscious ofhaving Him, if we are not one with Him, nay, if we are not
consciouslyone with Him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the
Song, “I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved,
tell him that I am sick of love.” Such is the characterof this love-sickness. We
may say of it, however, before we leave this point, that it is a sicknesswhich
has a blessing attending it, “Blessedare they that do hunger and thirst after
righteousness.”And therefore supremely blessedare they who thirst after the
Righteous One—afterHim who in the highest perfectionembodies pure,
immaculate, spotless righteousness. Blessedis that hunger, for it comes from
God. It bears a blessing within it. For if I may not have the blessednessin full
bloom of being filled, the next best thing is the same blessednessin sweetbud
of being empty till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall
be next door to heaven to be allowedto hunger and thirst after Him. There is
a hallowedness aboutthat hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of
our Lord. Yet it is a sickness,dearfriends, which, despite the blessing, causes
much pain. The man who is sick after Jesus willbe dissatisfiedwith
everything else. He will find that dainties have lost their sweetness, and music
its melody, and light its brightness, and life itself will be darkenedwith the
shadow of death to him, till he finds his Lord and can rejoice in Him.
Sermon #539 HeavenlyLove-sickness!
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Beloved, you shall find that this thirsting, this sickness,if it ever gets hold
upon you, is attended with greatvehemence. The desire is vehement as coals
of juniper. You have heard of hunger that breaks through stone walls, but
stone walls are no prison to a soul that desires Christ. Stone walls, nay, the
strongestnatural barriers, cannotkeepa love-sick heart from Jesus. I will
venture to say that the temptation of heaven itself, if it could be offered to the
believer without his Christ, would be as less than nothing. And the pains of
hell, if they could be endured, would be gladly ventured upon by a love-sick

soul, if he might but find Christ. As lovers sometimes talk of doing
impossibilities for their fair ones, so certainly a spirit that is set on Christ will
laugh at impossibility, and say, “It shall be done.” It will venture upon the
hardest task, go cheerfully to prison and joyfully to death, if it may but find its
Belovedand have its love-sicknesssatisfiedwith His presence. Perhaps this
may suffice for a description of the sicknesshere intended. 2. You may inquire
concerning the cause of this love-sickness. Whatmakes a man’s soul so sick
after Christ? Understand that it is the absence ofChrist which makes this
sicknessin a mind that really understands the preciousness ofHis presence.
The spouse had been very willful and wayward. She had takenoff her
garments, had gone to her rest, her sluggishslothful rest, when her beloved
knockedatthe door. He said, “Opento me, my beloved; for my head is filled
with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” She was too slothful to
wake up to let him in. She urged excuses, “Ihave put off my coat; how shall I
put it on? I have washedmy feet; how shall I defile them?” The beloved stood
waiting, but since she opened not, he put in his hand by the hole of the lock,
and then were her heart moved towards him. She went to the door to open it,
and to her surprise, her hands dropped with myrrh, and her fingers with
sweetsmelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. There was the tokenthat
he had been there, but he was gone. Now she beganto bestir herself and seek
after him. She sought him through the city, but she found him not. Her soul
failed her. She called after him, but he gave her no answer, and the watchmen,
who ought to have helped her in the search, smote her, and took awayher veil
from her. Therefore, it is that now she is seeking, becauseshe has lost her
beloved. She should have held him fastand not have permitted him to go. He
is absent and she is sick till she finds him. Mingled with the sense ofabsence
is a consciousnessofwrong-doing. Something in her seemedto say, “How
could you drive him away? That heavenly bridegroom who knockedand
pleaded hard, how could you keephim longer there amidst the cold dews of
night? O unkind heart! What if your feet had been made to bleed by your
rising? What if all your body had seenchilled by the cold wind, when you
were treading the floor? What had it been compared with His love to you?”
And so she is sick to see him, that she may weepout her love and tell him how
vexed she is with herself that she should have held to him so looselyand
permitted him so readily to depart. So, too, mixed with this, was great

wretchedness because he was gone. She had been for a little time easyin his
absence. Thatdowny bed, that warm coverlet, had given her a peace, a false,
cruel, and a wickedpeace, but she has risen now, the watchmen have smitten
her, her veil is gone, and without a friend, the princess, desertedin the midst
of Jerusalem’s streets, has her soul melted for heaviness and she pours out her
heart within her as she pines after her lord. “No love but my love, no lord but
my lord,” she says, with sobbing tongue and weeping eyes. Fornone else can
gratify her heart or appease heranxiety. Beloved, have you never been in
such a state, when your faith has begun to droop, and your heart and spirits
have fled from you? Even then your soul was sick for Him. You could do
without Him when Mr. Carnal-securitywas in the house and feastedyou, but
when he and his house have both been burned with fire, the old love-sickness
came back and you neededChrist, nor could you be satisfiedtill you found
Him once again. There was true love in all this and this is the very essenceof
all love-sickness. Hadnot she loved, absence would not have made her sick,
nor would her repentance have made her grieve. Had she not loved, there
would have been no pain because ofabsence, andno sinking of spirits,
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but she did love, thence all this sickness. It is a delightful thing to be able to
know when we have lost Christ’s company, that we do love Him, “‘Yea, Lord,
you know all things; you know that I love you.’ I did deny You, yea, in the
moment of Your sorrow, I said, ‘I know not the man.’ I did curse and swear
that men might think I was no followerof Yours, but still You know all things.
You know that I love You.” When you canfeel this, dearfriends, the
consciousnessthatyou love will soonwork in you a heart-burning, so that
your soul will not be satisfiedtill you cantell out that love in the Master’s
presence, and He shall say unto you, as a token of forgiveness, “Feedmy
sheep.” I do not doubt that in this sicknessthere had been some degree of
fear. Sorrowful woman! She was half afraid she might never find him again.

She had been about the city—where could he be? She had sought him on the
walls and on the ramparts, but he was not there. In every ordinance, in every
means of divine grace, in secretand in public prayer, in the Lord’s Supper,
and in the reading of the Word, she had lookedafterHim—but He was not
there. And now, she was half afraid that though He might give His presence to
others, yet never to her, and when she speaks, younotice there is fear in her
voice. She would not have askedothers to tell him if she had any assuring
hope that she would meet him herself, “If you find Him,” she seems to say, “O
you true converts, you that are the real grace-borndaughters of Jerusalem, if
He reveals Himself to you, though He never may to me, do me this kindness,
tell him that I am sick of love.” There is half a fearhere and yet there is some
hope. She feels that he must still love her, or else why send a message atall?
She would surely never send this sweetmessageto a flinty, adamantine heart,
“Tellhim I am sick of love,” and she remembered when the glancings ofher
eyes had ravished him. She remembered when a motion from her hand had
made his heart melt, and when one tear of her eyes had openedall his wounds
afresh. She thinks, “Perhaps he loves me still as He loved me then, and my
moanings will enchain him. My groans will constrainhim, and lead him to my
help.” So she sends the messageto him, “Tell him, tell him I am sick of love.”
To gather up the causes ofthis love-sicknessin a few words, does not the
whole matter spring from relationship? She is His spouse. Canthe spouse be
happy without her beloved lord? It springs from union. She is part of himself.
Can the hand be happy and healthy if the life-floods stream not from the
heart and from the head? Fondly realizing her dependence, she feels that she
owes allto him, and gets her all from him. If then the fountain is cut off, if the
streams are dried, if the greatsource of all is taken from her, how can she but
be sick? And there is, besides this, a life and a nature in her which makes her
sick. There is a life like the life of Christ, nay, her life is in Christ, it is hid with
Christ in God. Her nature is a part of the divine nature. She is a partakerof
the divine nature. Moreovershe is in union with Jesus, and this piece divided,
as it were, from the body, wriggles like a worm cut asunder and pants to get
back to where it came from. These are the causes ofit. You will not
understand my sermon, this morning, but think me raving, unless you are
spiritual men. “But the spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of
no man.” 3. What endeavors such love-sick souls will put forth. Those who are

sick for Christ will first send their desires to Him. Men use pigeons sometimes
to send their messages. Why, what sort of carrier pigeons do they use? The
pigeon is of no use to send anywhere but to the place from which it came, and
my desires afterChrist came from Him, and so they will always go back to the
place from which they came. Theyknow the way to their own dovecot, so I
will send Him my sighs and my groans, my tears and my moans. Go, go, sweet
doves, with swift and clipping wings, and tell him I am love-sick. Thenshe
would send her prayers. Ah! I think she would sayof her desires, “Theywill
never reach him. They know the way, but their wings are broken, and they
will fall to the ground and never reachhim.” Yet she will send them whether
they reachhim or not. As for her prayers, they are like arrows. Sometimes
messages have beensent into besiegedtowns bound to an arrow, so she binds
her desires upon the arrow of her prayers, and then shoots them forth from
the bow of her faith. She is afraid they will never reachhim, for her bow is
slack, and she knows not how to draw it with her feeble hands which hang
down.
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So what does she do? She has traversed the streets. She has used the means.
She has done everything. She has sighed her heart out and emptied her soul
out in prayers. She is all wounds till he heals her. She is all a hungry mouth till
he fills her. She is all an empty brook till he replenishes her once again, and so
now, she goes to her companions and she says, “If you find my beloved, tell
him I am sick of love.” This is using the intercessionofthe saints. It is
unbelief that makes her use it, and yet there is a little faith mixed in her
unbelief. It was an unbelief, but not a misbelief. There is efficacyin the
intercessionofsaints. Not of dead saints—they have enoughto do to be
singing God’s praises in heaven without praying for us—but saints on earth
can take up our case. The king has his favorites. He has his cupbearers. He
has some who are admitted into greatfamiliarity with Him—give me a share

in a goodman’s prayers. I attribute under God the successthe Lord has given
me to the number of souls in every quarter of the earth who pray for me—not
you alone, but in every land there are some who forget me not when they
draw near in their supplications. Oh! we are so rich when we have the prayers
of saints. When it is wellwith you, speak for me to the Captain of the host,
and if He should say to you, “What was his message?”I have no other
messagebut that of the spouse, “TellHim I am sick of love.” Any of you who
have close familiarity with Jesus, be the messengers,be the heavenly tale-
bearers betweenlove-sick souls and their divine Lord. Tell Him, tell him we
are sick of love. And you that cannotthus go to Him, seek the help and aid of
others. But after all, as I have said, this is unbelief though it is not misbelief,
for how much better it would have been for her to tell him herself. “But” you
say, “she could not find him.” Nay, but if she had had faith she would have
known that her prayers could. For our prayers know where Christ is when we
do not know, or rather, Christ knows where our prayers are—and when we
cannot see Him, they reachHim nevertheless. A man who fires a cannonis not
expectedto see all the way where the shot goes.If he has his cannon rightly
sighted and fires it, there may come on a thick fog, but the shot will reachthe
place. And if you have your hearts sighted by divine grace afterChrist, you
may depend upon it, howeverthick the fog, the hot-shot of your prayer will
reachthe gates ofheaven though you cannot tell how or where. Be satisfiedto
go to Christ yourself. If your brethren will go, well and good, but I think their
proper answerto your question would be in the language of the women in the
sixth chapter, the first verse, “Where is your beloved gone, O you fairest
among women? Whither is your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him
with you.” They will not seek Him for us they say, but they canseek Him with
us. Sometimes when there are six pair of eyes, they will see better than one.
And so, if five or six Christians seek the Lord in company, in the prayer
meeting or at His table, they are more likely to find Him. “We will seek him
with you.” 4. Blessedlove-sickness. We have seenits characterand its cause,
and the endeavors of the soul under it. Let us just notice the comforts which
belong to such a state as this. Briefly they are these—youshall be filled. It is
impossible for Christ to setyou longing after Him without intending to give
Himself to you. It is as when a greatman prepares a feast. He first puts plates
upon the table, and then afterwards there comes the meat. Your longings and

desires are the empty plates to hold the meat. Is it likely that Christ means to
mock you? Would He have put the dishes there if He did not intend to fill
them with His oxen and with His fatlings? He makes you long—He will
certainly satisfy your longings. Remember, again, that He will give you
Himself all the soonerfor the bitterness of your longings. The more pained
your heart is at His absence, the shorter will the absence be. If you have a
grain of contentment without Christ, that will keepyou longer tarrying. But
when your soul is sick till your heart is ready to break, till you cry, “Why
tarry he? why are his chariots so long in coming?” When your soul faints until
your Belovedspeaks to you, and you are ready to die from your youth up,
then shortly, He will lift the veil from His dear face, and your sun shall rise
with healing beneath His wings. Let that console you.
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Then, again, when He does come, as come He will, oh, how sweetit will be! I
think I have the flavor in my mouth now and the fullness of the feastis yet to
come. There is such a delight about the very thought that He will come, that
the thought itself is the prelude, the foretaste of the happy greeting. What!
Will He once again speak comfortablyto me? Shall I again walk the bed of
spices with Him? Shall I ramble with Him amongstthe groves while the
flowers give forth their sweetperfume—I shall! I shall! And even now, my
spirit feels His presence by anticipation, “Or ever I was aware, my soul made
me like the chariots of Amminadab.” You know how sweetit was in the past.
Beloved, what times we have had, some of us. Oh, whether in the body or out
of the body, we cannot tell—Godknows. What mountings! Talk of eagles’
wings—theyare earthly pinions, and may not be comparedwith the wings
with which He carried us up from earth. Speak of mounting beyond clouds
and stars!—they were left far, far behind. We entered into the unseen, beheld
the invisible, lived in the immortal, drank in the ineffable, and were blessed
with the fullness of God in Christ Jesus, being made to sit togetherin heavenly

places in Him. Well, all this is to come again, “I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice.” “Alittle while and you shall not see me: and again, a little
while and you shall see me.” “In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a
moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the
LORD your redeemer.” Think of this. Why, we have comfort even in this
sicknessoflove. Our heart, though sick, is still whole, while we are panting
and pining after the Lord Jesus.
“O love divine, how sweetThou art, When shall I find my willing heart all
takenup with Thee? I thirst, I faint, I die to prove The fullness of redeeming
love— The love of Christ to me.”
II. And now, secondly, with as great brevity as we can, this love-sicknessmay
be seenin A SOUL LONGING FOR A VIEW OF JESUS IN HIS GLORY. 1.
And here, we will considerthe complaint itself for a moment. This ailment is
not merely a longing after communion with Christ on earth—that has been
enjoyed and generallythis sicknessfollows that—
“When I have tastedof the grapes, I sometimes long to go Where my dear
Lord the vineyard keeps And all the clusters grow.”
It is the enjoyment of Eshcol’s first fruits which makes us desire to sit under
our own vine and our own fig tree before the throne of God in the blessed
land. Beloved, this sicknessis characterizedby certain marked symptoms. I
will tell you what they are. There is a loving and a longing, a loathing and a
languishing. Happy soul that understands these things by experience. There is
a loving in which the heart cleaves to Jesus—
“Do not I love Thee from my soul? Then let me nothing love— Deadbe my
heart to every joy When Jesus cannotmove.”

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A sense of His beauty! An admiration of His charms! A consciousness ofHis
infinite perfection! Yea, greatness,goodness,and loveliness, in one
resplendent ray combine to enchant the soultill it is so ravished after Him
that it cries with the spouse, “Yea, he is altogetherlovely. This is my beloved,
and this is my friend, O you daughters of Jerusalem.” Sweetloving is this—a
love which binds the heart with chains of more than silkensoftness, and yet
than adamant more firm. Then, there is a longing. She loves Him so that she
cannot endure to be absentfrom Him. She pants and pines. You know it has
been so with saints in all ages—whenevertheyhave begun to love, they have
always begun to long after Christ. John, the most loving of spirits, is the
author of those words which he so frequently uses, “Come quickly, even so,
come quickly.” “Come quickly,” is sure to be the fruit of earnestlove. See
how the spouse puts it, “O that you were as my brother, that suckedthe
breasts of my mother! when I should find you without, I would kiss you; yea, I
should not be despised.” She longs to gethold of him. She cannotconclude her
song without saying, “Make haste, my beloved, and be you like a roe or a
young hart upon the mountains of spices.” There is a longing to be with
Christ. I would not give much for your religion if you do not long to be with
the objectof your heart’s affections. Then, comes a loathing. When a man is
sick with the first love-sickness, thenhe does not loathe—it is, “Stay me with
flagons, comfortme with apples.” When a man has Christ, he can enjoy other
things. But when a man is longing after Christ and seeking afterChrist, he
loathes everything else—he cannotbear anything besides. Here is my message
to Jesus, “TellHim”—what? Do I want crowns and diadems? Crowns and
diadems are nothing to me. Do I want wealth, and health, and strength? They
are all very well in their way. No, “TellHim, tell the Belovedof my soul that I
grieve after Himself—His gifts are good—Iought to be more gratefulfor

them than I am, but let me see His face. Let me hear His voice. I am sick of
love and nothing but that can satisfyme, everything else is distasteful to me.”
And then there is a languishing. Since she cannotget the societyof Christ—
cannot as yet behold Him on His throne, nor worship Him face to face, she is
sick until she can. For a heart so seton Christ will walk about traversing
highway and by-way, resting nowhere till it finds Him. As the needle once
magnetized will never be easyuntil it finds the pole, so the heart once
Christianized never will be satisfieduntil it rests on Christ—rests on Him, too,
in the fullness of the beatific vision before the throne of God. This is the
characterof the love-sickness. 2. As to its object—whatis that? “Tellhim that
I am sick of love.” But what is the sicknessfor? Brethren, when you and I
want to go to heaven, I hope it is the true love-sickness.I catchmyself
sometimes wanting to die and be in heavenfor the sake ofrest. But is not that
a lazy desire? There is a sluggishwish that makes me long for rest. Perhaps
we long for the happiness of heaven—the harps and crowns. There is a little
selfishness in that, is there? Allowable, I grant you, but is not there a little like
selfishness?Perhaps, we long to see dear children, belovedfriends that have
gone before, but there is a little of the earthy there. The soul may be as sick as
it will, without rebuke, when it is sick to be with Jesus. You may carry this to
its utmost extent without either sin or folly. What am I sick with love for? For
the pearly gates?—No. Butfor the pearls that are in His wounds. What am I
sick for? Forthe streets of gold?—No.But for His Head which is as much fine
gold. Forthe melody of the harps and angelic songs?—No.But for the
melodious notes that come from His dear mouth. What am I sick for? For the
nectarthat angels drink?—No. But for the kisses ofHis lips. What am I sick
for? For the manna on which heavenly souls feed?—No. Butfor Himself, who
is the meat and drink of His saints. Himself. Himself—my soul pines to see
Him. Oh, what a heavento gaze upon! What bliss to talk with the man, the
God, crucified for me. To weepmy heart out before Him. To tell him how I
love Him, for He loved me and gave Himself for me. To read my name written
on His hands and on His side—yea, and to let Him see that His name is
written on my heart in indelible lines. To embrace Him, oh! what an embrace
when the creature shall embrace his

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God—to be forever so close to Him that not a doubt, nor a fear, nor a
wandering thought cancome betweenmy soul and Him forever.—
“Foreverto behold Him shine, Forevermore to callHim mine, And see Him
still before me. Foreveron His Face to gaze, And meet His full assembledrays,
While all the Father He displays To all the saints in glory.”
What else can there be that our spirit longs for? This seems an empty thing to
worldlings, but to the Christian this is heaven summed up in a word, “To be
with Christ, which is far better,” than all the joys of earth. This is the object
then of this love-sickness.3. Ask you yet again what are the excitements of
this sickness?Whatis it that makes the Christian long to be at home with
Jesus? There are many things. There are sometimes some very little things
that seta Christian longing to be at home. You know the old story of Swiss
soldiers, that when they have enlistedinto foreign service, they never will
permit the band to play the “Ranz des Vaches”—TheSong ofthe Cows,
because as soonas everthe Swiss hearThe Song of the Cows, they think of
their own dear Alps, and the bells upon the cows’necks,and the strange calls
of the herd-boys, as they sing to one another from the mountain peaks. And he
grows sick and ill with home-sickness. So if you were banished, if you were
takenprisoner or a slave, why, to hear some note of one of old England’s
songs would setyour spirit pining for home, and I do confess, when I hear you
sing sometimes—
“Jerusalem!My happy home! Name ever dear to me. When shall my labors
have an end, In joy and peace and thee?”

It makes me say, “You daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, tell
him, that I am sick of love.” It is the song of home that brings home-sickness.
We remember what He used to be to us, what sweetvisits we have had from
Him, then we get sick to be always with Him. And best of all, when we are in
His presence, whenour soul is overjoyed with His delights, when the great
deep sea of His love has rolled over the mast-headof our highest thoughts, and
the ship of our spirit has gone right down, foundering at sea in the midst of an
oceanof delights—ah, then its highest, its deepestthought is, “O that I may
always be with Him, in Him, where He is, that I might behold His glory—the
glory which His Father gave Him, and which He has given me, that I may be
one with Him, world without end.” I do believe, brethren, that all the bitters
and all the sweets make a Christian when he is in a healthy state, sick after
Christ—the sweets make his mouth waterfor more sweets,and the bitters
make him pant for the time when the last dregs of bitterness shall be over.
Wearying temptations, as wellas rapt enjoyments, all setthe spirit on the
wing after Jesus. 4. Well now, friends, what is the cure of this love-sickness?Is
it a sicknessfor which there is any specific remedy? There is only one cure
that I know of, but there are some palliatives. A man that is sick after Christ,
longs to be with Him, and pants for the better land singing as we did just
now—
“Father, I long, I faint to see The place of Thine abode.”
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He must have the desire realized, before the thirst of his fever will be relieved.
There are some palliatives, and I will recommend them to you. Such, for
example, is a strong faith that realizes the day of the Lord and the presence of

Christ, as Moses beheld the promised land and the goodlyheritage, when he
stoodon the top of Pisgah. If you do not get heavenwhen you want it, you may
attain to that which is next door to heaven, and this may bear you up for a
little season. If you cannotget to behold Christ face to face, it is a blessed
make-shift for the time to see Him in the Scriptures, and to look at Him
through the glass ofthe Word. These are reliefs, but I warn you, I warn you of
them. I do not mean to keepyou from them—use them as much as ever you
can—but I warn you from expecting that it will cure that love-sickness.It will
give you ease,but it will make you more sick still, for he who lives on Christ
gets more hungry after Christ. As for a man being satisfiedand wanting no
more when he gets Christ—why he wants nothing but Christ it is true, and in
that sense, he will never thirst. But he wants more, and more, and more, and
more of Christ. To live on Christ is like drinking seawater—the more you
drink the more thirsty you grow. There is something very satisfying in
Christ’s flesh—you will never hunger except for that—but the more you eat of
it the more you may. And he who is the heartiestfeaster, and has eatenthe
most, has the best appetite for more. Oh, strange is this, but so it is. That
which we would think would remove the love-sickness, andis the best stay to
the soulunder it, is just that which brings it on more and more. But there is a
cure, there is a cure, and you shall have it soon—a black draught and in it a
pearl—a black draught called Death. You shall drink it, but you shall not
know it is bitter, for you shall swallow it up in victory. There is a pearl, too, in
it—melted in it. Jesus died as well as you, and as you drink it, that pearl shall
take awayall ill effectfrom the tremendous draught. You shall say, “O death,
where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” When you have once
drank that black draught, you are secure againstthat love-sicknessforever.
For where are you? No pilgrimage, no weary flight through cold ether, you
are with Him in paradise. Do you hear that, soul? You are with Him in
paradise, never to be separated, notfor an instant. Neverto have a wandering
thought, not one. Neverto find your love waning or growing cold again. Never
to doubt His love to you anymore. Nevermore to be vexed and tempted by
sighing after what you cannotview. You shall be with Him, where He is—
“Farfrom a world of grief and sin, With God eternally shut in.”

Till then beloved, let us strive to live near the cross. Thosetwo mountains,
Calvary and Zion, stand right opposite one another. The eye of faith can
sometimes almostspan the interval. And the loving heart, by some deep
mystery of which we can offer you no solution, will often have its sweetest
rapture of joy in the fellowship of His griefs. So have I found a satisfactionin
the wounds of a crucified Jesus, whichcan only be excelledby the satisfaction
I have yet to find in the sparkling eyes of the same Jesus glorified. Yes, the
same Jesus!Well spoke the angels on Mount Olivet, “This same Jesus, which
is takenup from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner, as you have
seenhim go into heaven.” This same Jesus!My soul dotes on the words. My
lips are fond of repeating them. This same Jesus!
“If in my soul such joy abounds, While weeping faith explores His wounds,
How glorious will those scars appear, When perfectbliss forbids a tear!
Think, O my soul, if ’tis so sweetOn earth to sit at Jesus’feet,
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What must it be to weara crown And sit with Him upon His throne?”
Would to God you all had this love-sickness!I am afraid many of you have it
not. May He give it to you. But oh! if there be a soul here that wants Jesus, he
is welcome. If there is one heart here that says, “Give me Christ,” you shall
have your desire. Trust Jesus Christ, and He is yours. Rely upon Him, you are
His. God save you and make you sick of vanities, sick after verities—pining

even unto sicknessforJesus Christ, the Belovedof my soul, the sum of all my
hope, the sinner’s only refuge, and the praise of all His saints, to whom be
everlasting glory. Amen.

Jesus was making himself absent

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