The rose and the lily.
We have suggested here the self-consciousness of the renewed soul as to its true character and condition. It is the maiden who speaks, not her beloved, who in the next verse lovingly responds to what she says of herself. She likens herself—
I. TO THE ROSE OF SHARON. That is, to a common field flower, not rare or distinguished, but of the lowliest if also of the loveliest kind.
1. It is the utterance of humility. (Cf. Paul's word of himself as "less than the least of all saints.") Lowly thoughts of themselves are ever the characteristics of saints. It is not so strong an expression as the "I am black" of So Song of Solomon 1:5, but it is of similar order (cf. on So Song of Solomon 1:5)
2. But not of false humility. For though a lowly it is yet a lovely flower. The rose of Sharon was that "excellency of Sharon" which Isaiah couples with "the glory of Lebanon." Here, too, the resemblance between this and the "but comely" of So Isaiah 1:5 is evident. And the saintly soul is lovely—in the sight of its Lord, in the sight of the Church, and in the sight of men. Of our Lord it is said that "the grace of God was upon him," and that he grew "in favour with God and man." And this is so with his people, for he makes them beautiful and precious in his sight. She who is here the type of such soul is called "the fairest among women."
3. And the rose is also fragrant. True, to it as to others the poet's lines apply—
"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its fragrance on the desert air."
but the saintly soul is what it is because it is its nature to be so, whether admired or not (cf. on So Isaiah 1:12). And such souls are:
4. The glory of the places where they are found. The Plain of Sharon is remembered in the minds of men for this its "excellency"—the roses that grow there. The world would not say that the glory of a place was its saints. It would point to its popular heroes, and those whom it calls its great men. But by the side of such flowers Solomon in all his glory fades by comparison. How plainly the Divine estimate of men is seen in God's choice of Israel—a small, insignificant people, contemptible in the eyes of the great empires of ancient and modern days! But because in them, as in none other, the saints of the Lord were found, therefore on them and on their land the eyes of the Lord rested night and day. According to our character, according as we are governed by the faith, the fear, and the love of God, are we a blessing and an honour to our land and age. And they:
5. Delight in the sunshine of his love. The rose is the child of the sun. Its bright rays must rest upon it or its radiant beauty will not be revealed. And we are to "walk in the light," and to be "children of the light."
II. THE LILY OF THE VALLEYS. This is another emblem of the saintly soul.
1. Of their character. Purity, sweetness, power of self-multiplication. What numbers of them there are! Bushnell speaks in his 'Christian Nurture' of "the out-propagating power of the Christian stock," by which he means the power given to Christian faith to reproduce itself beyond, the like power possessed by that which is unchristian. And it has been so. How soon was the whole Roman empire converted to Christianity! It is the truth taught in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:1-58). And it will be so yet more. "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord."
2. Their home is in the "valleys."
3. They are found where the living streams abound. The well watered valleys are the lilies' natural home. And so with the saintly soul. It lives by that river the streams whereof make its home glad. So, then, here is another portraiture of such a soul. Do we behold our face in this glass?—S.C.