“By the Roes, and by the Hinds of the Field”
“| ig spouse was in the full enjoyment of fellowship with her Beloved. Her joy was so great as almost to overpower her, and yet, so nearly does fear tread upon the heels of joy, she was filled with dread lest her bliss should come to an end. She feared lest others should disturb her Lord, for if He were grieved: she would be grieved also, and if He departed the banquet of her delight would be over. She was afraid even of her friends, the daughters of Jerusalem; she knew that the best can interrupt fellowship as well as the worst, and therefore she adjured even Zion’s daughters not to sin against Zion’s King. Had they aroused her Beloved and broken His sacred peace, she would not have found a recompense in their company, but would rather have regarded them with aversion, for having robbed her of her chief delight. The adjuration which she used is a choice specimen of oriental poetry: she charges them, not as we should prosaically do, by everything that is sacred and true, but “by the roes, and by the hinds of the field.”
“The roes and the hinds of the field” are creatures of great beauty. Who can gaze upon them as they wander among the bracken without an inward admiration? Now, since nothing can be more lovely than communion with Jesus, the spouse exhorts the
* Cantoatgye is daughters of Jerusalem by all the loveliest objects in nature to refrain from disturbing it. No one would wish to drive away the gazelle, but would feast his eyes upon it, and yet its graceful elegance can never be compared with that beauty of holiness, that comeliness of grace which are to be seen in fellowship with Jesus. It is beautiful from both sides; it is a lovely display of condescension for our beloved Lord to reveal Himself to us, andlon the other hand it is a charming manifestation of every admirable virtue for a believer to enter into fellowship with his Lord. He who would disturb such mutual intercourse must be devoid of spiritual taste, and blind to all which is most worthy of admiration.
As one delights to see the red deer in the open glades of the forest, and counts them the finest ornaments of the scene,so do men whose eyes are opened rejoice in the saints whose high communion with heaven renders them beings of superior mould to common mortals. A soul in converse with its God is the admiration of angels. Was ever a lovelier sight seen than Jesus at the table with the beloved disciple leaning on His bosom? Is not Mary sitting at the Master’s feet a picture worthy of the choicest art? Do nothing, then, O ye who joy in things of beauty, to mar the fellowship in which the rarest beauty dwells. .Neither by worldly care, nor sin, nor trifling make even the slightest stir which might break the Beloved’s repose. His restful presence is heaven below, and the best antepast of heaven above; in it we find everything that is pure, and lovely, and of good report. It is good, and only good. Why, then, O daughters of Jerusalem, should ye stir up our
Beloved, and cause His adorable excellency to be hidden from us?» Rather join with us in preserving a joy so fair, a bliss so comely.
The next thought suggested “by the roes, and by the hinds of the field” is-that of tender innocence. These gentle creatures are so harmless, so defenceless, so timid, that he must have a soulless soul who would do them harm or cause them fright. By all, then, that is tender, the spouse beseeches her friends not to disturb her Beloved. He is so good, so kind, so holy, harmless, and undefiled, that the most indifferent ought to be ashamed to molest His rest. About Him there is nothing to provoke offence, and everything to forbid it. He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; He gave His back to the smiters, and His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; He hid not His face from shame and spitting. Being reviled He reviled not again, but in His death agonies He prayed for His enemies. Who, then, could find cause for offence in Him? Do not His wounds ward off the blows which might be challenged had He been of another character?. Who will wish to vex the Lamb of God? Go elsewhere, ye hunters! “The hind of the morning” has already sweated great drops of blood falling to the ground. When dogs compassed Him, and the assembly of the wicked enclosed Him, He felt the full of grief — will ye afflict Him yet again?
In fellowship with Jesus there is a tenderness which ought to disarm all opposition, and even command respectful deference. A soul communing with the Son of God challenges no enmity. The world may rise against proselyting zeal, or defiant controversy, or ostentatious ceremonialism, for these have
prominence and power, and are fair game for martial spirits: but fellowship is quiet, retiring, unobtrusive, harmless. The saints who most abound in it are of a tender spirit, fearful to offend, non-resistant, and patient — surely it would be a superfluity of cruelty to wish to deprive them of their unselfish happiness, which deprives no heart of a drop of pleasure, and costs no eyeatear. Rather let even those who are most indifferent to religion pay a generous respect to those who find their delight in it. Though the worldling may care nothing for the love which overpowers the believer’s ravished spirit, let him tread with reverent care when he passes the closet of devotion, or hears a stray note from the song of meditative gratitude. Rough men have paused when they have suddenly come upon a fair gazelle grazing in a secluded spot: charmed at the sight of such tender loveliness they have scarcely dared to move a foot lest they should alarm the gentle roe; and some such feeling may well forbid the harsh criticism or the vulgar laugh when even the infidel beholds a sincere heart in converse with its Lord. As for those of us who know the blessedness of fellowship with Jesus, it behoves us to be doubly jealous of our words and deeds, lest in a single instance we offend one of the Redeemer’s little ones, and cause him to lose even for an hour his delight in the Lord. How often are Christians careless about this; till at the sight of some professors the more spiritual may well take alarm, and cry out in anguish, “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till He please.”
A third thought most certainly had place in the mind of the anxious spouse; she meant to adjure and persuade her friends to silence by everything which sets forth love. The lilies and the roes have always been sacred to love. The poet of the Canticles had elsewhere used the symbol of the text to set forth married love. ‘“Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe” (Prov. v. 19). If ever there was true love in all this selfish world, it is the love of Jesus first, and next the love of His people. As for His love, it passeth the love of women, many waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods drown it; and as for the love of the church, he who best knows it says, “How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointment than all spices!” If love, therefore, may plead immunity from war, and ask to have its quietude respected, the spouse used a good argument when she pleaded “by the roes and by the hinds of the field,’ that her royal Bridegroom’s rest of love might not be invaded, If you love, or are loved, or wish to be loved, have a reverent regard for those who commune with Jesus, for their souls take their fill of love, and to drive them from their bliss would be inexcusable barbarity. O ye who have any hearts to feel for others, do not cause the bitterest of sorrow by depriving a sanctified soul of the sweetest of delights. Draw not nigh hither with idle tale, or wanton speech, or empty mirth: the place whereon thou standest is holy ground, for surely God is in that place where a heart enamoured of the altogether Lovely One delights itself in the Lord.