“The Flowers Appear on the Earth”

“My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Lor, lo, the winter is past, the rain ts over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

HE things which are seen are types of the things which are not seen. The works of creaticn are pictures to the children of God of the secret mysteries of grace. God’s truths are the apples of gold, and the visible creatures are the baskets of silver. The very seasons of the year find their parallel in the little world of man within. We have our winter — dreary, howling winter, — when the north wind of the law rusheth forth against us, when every hope is nipped, when all the seeds of joy lie buried beneath the dark clods of despair, when our soul is fast fettered like a river bound with ice, without waves of joy, or flowings of thanksgiving. Thanks be unto God, the soft south - wind breathes upon our soul, and at once the waters of desire are set free, the spring of love cometh on, flowers of hope appear in our hearts, the trees of faith put forth their young shoots, the time of the singing of birds cometh in our hearts, and we have joy and peace in believing through the Lord Jesus Christ. That happy springtide is followed in the believer by

* Canticles ii, 10 — 13.

a rich summer, when his graces, like fragrant flowers, are in full bloom, loading the air with perfume; and fruits of the Spirit, like citrons and pomegranates, swell into their full proportion in the genial warmth of the Sun of Righteousness. Then cometh the believer’s autumn, when his fruits grow ripe, and his fields are ready for the harvest; the time has come when his Lord shall gather together His “pleasant fruits,” and store them in heaven; the feast of ingathering is at hand — the time when the year shall begin anew, an unchanging year, like the years of the right hand of the Most High in heaven.

Now each particular season has its duty. The husbandman finds that there is a time to plough, a time to sow, a time to reap; there is a season for vintage, anda period for the pruning of the vine; there isa month for the planting of herbs, and for the ingathering of seeds. To everything there is a time and a purpose, and every season has its special labour. It seems that whenever it is springtide in our hearts, then Christ’s voice may be heard saying, “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Whenever we have been delivered from a dreary winter of temptation or affliction, or tribulation. — whenever the fair spring of hope cometh upon us, and our joys begin to multiply, then we should hear the Master bidding us seek after something higher and better, and we should go forth in His strength to love Him more, and serve Him more diligently than aforetime. To any with whom the time of the singing of birds is come, in whom the flowers appear — to any such I hope the Master may speak till their souls shall say, “JZy beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.” I shall have to use the general principle in illustration of four or five different cases.

With regard to the universal church of Christ, you can plainly perceive that she has had her ebbs and flows. Often it seemed as if her tide retired; ungodliness, heresy, error, prevailed: but she has had her flood tide, when once again the glorious waves have rolled in, covering with their triumphant righteousness the sands of ignorance and evil. The history of Christ’s church is a varied year of many seasons. She has had her high and noble processions of victory; she has had her sorrowful congregations of mourners during times of disaster and apparent defeat. Commencing with the life of Christ, what a smiling spring it was for the world when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Pentecost. Then might the saints sing with sweet accord —

‘‘ The Jewish wintry state is gone,
The mists are fled, the spring comes on;
The sacred turtle dove we hear,
Proclaim the new, the joyful year;
The immortal vine of heavenly root,
Blossoms and buds and gives her fruit;
Lo, we are come to taste the wine,
Our souls rejoice and bless the vine.”

The winter was over and past — that long season in which the Jewish state lay dead, when the frosts of Pharisaism had bound up all spiritual life. The rain was over and gone, the black clouds of wrath had emptied themselves upon the Saviour’s head; thunder and tempest and storm, all dark and terrible things were gone for ever. The flowers appeared on the earth; three thousand in one day blossomed forth, baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Fair promises created for beauty and delight sprang up, and with their blest fulfilment clothed the earth in a royal garment of many colours. The time of the singing birds was come, for they praised God day and night, eating their bread with joy and singleness of heart. The voice of the turtle was heard, for the Spirit — that hallowed dove from heaven — descended with tongues of fire upon the apostles, and the Gospel was preached in every land. Then had earth one of her joyous Sabbaths; the fig tree put forth her green figs; in every land there were some converts; the dwellers in Mesopotamia, Medes, Parthians, Elamites — some of all — had been converted to God, and the tender grapes of new-born piety and zeal gave forth a sweet smell before God. Then it was that Christ spake in words which made the heart of His church to burn like coals of juniper : —

“My Fellow-friende, my Beautiful,
Arise and come thy way.”

The bride arose, charmed by the heavenly voice of her spouse, she girt on her beautiful garments, and for some hundred years or more she did come away; she came away from her narrowness of spirit, and she preached to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ: she came away from her attachment to the State, and she dared to confess. that Christ’s kingdom was not of this world: she came away from her earthly hopes and comforts, for “they counted not their lives dear unto them that they might win Christ and be found in Him:” she came away from all ease and rest of body, for they laboured more and more abundantly, making themselves sacrifices for Christ. Her apostles landed on every shore; her confessors were found among people of every tongue; her martyrs kindled a light in the midst of lands afflicted with the midnight of heathen darkness. No place trodden by foot of man was left unvisited by the heralds of God, the heroic sons of the church. “Go ye forth into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” was ringing in their ears like a clarion sounding the war charge, and they obeyed it like soldiers who had been men of war from their youth. Those were brave days of old when with a word the saints of God could overcome a thousand foes, that word the faithful promise of a gracious God.

Alas, alas, that season passed away, the church grew dull and sleepy; she left her Lord, she turned aside, she leaned upon an arm of flesh, courting the endowments of earthly kingdoms; then there came a long and dreary winter, the Dark Ages of the world, the darker ages of the church. At last the time of love returned, when God again visited His people and raised up for them new apostles, new martyrs, new confessors. Switzerland and France, and Germany and Bohemia, and the Low Countries, and England and Scotland had all their men of God, who spoke with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. The time of Luther and Calvin, and Melancthon, and of Knox was come — heaven’s sunny days, when once again the frost should give way to approaching summer. Then it was that men could say once again, “The winter is past,” priestcraft has lost its power, the rain is over and gone; false doctrines shall no more be as tempests to the church; the flowers appear on the earth — little churches; plants of God’s right hand planting, are springing up everywhere.

The time of the singing of birds was come; Luther’s hymns were sung by ploughmen in every field; the psalms translated were scattered among all people — carried on the wings of angels, and the Church sang aloud unto God, her strength, and entered into His courts with the voice of thanksgiving, in such sort as she had not hoped for during her long and weary winter night. In every cottage and under every roof-tree, from the peasant’s hut to the prince’s palace, the singing of birds was come. Then peace came to the people and joy in the Lord, for the voice of the turtle was heard delighting hill and valley, grove and field, with the love-notes of gospel grace. Then fruits of righteousness were brought forth, the Church was “an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, spikenard and saffron ;. calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices;” and a sweet savour of faith and love went up to heaven, and God rejoiced therein. Then the Master sweetly cried, —

““Rise up, my love, my fair one; come away, Soar on the wings of thy victorious faith Above the realms of darkness and of sin!”

But she did not hear the voice, or she heard it but partially. Satan and his wiles prevailed; the little foxes spoiled the vines and devoured the tender grapes. Corruption, like a strong man armed, held the spouse, and she came not forth at her Beloved’s call, In England she would not come away; she hugged the arm of flesh; she laid hold upon the protection of the State; she would not venture upon the bare promise of her Lord. O that she had left dignities and endowments and laws to worldly corporations, and had rested on her Husband’s love alone! Alas for our divisions at this time, what are they but the bitter result of the departure of our fathers from the chastity of simple dependence such as Jesus loves? In other lands she confined herself too much within her own limits, sent forth few missionaries, laboured not for the conversion of the outcasts of Israel; she would not come away, and so the Reformation never took place. It commenced but it ceased, and the churches, many of them, remain to this day half reformed, in a transition state, somewhere between truth and error.

And now in these days we have had another season of refreshing. God has been pleased to pour out His Spirit upon men again. Perhaps the late revivals have almost rivalled Pentecost — certainly in the number of souls ingathered, they may bear rigid comparison with that feast of firstfruits. I suppose that in the north of Ireland, in Wales, in America, and in many parts of our own country, there have been wrought more conversions than took place at the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s people are alive and in earnest, and all our agencies are quickened with new energy. The time of the singing of birds is come, though there are some harsh croaking ravens still left. The flowers do appear on the earth, though much unmelted snow still covers the pastures. Thank God, the winter is over and passed to a great extent, though there are some pulpits and churches as frost-

bound as ever. We thank God that the rain is over and gone, though there are still some who laugh at the people of God and would destroy all true doctrine. We live in happier days than those which have passed, We may speak of these times as the good old times wherein time is older than ever it was, and, I think, better than it has been for many a day.