Robert Murray M'Cheyne: The Voice of My Beloved

A sermon from Song of Songs 2:8-17 found online here.

"There is no book of the Bible which affords a better test of the depth of a man’s Christianity than the Song of Solomon. (1.) If a man’s religion be all in his head - a well-set form of doctrines, built like mason-work, stone above stone - but exercising no influence upon his heart, this book cannot but offend him; for there are no stiff statements of doctrine here upon which his heartless religioin may be built. (2.) Or, if a man’s religion be all in his fancy - if, like Pliable in the Pilgrim’s Progress, he be taken with the outward beauty of Christianity - if, like the seed sown upon the rocky ground, his religion is fixed only in the surface faculties of the mind, while the heart remain rocky and unmoved; though he will relish this book much more than the first man, still there is a mysterious breathing of intimate affextion in it, which cannot but stumble and offend him. (3.) But if a man’s religion be heart religion - if he hath not only doctrines in his head, but love to Jesus in his heart - if he hath not only heard and read of the Lord Jesus, but hath felt his need of Him, and been brought to cleave unto Him, as the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely, then this book will be inestimably precious to his soul; for it contains the tenderest breathings of the believer’s heart towards the Saviour, and the tenderest breathings of the Saviour’s heart again towards the believer."

It seems impossible to me at the moment to wrap my head around the idea of exactly why it is that God loves us. I am convinced that he does, but really why? So I'm trying to do some reading and thinking about it. Someone suggested Song of Songs to me as it is describing a human marriage, as an allegory of the relationship between Christ and the Church so should tell me how Jesus feels about us as his 'bride'. I f

(As an aside... I guess there is some debate about that, and maybe it can be taught as both literal and allegorical, however the argument that it's called the "Song of Songs" implies that it is talking about a relationship far greater than any human one ever could be. And the idea of Solomon giving good marital advice is a bit shaky too.) 

 Anyway, I found this sermon by one of my faaaavourite olden times preachers Robert Murray McCheyne and it's really good. I may go see if there's anything out there online by Spurgeon on Song of Songs too...

Enjoy :)