Song of Solomon 3:1-5

3:1. By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

Sometimes, the most eager search does not at once obtain its end. For wise reasons, Christ sometimes hides himself from his seeking people.

Song of Solomon 3:2. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field,

«By everything that is timid, and delicate, and pure, and full of love, I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,»

Song of Solomon 3:5. That ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

«I have found my Beloved, and I would not lose him again; he has come to me, so I will not grieve him, and drive him away.» That is the one of our reading: «Come near to me, I pray thee; and when thou comest near me, keep by me still.»

Extracted from an exposition of Genesis 45:1; Song of Solomon 1:1; Song of Solomon 3:1.