Evening and Morning
By Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
March 20
MORNING
ÒMy beloved.Ó — Song of Solomon 2:8
This was a golden name which
the ancient Church in her most joyous moments was wont to give to the Anointed
of the Lord. When the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of
the turtle was heard in her land, her love-note was sweeter than either, as she
sang, ÒMy beloved is mine and I am His: He feedeth
among the lilies.Ó Ever in her song of songs doth she call Him by that
delightful name, ÒMy beloved!Ó Even in the long
winter, when idolatry had withered the garden of the Lord, her prophets found
space to lay aside the burden of the Lord for a little season, and to say, as Esaias did, ÒNow will I sing to my well-beloved a song of
my beloved touching His vineyard.Ó Though the saints had never seen His face,
though as yet He was not made flesh, nor had dwelt among us, nor had man beheld
His glory, yet He was the consolation of Israel, the hope and joy of all the
chosen, the ÒbelovedÓ of all those who were upright before the Most High. We,
in the summer days of the Church, are also wont to speak of Christ as the best
beloved of our soul, and to feel that He is very precious, the Òchiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.Ó So
true is it that the Church loves Jesus, and claims Him as her beloved, that the
apostle dares to defy the whole universe to separate her from the love of
Christ, and declares that neither persecutions, distress, affliction, peril, or
the sword have been able to do it; nay, he joyously boasts, ÒIn all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.Ó O that we knew
more of Thee, Thou ever precious one!
ÒMy sole possession is Thy love;
In earth beneath, or heaven above,
I have no other store;
And though with fervent suit I pray,
And importune Thee day by day,
I ask Thee nothing more.Ó
EVENING
ÒHusbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.Ó — Ephesians 5:25
What a golden example Christ gives to His disciples!
Few masters could venture to say, ÒIf you would practise
my teaching, imitate my life;Ó but as the life of Jesus is the exact transcript
of perfect virtue, He can point to Himself as the paragon of holiness, as well
as the teacher of it. The Christian should take nothing short of Christ for his
model. Under no circumstances ought we to be content unless we reflect the grace which was in Him. As a husband, the Christian is to
look upon the portrait of Christ Jesus, and he is to paint according to that
copy. The true Christian is to be such a husband as Christ was to His church.
The love of a husband is special. The Lord Jesus cherishes for the church a
peculiar affection, which is set upon her above the rest of mankind: ÒI pray
for them, I pray not for the world.Ó The elect church is the favourite of heaven, the treasure of Christ, the crown of
His head, the bracelet of His arm, the breastplate of His heart, the very centre and core of His love. A husband should love his wife
with a constant love, for thus Jesus loves His church. He does not vary in His
affection. He may change in His display of affection, but the affection itself
is still the same. A husband should love his wife with an enduring love, for
nothing Òshall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.Ó A true husband loves his wife with a hearty love, fervent and
intense. It is not mere lip-service. Ah! beloved, what more could Christ have done in proof of His
love than He has done? Jesus has a delighted love towards His spouse: He prizes
her affection, and delights in her with sweet complacence. Believer, you wonder
at JesusÕ love; you admire it — are you imitating it? In your domestic
relationships is the rule and measure of your love — Òeven as Christ
loved the churchÓ?