Christ the Rose of Sharon

    CHRIST THE ROSE OF SHARON

    "I am the rose of Sharon," Song 2:1.

    IT is Christ that speaks these words, it becomes not the spouse thus to commend herself; saith Solomon, "Let another, and not thine own lips praise thee," Pr 27:2. The Lord Jesus elegantly expresseth his own excellency, by comparing himself unto a Rose, the Rose of Sharon.

    METAPHOR

    I. A ROSE is the offspring and fruit of a good, though seemingly dry root.

    PARALLEL

    I. CHRIST, touching his human nature, is the offspring of David, or "A branch out of the stem and root of Jesse," Isa 11:1.

    METAPHOR

    II. A Rose is a beautiful flower, very pleasant and delightful to the eye, of different colours, red and white, and in some curiously joined and intermixed together, red and white; shows an excellent complexion, and makes up a perfect beauty.

    PARALLEL

    II. Christ is said to be "white and ruddy," Song 5:10. Some understand thereby his two natures, by the white his Divinity, by the red his humanity: the one denotes his natural purity and innocency; the other, his bloody agony and suffering for our sakes; hence said to be "red in his apparel," Isa 63:2. No object so delightful to the eye, as Jesus Christ is in his humiliation, crucified for our sins; in his exaltation, appearing at the Father's right hand for us. True and evangelical sights of Christ delight the eye, and ravish the soul of a believer. Christ is a perfect and complete beauty.

    III. A Rose is a fragrant and sweet flower, it yields a most excellent and odoriferous scent. This may not hold true of every sort of Roses, but it is such an one Christ compares himself unto.

    PARALLEL

    III. Jesus Christ yields a most fragrant and lovely savour.[1] What is so sweet and refreshing to the spiritual senses of the soul, as the merits and saving graces of Christ? "His very name is as precious ointment poured forth," Song 1:3. "He is the savour of life unto life to them that believe."

    [1] See Precious Ointment.

    METAPHOR

    IV. The Rose is a useful flower, it is full of virtue.

    1. Roses distilled, afford a most sweet cooling liquor, good against intemperate heat; it gently qualifies choleric exhalations, refreshes the spirit when sad, &c., and is good for the eyes.[2]

    [2] Hieron. trad. lib. de stirp.

    2. Being conserved, and otherwise made use of and applied, they are very cordial and medicinal: their use in physic, saith an eminent writer,[3] words are too few to express.

    [3] Hieron. trag.

    PARALLEL

    IV. The Lord Jesus is excellent for profit and spiritual virtue.

    1. Being crucified for our sakes, what precious virtue, what soul-mollifying water of life does he yield us? good against all choleric heats and exhalations, of the heart and flesh, making the furious and impatient man, gentle, meek, and humble; refreshes the spirit of a saint, when dejected, and under temptations; and is exceeding good to open the eyes of the understanding.

    2. Jesus Christ, laid hold on by faith, and the virtue of his blood applied and kept in the soul, will prove a sovereign cordial at all times. The medicinal properties of this Rose of Sharon, for the healing the distempers of the inward man, words (I may well say) cannot express.

    METAPHOR

    V. The Rose is called by naturalists the queen of flowers, none being to be compared to it.

    PARALLEL

    V. Jesus Christ infinitely excels all others, whether angels or men; none are to be compared to him. He is the Head, the flower, and glory of things in heaven, and of things on earth, "Whether thrones or principalities or powers." "He is fairer than the children of men, the chiefest among ten thousand," Ps 45:2; Song 5:10.

    METAPHOR

    VI. The Roses that grew in Sharon, were the best and chiefest of Roses; they were singular in beauty and property.

    PARALLEL

    VI. There is nothing eminent and refreshing in any creature in a natural way, but it is super-eminent, and infinitely more in a spiritual way in Christ. Christ is singular, touching the unity of the two natures in his Person, singular in his incarnation, in his humiliation, in his conquest and exaltation, &c.

    METAPHOR

    VII. The Rose of Sharon signifies in Greek the flower of the field, Sharon being a place or plain wherein king David's herds and cattle were fed, 1Ch 27:29. Roses that grow in a field, are not planted by man, and indeed do lie open to beasts, to be spoiled, plucked to pieces, or trodden down.

    PARALLEL

    VII. Jesus Christ, was not planted by man, but by the hand of the Father; when brought forth into the field of this world, how open did he lie to evil beasts, such as Herod and the Jews were? How was he plucked to pieces, as it were, and trodden under their feet? He was laid open to almost all manner of sorrow and suffering, Isa 53:3-5.

    METAPHOR

    VIII. The Roses of Sharon were free: persons might have access to them, when they could not to other flowers that were in close and secret gardens.

    PARALLEL

    VIII. Jesus Christ is free for all poor sinners, whoever will, may come and take the good and gracious virtue, and soul-refreshing blessings that are in him, Isa 55:1; Re 22:17. He is a fountain opened, Ecclesiastes 13:1. The good that is in God is no other ways communicated to mankind, but in and through him.

    METAPHOR

    IX. Roses and other delightful flowers of the field, are the beauty and glory of the field, they clothe the grass.

    PARALLEL

    IX. The Son of God is the beauty and glory of mankind, by assuming of our nature into union with himself. It is he who is the crown of mortals, sitting in glory at the right-hand of the Majesty of heaven.

    METAPHOR

    X. Sharon was a place (as we said before) of pasture, a place of feeding, where the flocks used to rest, a very fruitful valley.

    X. Christ is to be found in green pastures, in his Churches, where his word is truly preached, and sacraments are duly administered: "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures," Ps 23:2.

    METAPHOR

    XI. The Rose yields a very precious oil, good in divers cases.

    PARALLEL

    XI. Jesus Christ affords a very precious oil, called the oil of gladness, which is of a most sovereign virtue. See Oil.

    METAPHOR

    I. A Rose is only pleasant and grateful to the external senses.

    DISPARITY

    I. Jesus Christ delights and gratifies the spiritual senses of the soul.

    METAPHOR

    II. A Rose can be had but in one season of the year; you may look for a Rose in winter, and find it not.

    DISPARITY

    II. Jesus Christ, this Rose of Sharon, may be had at any time of the year, in winter as well as summer. The soul meets with him rather in adversity, than in prosperity.

    METAPHOR

    III. The Rose is a very fading flower; the naturalists tell us of some that seem to wither in their budding; all their beauty and sweet savour passeth away.

    DISPARITY

    III. Jesus Christ is a Rose that never fades, he remains in his full beauty and glory throughout all generations, he never loses his savour; if he does not smell so sweet to our senses, it is because our spiritual senses are decayed; the cause lies in us, not in him: "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever," Heb 13:8.

    METAPHOR

    IV. A Rose may be taken, presented, given, and received, by a human hand.

    DISPARITY

    IV. Jesus Christ is taken, presented, and given by a divine hand, viz., the hand of God himself: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son," &c., Joh 3:16. And he is not otherwise received but by faith, the spiritual hand of the soul.

    METAPHOR

    V. One person can but have one and the same Rose entirety to himself at one and the same time.

    DISPARITY

    V. Jesus Christ, the Rose of Sharon, is of such a nature, that thousands may have him entirely to themselves, as if but one only had him, and this at one and the same time.

    INFERENCES.

    1. IF Jesus Christ be the Rose of Sharon, so sweet and lovely a flower; let me advise all ladies, young virgins and others, who delight in flowers, above all to get this Rose; you never found the like in all your lives; none so sweet, nor yield such a fragrant and oderiferous smell as Christ doth; nay, and more than that, it will be a glorious ornament unto you, it will make all good and gracious ones in love with you.

    2. Moreover, this shows us, that most of the men and women in the world have lost their smell, their spiritual senses are gone; they can find no such savour in religion, no sweetness in a reproached, persecuted, and crucified Jesus; no delight in ordinances, prayer, hearing the word, nor in sacraments.

    3. Labour to be stored with the conserves, and precious virtues of this divine Rose; prize the distillation of it. You love to wash in Rose-water, it is very grateful and pleasing to you; come then and wash in the sweet and fragrant water of the Rose of Sharon; let heart and hands be washed in it. It will not only cleanse away the filth, but will supple and heal all the wounds and bruises of your diseased souls. If you wash in the water of the Spirit, that flows from a crucified Christ, it will make you a sweet savour in the world, your conversations will be of a fragrant scent.

    4. Besides, it shows how happy they are that have got Jesus Christ; and what fools men of the world are, who slight and dis-esteem him. They prize the thorn and briar, the pricking pleasures and profits of the world, above the Rose, the lovely Rose of Sharon.

    5. You that are God's children, that have the sweet scent of the Rose of Sharon, value him above your chiefest joy; account him, as indeed he is, the Rose and diadem of your souls; bear him not only by an outward profession in your breast, but take down the sweet-smelling savour of grace into your hearts. You can never overvalue Christ.

    ON THE ROSE OF SHARON.

    IF nature such a magazine discloses,

    Of artless beauty in our common Roses,

    As does the pencil's artifice outvy.

    Commanding notice from each curious eye:

    Whose sense-refreshing fragrancy does yield

    Perfumes, enriching the enamell'd field:

    Sweet'ning the ambient air to entertain

    With balmy odours, the invading train

    Of flanting gallants: does to each distribute

    A lovely nosegay, as a vernal tribute.

    Yet 'tis but fading: with the Sun's uprise

    Unfolds its bud, and in the ev'ning dies.

    What shall we say to this illustrious bud,

    This Rose of Sharon! language never could

    Express its glories, glories that excel!

    In beauty peerless, uncompar'd in smell!

    No myrrh, no cassia, nor the choice perfumes

    Of bruised spice, or oriental gums,

    Breathe equal sweetness! all the flowers that be

    Tinctur'd with nature's rich embroidery,

    Yield him the chief pre-eminence: then let

    Each soul make haste our Sharon's Rose to get,

    In him is life, we perish if we taste not:

    In him are joys, eternal joys that waste not.