Isaac went into the fields to meditate. Jacob lingered on the eastern bank of the brook Jabbok after all his company had passed over; there he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. Moses, hidden in the clefts of Horeb, beheld the vanishing glory which marked the way by which Jehovah had gone.

Elijah sent Ahab down to eat and drink while he himself withdrew to the lonely crest of Carmel. Daniel spent weeks in ecstasy of intercession on the banks of Hiddek el, which once had watered Paradise. And Paul, no doubt in order that he might have an opportunity for undisturbed meditation and prayer, was minded to go afoot from Troas to Assos.

Have you learned to understand the truths of these great paradoxes: the blessing of a curse, the voice of silence, the companionship of solitude?

I walk down the Valley of Silence, Down the dim voiceless valley alone, And I hear not the sound of a footstep Around me, but God’s and my own; And the hush of my heart is as holy As the bowers whence angels have flown.

In the hush of the Valley of Silence I hear all the songs that I sing, And the notes float down the dim Valley Till each finds a word for a wing, That to men, like the dove of the deluge The message of peace they may bring.

But far on the deeper there are billows That never shall break on the beach; And I have heard songs in the silence That never shall float into speech; And I have had dreams in the Valley Too lofty for language to reach.

Do you ask me the place of the Valley? To hearts that are harrowed by care It lieth afar, between mountains, And God and His angels are there— One is the dark mountain of sorrow, And one the bright mountain of prayer.

“THE SONG OF A MYSTIC”

My meditation of him shall be sweet.—My beloved is . . . the chiefest among ten thousand.—A chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.—Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips.—God . . . hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.—It pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell.

Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.

I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

One pearl of great price.

The prince of the kings of the earth.

His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.

The head over all things.

He is the head of the body, the church.

His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.

He could not be hid.

His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.

Never man spake like this man.

His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

Make thy face to shine upon thy servant.

Lord, lift thou up the light thy countenance upon us.