The Song of Solomon : and the Lamentations of Jeremiah

V. 19-22.] THE EVERLASTING THRONE 343
they have no desire to be reconciled to Him. Then
the kindling of this desire is itself a great step towards
the reconciliation.
And yet the good wish is not enough by itself to attain
its object. The prayer is for God to turn the people
back to Himself We see here the mutual relations
of the human and the Divine in the process of the
recovery of souls. So long as there is no willingness
to return to God nothing can be done to force that
action on the wanderer. The first necessity, therefore,
is to awaken the prayer which seeks restoration. But
this prayer must be for the action of God. The poet
knows that it is useless simply to resolve to turn.
Such a resolution may be repeated a thousand times
without any result following, because the fatal poison of
sin is like a snake bite that paralyses its victims. Thus
we read in the Theologia Germanica, " And in this
bringing back and healing, I can, or may, or shall do
nothing of myself, but simply yield to God, so that He
alone may do all things in me and work, and I may
suffer Him and all His work and His Divine will."
The real difficulty is not to change our own hearts and
lives ; that is impossible. And it is not expected of us.
The real difficulty is rather to reach a consciousness of
our own disabilit3^ It takes the form of unwillingness
to trust ourselves entirely to God for Him to do for us
and in us just whatever He will.
The poet is perfectly confident that when God takes
His people in hand to lead them round to Himself He
will surely do so. If He turns them they will be turned.
The words suggest that previous efforts had been made
from other quarters, and had failed. The prophets,
speaking from God, had urged repentance, but their
words had been ineffectual. It is only when God