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BS 1485 .F946 1825 
 Fry, John 
 
 Canticles; or Song of 
 Solomon 
 

 CANTICLES ; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON 
 
 A NEW TRANSLATION, 
 
 WITH NOTES. 
 
CANTICLES; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON: 
 
 A NEW TRANSLATION, WITH NOTES, AND 
 AN ATTEMPT TO INTERPRET 
 
 THE SACRED ALLEGORIES 
 
 CONTAINED IN THAT BOOK. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 AN ESSAY ON THE NAME AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REDEEMER. 
 
 BY THE REV. JOHN FRY, A. B. 
 
 LATE OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, 
 
 RECTOR OF DESFORD IN LEICESTERSHIRE, 
 
 Author of Expository Lectures on St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans : a new Translation and 
 
 Exposition of the Psalms ; of the Second Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ ; of the 
 
 Sick Man's Friend; Friend to the Convalescent; and a History of the 
 
 Christian Church to the Present Time, on the Plan of Milner, &c. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 *0 l(x,os \qus lo-rocvQwrcti- 
 
 ST. IGNATIUS. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PaiNTED FOR JAMES DUNCAN, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 MDCCCXXV. 
 
London:— Printed by W. Clowis, Noithumberland-court, Strand. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE authenticity and divine inspiration of the 
 Canticles, or Song of Solomon, have seldom been 
 called in question. This book is well known to 
 have formed part of those sacred writings which 
 the ancient Jews reverenced as the oracles of 
 Heaven, and which, in this high character, re- 
 ceived the sanction of the Son of God. The 
 Canticles are therefore to be considered as in- 
 cluded among those Scriptures of which the 
 Apostle speaks in his Epistle to Timothy : " All 
 Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
 profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, 
 for instruction in righteousness*." No one then 
 can doubt of the utility of studying this portion 
 of the divine records, however extraordinary its 
 subject may, at first sight, appear ; but the at- 
 tention of the reader may be solicited to the 
 publication now laid before him in prosecution of 
 
 »2 Epist. iii. l6, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 that general charge of our divine Master, " Search 
 the Scriptures." 
 
 To give an account of the present attempt with- 
 out any further apology — the first endeavour has 
 been, to provide an accurate translation of this 
 interesting part of Holy Writ from the original 
 Hebrew, illustrated with such notes and observa- 
 tions, as appeared necessary to the comprehen- 
 sion of its literal meaning. 
 
 Next I have attempted — agreeably to what will 
 be shown to be the nature and design of this 
 book — to explain its several portions as so many 
 spiritual allegories. 
 
 The former part of the undertaking could not 
 have been omitted, for it were preposterous to 
 attempt an improved interpretation of these alle- 
 gories, without previously directing our efforts to 
 gain a clear and distinct knowledge of the events 
 or similies on which they are constructed. " It is 
 the first duty of an expositor," as the Bishop of 
 Dromore observes, " to ascertain that lower and 
 more obvious meaning. For till this is done, it 
 is impossible to discover what truths are couched 
 under it. Without this all is vague and idle 
 conjecture b ." 
 
 The spiritual interpretations follow, as being 
 
 b New Translation, Dodsley, 1764. 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 necessary to complete the design of the divine 
 author of these sacred songs : the parable, ex- 
 cept in view of its interpretation, being but of 
 small moment to the edification of the church at 
 large. 
 
 In accomplishing the first part of our design, it 
 will be seen, that we derive great assistance from 
 the labours of others. And much assistance in- 
 deed was necessary : for to settle the literal 
 meaning and distribution of the Song of Solomon 
 has been justly considered as a very difficult task. 
 
 As a composition and work of taste, it must be 
 confessed that we can only, in some parts, form a 
 guess concerning the original beauties and de- 
 sign of the Song of So?igs. It may be compared 
 to some precious relic of antiquity, whose ex- 
 quisite polish and minuter ornaments time and 
 other causes have much corroded and defaced. 
 Notwithstanding the successive labours of many 
 learned and ingenious men, in clearing away the 
 rubbish which obscured it, and in retracing its 
 almost obliterated workmanship, we must be sa- 
 tisfied, in some places, to have preserved only the 
 general contour or outline of the work, and may 
 be compelled perhaps to own that we do not tho 
 roughly comprehend the use of some of its subor- 
 dinate parts. 
 
V1U PREFACE. 
 
 In a religious point of view, however, this sort 
 of imperfection in our knowledge respecting 
 some of the original beauties of these sacred 
 poems, is not of that consequence which might at 
 first be imagined. The glory of the holy temple 
 consists not in its gildings, or in its elegant carv- 
 ings. These may be lost or defaced ; yet, if a 
 more spiritual worship is now celebrated beneath 
 its consecrated roof, the glory of the house, in 
 its latter state, may well be said to exceed its 
 glory in the former. And thus, in the hands of 
 a truly enlightened Christian, the Canticles ap- 
 pear at this day invested with a brighter lustre, 
 than they perhaps could discern, who read them 
 in the days of Solomon. Because, though, in re- 
 gard to the exterior imagery of the allegories, 
 some of their beauties may be lost : yet the hid- 
 den and mystic sense is brought more to light, and 
 manifested with fuller assurance to the believer 
 under the Gospel dispensation. — " For I tell you 
 that many prophets and kings have desired to 
 see the things which ye see, and have not seen 
 them c ." 
 
 The principle upon which the present transla- 
 tion and interpretation are conducted is that 
 
 c Luke, x. 24. 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 adopted by Mr. Mason Good d , or, more strictly 
 speaking, that adopted by Signior Melesigenio. 
 What is commonly called the Song of Solomon, 
 is considered as a collection of distinct idyls, or 
 little poems, perfectly detached and separate from 
 each other, with no other connexion than what 
 they derive from a common subject, the peculi- 
 arities of the style of a common author, and per- 
 haps some unity of design in regard of the mystic 
 sense which they are intended to bear. 
 
 This notion of what is commonly called the 
 Song of Solomon is certainly a most important 
 discovery. The mistake of considering a number 
 of distinct pieces, in an ancient language, as one 
 continued work, and endeavouring to interpret 
 them upon that principle, is in itself sufficient to 
 account for much of the obscurity so generally 
 complained of in reading the Canticles. 
 
 The improbability, however, that the true na- 
 ture of the Song of Solomon should be left to be 
 a modern discovery, will perhaps strike my 
 readers. But it may be observed, that though 
 the notion be indeed a discovery, in respect of 
 the ages just elapsed, yet there is still surviving 
 evidence enough to lead to the conclusion, that 
 
 d See Song of Songs, or sacred Idyls, by John Mason Good, 
 London, 1803. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the same notion was entertained respecting this 
 work by the ancients. 
 
 The plural appellation given to the song among 
 the Latins, « Cantica Salomonis,' whence our ■ Can- 
 ticles,' seems to argue that they considered it as 
 a collection of several songs, and not as one con- 
 tinued poem. The title of this book in the Chaldee 
 paraphrase, is a still more remarkable evidence ; 
 " The Songs and Hymns which Solomon the Prophet, 
 the King of Israel, uttered in the Spirit of Prophecy 
 before the Lord" Not to mention that, according 
 to the opinion of some Hebrew scholars, the title 
 of the book, as it stands in the original Hebrew 
 O^TOH TO, which has been usually rendered The 
 Song of Songs, and understood to signify the 
 most excellent of songs, should be translated A 
 Series of Songs e . J 
 
 It is in this view of the Canticles that the fol- 
 lowing exposition is attempted. I may borrow 
 the language of Mr. Good, though I shall often 
 see occasion to differ from him in its application ; 
 " I have finished the Idyl where the subject seems 
 
 e up Nonnullis Series alicujus rci( ut Arab. Synon. est series 
 lapidum (murus), series pergulata vitis ; uncle sec. quosdam 
 »Tt7T» Series Carminum.— Simonis Lex. Heb. 
 
 Salomonis sanctissimum carmen inter Idyllia Hebrea reccnsen- 
 dum puto.— Sir William Jones. 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 naturally to close, and I have recommenced it 
 where a new subject is introduced." 
 
 In respect to the nature and design of these 
 sacred songs, they are considered in the present 
 publication as so many sacred allegories, intended ( 
 by the Divine Spirit for our instruction and edifi- 
 cation in the mysteries of our holy religion. 
 
 An allegory is denned by Bishop Lowth to be 
 " a figure, which, under the literal sense of the 
 words, conceals a foreign or a distant meaning." 
 Of allegories in the Hebrew poetry, his Lordship 
 reckons three kinds: — " The continued Meta- 
 phor, the parabolic Allegory, and the mystical or 
 historic Allegory." He observes, " Supposing the 
 Song of Solomon to be an allegory, a question will 
 arise, to which of the three species it belongs." 
 And considering the song as one continued drama, 
 he places it in the third class ; the nature of which 
 sort of allegory is, under the veil of some histori- 
 cal fact, to conceal a meaning more sacred and 
 sublime. The historical fact he supposes to be 
 the marriage-feast of Solomon ; the more sacred 
 and spiritual meaning, " the Prince of Peace, 
 whom Solomon typified espousing his church." 
 
 But upon the plan now proposed, of consider- 
 ing the Canticles as a collection of many distinct 
 idyls and allegories, we shall perhaps see reason 
 
-\11 PREFACE. 
 
 to conclude, that only a very few of them can be 
 properly said to belong to this class of allegories : 
 but that they are, for the most part, of the para- 
 bolical kind — of that species of allegories, accord^ 
 ing to Bishop Lowth's definition, " which consist 
 of a continued narration of a fictitious event, ap- 
 plied, by way of simile, to the illustration of some 
 important truth." 
 
 For the better understanding of the distinction 
 between these two species of allegories, we may 
 observe, from the same admirable writer, " that, 
 in the parabolical allegory, the exterior or osten- 
 sible imagery is fiction only ; the truth lies alto- 
 gether in the interior and remote sense which is 
 veiled as it were under this thin and pellucid 
 covering. But in the historical allegory, the 
 exterior or ostensible image is not a shadowy 
 colouring of the interior sense, but is itself a re- 
 ality ; and although it sustains another character, 
 it does wholly lay aside its own." The one, in 
 short, is a fable, with its intended moral — a 
 parable contrived only for the sake of its inter- 
 pretation : of which sort were probably all the 
 parables of our blessed Saviour. The other is 
 some event or occurrence in the history of the 
 times, moralized or spiritualized, or considered as 
 destined by divine Providence to typify some 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 similar but more important event to come to pass 
 in a future age. Of this species of allegory the 
 Scriptures of the Old Testament afford us many 
 instances ; and the fourth chapter of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Galatians may be referred to for a 
 particular example t. 
 
 The historical events, upon which it may be 
 supposed some few of these allegories are built, 
 will be noticed, when the particular idyl is con- 
 sidered which contains the allusion. Speaking 
 of them generally, and the exceptions are very 
 few, we may pronounce them to be allegories of 
 the parabolical kind. 
 
 And here my readers, who are acquainted with 
 some of the existing expositions of the Canticles, 
 will perceive that we escape a great deal of very 
 useless and uninteresting inquiry — respecting 
 who was the literal bride, whether Pharaoh's 
 daughter, or some other woman ; with a variety 
 of vague conjecture and disgusting detail, not 
 less offensive to true taste, than unprofitable to 
 every practical purpose. Since, if we suppose 
 them to be parabolical allegories, it is obviously 
 as unnecessary to ask — who was the particular 
 bride, and what the particular marriage; as to 
 
 f Ver. 24, &c. 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 ask — who were the particular parties in any of 
 the parables of our Lord ; who was the king that 
 made a marriage for his son ; or who the man 
 that came in among 4 the guests, not having on a 
 wedding garment. All that is necessary to the 
 understanding of such allegories, being, to gain a 
 clear conception of the case supposed, and then 
 to search out the truths intended to be taught by 
 the comparison, or allusion. 
 
 In the allegories we are now to consider, the 
 fictitious events are always in allusion to the in- 
 tercourse of some faithful pair betrothed or es- 
 poused to each other, and about to be united to- 
 gether in the sacred bonds of wedded love ; or, 
 as the case is sometimes supposed, that event 
 having already taken place. — Their declarations 
 of affection, and partial admiration of each other ; 
 their occasional separations, and the happiness 
 experienced when these painful interruptions are 
 ended, with other circumstances relating to the 
 marriage union, according to the custom of the 
 times, will be found to form the subjects of the 
 several idyls. 
 
 Such is the nature of the exterior and osten- 
 sible imagery of these allegories ; the interior 
 and remote sense, the true meaning covered by 
 this veil, is the love and affection manifested by 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 Christ, the bridegroom of souls, towards his faith- 
 ful people, and their returns of love and gratitude 
 to him. And this view of the Song of Solomon, 
 as being intended to represent the mutual love of 
 Christ and his church, is indeed agreeable to the 
 very general and almost universal opinion enter- 
 tained concerning this part of Scripture, both in 
 ancient and modern times. 
 
 The reader, however, should be informed, that 
 one eminent critic, Professor Michaelis, has ad- 
 vanced a different interpretation. He conceives, 
 " that the chaste and conjugal affections so care- 
 fully implanted by the Deity in the human heart, 
 and upon which so great a portion of human hap- 
 piness depends, are not unworthy of a muse 
 fraught even with inspiration. Only let us sup- 
 pose/' he continues, " contrary to the general 
 opinion concerning the Canticles, that the affec- 
 tion which is described in this poem is not that 
 of lovers previous to their nuptials, but the at- 
 tachment of two delicate persons, who have been 
 long united in the sacred bond. Can we suppose 
 such happiness unworthy of being recommended 
 as a pattern to mankind, and of being celebrated 
 as a subject of gratitude to the great Author of 
 happiness? This is indeed a branch of morals, 
 which may be treated in a more artificial and 
 
Xvi PREFACE. 
 
 philosophical manner; and such a manner per- 
 haps will be more convincing to the understand- 
 ing, but will never affect the heart with such 
 tender sentiments as the Song of Solomon, in 
 which there exists all the fervour of passion, with 
 the utmost chastity of expression, and with that 
 delicacy and reserve which is ever necessary to 
 the life and preservation of conjugal love." 
 
 Though we feel ourselves compelled to adopt 
 the opinion of the general body of interpreters, 
 in preference to this of the learned Professor, yet 
 we need not totally exclude the moral instruc- 
 tion which he supposes to be deducible from the 
 Canticles, since St. Paul has referred us to the 
 love of Christ towards his church, which we state 
 to be the subject of these songs, for an example 
 of the same virtue — " Husbands, love your wives, 
 even as Christ also loved the church e." 
 
 But to suppose this moral instruction the only, 
 or, in any respect, the chief design of the Divine 
 Spirit in these sacred poems, is to suppose a 
 subject far too mean and homely for such a 
 theme. That the Holy Spirit " should not dis- 
 dain," according to the reasoning of Michaelis, 
 " in the didactic parts of Scripture, as in the 
 
 sEph. v. 25. 
 
PREFACE. XVI L 
 
 book of Proverbs, minutely to describe the feli- 
 cities and infelicities of the conjugal state/' is 
 scarcely sufficient to reconcile us to the notion, 
 that songs and hymns are inspired by that same 
 Divine Being to extol and celebrate the same. 
 
 Supposing no allegory, the moral instruction to 
 be gathered from these songs must be acknow- 
 ledged to be very small, and the effusion of praise 
 to the great Author of happiness not very ob- 
 vious. It were strange, indeed, supposing only a 
 literal sense, to find beauty of person, profusion 
 of odours, magnificence of dress and of equipage, 
 held forth as the chief subjects of panegyric, 
 and mutually rehearsed between the lovers, as 
 though they formed the chief motives of endear- 
 ment. For this may almost be said to be the 
 case in every part of these idyls ; while the qua- 
 lities of the heart and mind, upon the goodness 
 and beauty of which a true affection can alone be 
 founded, are hardly mentioned. Far different 
 were the instructions of that wisdom with which 
 Solomon was inspired ! " Grace is deceitful, and 
 beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the 
 Lord she shall be praised 11 ." 
 
 jnn. 
 
XVlll PREFACE. 
 
 It will appear, however, inconceivable to some, 
 that there should, in reality, exist any such rela- 
 tion and intercourse between the souls of poor, 
 abject, and sinful mortals, and the eternal Majesty 
 of Heaven, as is here supposed : an intercourse 
 which can, with any degree of propriety, be com- 
 pared to the endearments and familiar converse 
 of two earthly lovers. And there is too much 
 reason to fear that many persons, in their most 
 deliberate judgments, will pronounce the notion 
 extravagant and enthusiastical ; and some per- 
 haps — forgetting that the theme is scriptural, 
 whatever are the errors of the comment — will not 
 spare, on this occasion, the shafts of profane wit 
 and ridicule. 
 
 But the happy experience of many humble and 
 pious Christians, in every age, and in every clime, 
 does attest the fact, that in that " mysterious 
 commerce" which the Great Redeemer conde- 
 scends to hold with their souls, there are those 
 manifestations of his love, and those affections 
 kindled in their hearts towards the person of God 
 their Saviour, which may well borrow their allu- 
 sions from the tenderest and most powerful affec- 
 tion which subsists among men. And, as will be 
 shown in the course of this publication, in these 
 
PREFACE. XIX 
 
 attestations the followers of Christ profess to 
 experience nothing but what the Scriptures do 
 clearly warrant them to expect. 
 
 We have not in our view, it should be remem- 
 bered, the penitent trembling before his judge. 
 Though it is obvious to remark, that sinful mor- 
 tals, by nature the children of wrath, must first 
 of all be brought into these circumstances, before 
 any friendship with a holy God can be imagined. 
 Neither are the scenes described in the following 
 parables, supposed to refer to the first applica- 
 tion of the believer to the cross of his Saviour, 
 nor perhaps to his first apprehensions of Christ's 
 pity and mercy ; but rather to those subsequent 
 manifestations of the divine love, in the person of 
 the Son of God, which the established Christian 
 is taught to expect, from the effusion of the Holy 
 Ghost the Comforter. 
 
 The progress of true religious experience is 
 thus stated, by a safe guide, the Apostle Paul, 
 " Being justified by faith, we have peace with 
 God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom 
 also we have access by faith into this grace, 
 wherein we stand and rejoice, in hope of the 
 glory of God. And not only so, but we glory 
 in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation 
 worketh patience, and patience experience, and 
 
 b2 
 
XX PREFACE. 
 
 experience hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed, 
 because the love of God is shed abroad in the- dwl 
 heart5by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto 
 us." And, after describing the nature of this 
 love, the Apostle concludes, " and not only so, 
 but we also joy in God, through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, by whom we have now received the atone- 
 ment 1 ." 
 
 It is in these circumstances — when, to use the 
 expressions of Isaiah, " the work of righteous- 
 ness is peace, and the effect of righteousness 
 quietness, and assurance for ever k ," that the be- 
 lieving soul becomes the manifested subject of 
 those espousals with her heavenly Bridegroom, 
 which are celebrated in these songs of love. To 
 persons brought into this happy state, the lan- 
 guage of the Prophet may be addressed, « As 
 the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall 
 thy God rejoice over thee." To the favoured be- 
 liever, so circumstanced, the terms Hephzibah 
 and Beulah apply. And the spouse of Christ re- 
 ceiving " the first fruits of the Spirit " is enabled 
 to exclaim, in the animated language of the same 
 Prophet, " 1 will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my 
 soul shall be joyful in my God ; for he has clothed 
 
 » Ywo/Aom— Ao*^>,— EXw»;— KxraXXxyn. Rom. v. 1, &c. 
 
 k Isa. xxxii. IT. Isa. lxii. 5. 
 
PREFACE. XXI 
 
 me with the garments of salvation, he has covered 
 me with the robe of righteousness, as a bride- 
 groom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a 
 bride adorneth herself with her jewels 1 ." 
 
 With this blessed experience we come, indivi- 
 dually, to enjoy that happy state of the church 
 described by the prophet Hosea ; " And it shall 
 be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call 
 me Ishi (my husband) ; and shalt call me no more 
 Baalim (my master). And I will betroth thee 
 unto me for ever ; yea, I will betroth thee unto 
 me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in 
 loving kindness, and in mercies ; and I will even 
 betroth thee unto me in faithfulness ; and thou 
 shalt know the Lord 11 ." 
 
 For let it here be once for all observed, that 
 what is spoken of the church in these Scriptures, 
 is not only true of it in its collective capacity, 
 but applies respectively to every member of 
 which that church is composed. No one indeed 
 will doubt, when a false church is termed an 
 adultress, a very common metaphor in Scripture, 
 whether the spiritual fornication is chargeable or 
 not upon each individual participating in her 
 
 » Isa. l.xi. 10. m Hos. ii. 15. n Hos. ii. i'J, 20. 
 
XX11 PREFACE. 
 
 idolatries. Neither can it reasonably be ques- 
 tioned, whether the love declared by Christ to- 
 wards his spouse the Church, belongs severally, 
 as well as conjointly, to all his faithful people. 
 
 Why should the love of Christ be considered 
 as nothing more than an affection only true in the 
 general abstract, but applicable in point of fact 
 to no one ? " O, taste and see ! ! " The love of 
 Christ is not lost in generalities, neither is it 
 lessened by division. Like the great luminary of 
 heaven, " The head of his body the Church," in 
 the communications of his grace, shines with the 
 same fulness upon all the objects of his love ; — 
 each alike discerns the complete disk of the Sun 
 of Righteousness to be turned towards himself, as 
 though no creature besides participated in his 
 beams. And — to draw another comparison from 
 these material objects— as the heavenly bodies, be- 
 cause of their immense distance, in comparison of 
 the objects which surround us here upon the sur- 
 face of the earth, seem as if they attended each of 
 us in our course ; to go with us when we go, and 
 to take their stations where we rest ; so, in re- 
 ality, from that glorious height, from whence the 
 Omnipotent Saviour beholds the things which are 
 in heaven and in earth, he is always seen as pre- 
 
PREFACE. XX111 
 
 sent to to the believer's soul. He is about his 
 path, and about his bed°. ** As God hath said, I 
 will dwell in them, and walk in them p." 
 
 An objection, indeed, has been urged against 
 this interpretation of the Song of Solomon, which 
 we are endeavouring to establish, drawn from the 
 consideration that we find no plain and express 
 allusion to this book in the New Testament, 
 under the notion of its veiling so great a mystery. 
 But it is sufficient to reply, that the same alle- 
 gory, as portraying the same truth, evidently 
 appears to have been familiar to the minds of the 
 writers of the New Testament, and to the minds 
 also of the people whom they addressed. 
 
 Not more abruptly does John the Baptist, for 
 instance, refer to our Lord, as " the Lamb of 
 God who taketh away the sins of the world/ 5 
 as being a character of the Messiah, which all 
 would know and understand, than he does to the 
 same blessed person in the character of the Bride- 
 groom of the Church. " He that hath the Bride 
 is the Bridegroom : but the friend of the Bride- 
 groom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth 
 greatly, because of the Bridegroom's voice ; this 
 my joy therefore is fulfilled %" So again St. Paul, 
 
 ° Ps. cxxxix. 2. p 2 Cor. vi. 16. q John, iii. 29- 
 
XXIV PREFACE. 
 
 " I have espoused you to one husband, that I may 
 
 present you as a chaste virgin to Christ 1 ." And 
 
 how remarkable is the language of the same 
 
 Apostle, when speaking of the duties of husbands 
 
 and wives ! " Wives, submit yourselves to your 
 
 own husbands, as unto the Lord ; for the husband 
 
 is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head 
 
 of the church ; and he is the Saviour of the body. 
 
 Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so 
 
 let the wives be to their own husbands in every 
 
 thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ 
 
 also loved the church, and gave himself for it, 
 
 that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the 
 
 washing of water by the word, that he might 
 
 present it to himself a glorious church, not having 
 
 spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it 
 
 should be holy, and without blemish. So ought 
 
 men to love their wives as their own bodies. 
 
 He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no 
 
 man ever yet hated his own flesh ; but nourisheth 
 
 and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church ; 
 
 for we are members of his flesh, of his body, and 
 
 of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave 
 
 his father and his mother, and shall be joined 
 
 unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 
 
 * 2 Cor. xi. 2. 
 
PREFACE. xxv 
 
 This is a great mystery : but I speak concerning 
 Christ and his church. Nevertheless, let each 
 one of you in particular so love his wife, even as 
 himself: and let the wife see that she reverence 
 her husband 5 ." 
 
 We perceive, therefore, that the allegory pur- 
 sued in the Canticles, and understood by the 
 Jews to be therein contained, is not unnoticed in 
 the New Testament, but was an acknowledged 
 simile in use among the Apostles of Christ. 
 
 It may be necessary, however, to observe, 
 that even the human passion itself, which is al- 
 legorized in these sacred songs, as an emblem of 
 the divine love, is totally unknown to some gross 
 minds ; and that all susceptibility of a real affec- 
 tion is often destroyed in others, at a very early 
 age in life, by sensuality, ambition, or avarice. 
 For it is not the mercenary bargain which unites 
 so many couples at our altars, that can be " em- 
 ployed to signify to us the mystical union that 
 there is betwixt Christ and his church :" nor yet 
 those plighted vows, which too truly may be 
 said " to be enterprised and taken in hand unad- 
 visedly, wantonly to satisfy man's carnal lusts 
 and appetites, like brute beasts that have no un- 
 
 • Eph. v. 22, &<\ 
 
XXVI PREFACE. 
 
 derstanding." In these contracts, as might be 
 expected, it soon appears, that " the mutual 
 society, help, and comfort which one has of the 
 other " will afford but a poor comparison whereby 
 to illustrate the everlasting love of Christ towards 
 his spouse the church. 
 
 But it will be asked, Do we suppose that a 
 meet example of conjugal affection could be found 
 in the voluptuous establishment of an eastern 
 prince, like Solomon ? No : and I think that the 
 Canticles contain more than one indication of this. 
 For though King Solomon is mentioned, and his 
 marriage-processions perhaps gave occasion to 
 to some of these allegories, yet we shall notice as 
 we proceed, that the scene is every now and then 
 changed, and we are led, from the processions of 
 the royal marriage, to contemplate the intercourse 
 and concerns of some rural or domestic pair in 
 humble life. As though the heavenly wisdom 
 would instruct us : " You see in Solomon indeed 
 a type of the regal dignity and prosperity of the 
 celestial bridegroom ; but a prototype of the loves 
 intended to be celebrated, is not to be found in 
 courts and palaces." — " There are threescore 
 queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins 
 without number. My dove, my undefiled, is but 
 one ; she is the only one of her mother ; she is 
 
PREFACE. XXVU 
 
 the choice one of her that bare her." We must 
 look, therefore, for the desired example, to those 
 scenes and situations where, comparatively speak- 
 ing, luxury or profligacy has not 
 
 banished from man's life his happiest life, 
 
 Simplicity and spotless innocence ! 
 
 The Scripture has recorded the histories of 
 Abraham and Sarah ; of Isaac and Rebecca ; of 
 the injured Jacob, whose love for Rachel made 
 the servitude of seven years, of even years twice 
 numbered, to appear but ' a few days :' and no 
 doubt there were many others, even in the days of 
 Solomon. Nor is the prototype yet lost among 
 mankind. You may witness still, in many a do- 
 mestic circle, an union of those who once were 
 strangers to each other ; nearer than kindred can 
 create, and dearer than friendship can cement. — 
 
 Hail, wedded Love, mysterious law, true source 
 
 Of human offspring, sole propriety 
 
 In paradise, of all things common else ! 
 
 By thee adult'rous lust was driven from man 
 
 Among the bestial herds to range : by thee 
 
 Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, 
 
 Relations dear ; and all the charities 
 
 Of father, son, and brother, first were known. 
 
 Far be it that I should write thee sin, or blame, 
 
 Or think thee unbefitting holiest place. 
 
 Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets ; 
 
XXV111 PREFACE. 
 
 Whose bed is undefiled, and chaste pronounced, 
 Present or past, as saints or patriarchs used. 
 Here Love his golden shafts employs ; here lights 
 His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings; 
 Reigns here, and revels. 
 
 It is this attachment then, the dearest and 
 tenderest known to the breast of man, which 
 our gracious Lord has made choice of as a com- 
 parison of his love to his faithful people. Nay, 
 the first new moments of this attachment are 
 chosen to supply the comparison, " The love of 
 the espousals." For Christ is ever new, and ever 
 young; the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
 His love is everlasting, and in no degree kindled 
 by circumstances of a changeable nature. " He 
 is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man 
 that he should repent*." 
 
 The hidings of his countenance may indeed be 
 compared to the lamented separations of earthly 
 lovers ; but no time nor accident, nor unforeseen 
 event, can alter the disposition of Christ towards 
 his redeemed people, or affect their union with 
 him. For I am persuaded," says the Apostle, 
 " that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
 
 t Hom. viii. 3J. 
 
PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
 Lordu." 
 
 But, in concluding, we seem called upon to 
 reflect, how extremely unimportant it is to search 
 the meaning of these allegories if our hearts are 
 strangers to the sacred passion which they 
 describe ! Is the blessed Jesus then, indeed, 
 the object of our choice, " fairer" in our eyes 
 " than the children of men ;" the object on whom 
 our " thoughts find all repose," and whose loved 
 image the busiest scenes and most alluring plea- 
 sures cannot long banish from our minds ? Is he 
 our " glory," our " perfection?" Is it the pros- 
 pect of being taken to his heavenly abode, and 
 placed for ever near his dear person, that is our 
 solace in toil and trouble, the recompense and 
 rich amends which we propose to ourselves for 
 every loss and sacrifice ? If such an affection has 
 been kindled in our hearts towards him who 
 " first loved us," then we may hope to read the 
 Canticles with pleasure and profit. But if, from 
 all that we know concerning the Saviour of the 
 world, nothing in his person and character has 
 particularly struck our wayward fancies, or served 
 to give Christ the pre-eminence in our affections 
 
 u Rom. viii.38, 39. 
 
XXX PREFACE. 
 
 above other objects ; if, with the ungrateful 
 world at large, we are compelled to acknowledge, 
 " he has no form nor comeliness, and when we shall 
 see him, there is no beauty that we should de- 
 sire in him ;" then, indeed, it were in vain to think 
 of reading these songs of love : they cannot be to 
 our taste and mind. " Frustra enim ad legendum 
 amoris carmen, qui non amat accedit, quia non 
 potest capere ignitum eloquium frigidum pec- 
 tus," — " Lingua amoris ei, qui non amat barbara 
 erit." 
 
 " For this cause," therefore, let us bow our "knees 
 to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom 
 the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
 that he would grant" us, " according to the riches 
 of his glory, to be strengthened with might by 
 his spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell 
 in" our " hearts by faith ; that" we, " being rooted 
 and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, 
 with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, 
 and depth, and height ; and to know the love of 
 Christ, which passeth knowledge, that we may be 
 filled with all the fulness of God." Amen*. 
 
 * The relation between Christ and his Church, it is evident^ 
 must be of a nature not to be adequately typified by any thing in 
 the material world ; and nothing could be found in human life 
 which might so aptly represent it as the relation of husband and 
 wife in the holy state of wedlock : and in this the analogy is so 
 
PREFACE. XXXI 
 
 perfect, that the notion of the ancient Jews has received the ex- 
 press sanction of St Paul, that the relation of the Saviour and the 
 Church was typified in the union of our first parents, and in the 
 particular manner of Eve's formation out of the substance of 
 Adam." — " The union in both cases, in the natural case of man 
 and wife, and the spiritual case of Messiah and the Church, is a 
 union of the most entire affection and the warmest mutual love, 
 between unequals ; contrary to the admired maxim of the heathen 
 moralist, that friendship was not to be formed but between equals. 
 The maxim may be true in all human friendship, except in the 
 conjugal, but fails completely in the love between Christ and his 
 Church, in which the affection on both sides is the most cordial, 
 though the rank of the parties be the most disparate." 
 
 Bishop Horsley. 
 
CANTICLES; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 IDYL THE FIRST. 
 
 Corresponding with the first six Verses of the first 
 Chapter of our public Translation. 
 
 --I 
 
 X HIS Idyl may perhaps, with propriety, be considered 
 as introductory to the series. The fictitious event, or 
 simile, which forms the exterior or ostensible part of the 
 allegory, appears to be the conducting of a bride to her 
 home. She is plainly supposed, as we shall discover, to 
 have been a person in a low station: one at least who, by 
 the ill treatment of her relations, had been employed in 
 servile labours. The bridegroom, into whose house she 
 is conducted, is said to be the King ; and as Jerusalem is 
 mentioned, it is of course the King of Israel. But as no 
 real incident, that we know of, was the occasion of the 
 idyl, we may consider the allegory as belonging to the 
 parabolical species, according to the distinctions noticed 
 in the Preface. 
 
 This little poem consists of a dialogue between the 
 bride and the daughters of Jerusalem, who are sent to 
 
 B 
 
2 CANTICLES ; OH, 
 
 accompany her to the rjalace, and whose observations and 
 answers form in this, and in several of the following idyls, 
 a kind of chorus. But, besides these virgins, we discover 
 in the present idyl another character, bearing part in the 
 dialogue, whom we may term The Messenger. The reason 
 for this conjecture is, that some one is addressed by the 
 bride in the singular number, and masculine gender. He 
 appears, moreover, as the conductor of the procession. 
 
 From these observations it will occur to the reader, 
 that the imagery of the following idyl very much re- 
 sembles a part of that described more at length in the 
 forty-fifth Psalm; " She shall be brought unto the King 
 in raiment of needle-work : the virgins, her companions, 
 that follow her, shall be brought unto thee; with gladness 
 and rejoicing shall they be brought ; they shall enter into 
 the King's palace 3 ." 
 
 An apparent abruptness will perhaps strike us in the 
 language attributed to the bride, with which the dialogue 
 begins. But we are to suppose a previous address of the 
 messenger, or rather a previous contract and preparation. 
 The messenger comes only to execute an expected office — 
 that of conducting the bride, at the time appointed, to 
 the house of her husband. 
 
 •> 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouths 
 
 » Ver. 14, 15. 
 
 b This declaration is merely expressive of the anxiety of the 
 bride, that she may meet with a gracious reception from her royal 
 bridegroom, and may receive the solemn token and pledge of the 
 espousals. We are informed by the Jewish writers, that kisses 
 were used in token of the espousals, and that then the parties 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. O 
 
 MESSENGER. 
 
 — Yea! more grateful will be thy love than wine — 
 As the fragrance of thy sweet perfumes b . 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 —A perfume poured forth is thy name, 
 Therefore do the Virgins love thee c . 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Conduct me d — 
 
 were reckoned as man and wife*. The same ceremony was prac- 
 tised among the primitive Christianst. Indeed the solemn kiss is 
 made by the civil law a ceremony, in some respects, of importance 
 to the validity of the contract J. 
 
 « ' Be assured he will, for greatly will he delight in thy beauty/ 
 We may observe, that the literal meaning of Dm, at least accord- 
 ing to the Septuagint and Vulgate, who render ^uaroi and ubera, 
 as well as the change of person, leads to the conclusion, that the 
 love of the bride, as the object, and not that of the bridegroom, 
 as is generally represented, is intended. 
 
 c The virgins repeat the assurance of the messenger respecting 
 the King's acceptance of his bride: and whilst they express, in 
 the same figurative strain of allusion to the sweet perfumes with 
 which the bride is scented, their own affection to her person, 
 they welcome her to their society. 
 
 ' The pleasing report which they have heard of her has been 
 most grateful to them, and has already conciliated all their afFec- 
 tions:' yav is by some considered as occurring here in the fem. 
 gen. By others, min is considered as a noun. 
 
 d yoiPJD ' Draw me.' — ' Lead on, O Messenger.' The word is 
 used (Judges, iv. 6, 7.) for the conducting or leading out of an 
 army ; and also for the drawing of the enemy to the desired spot. 
 " Go, and draw towards Mount Tabor," " and I will draw 
 unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera the Captain of Jabin's 
 army, with his chariots and his multitude;" — " And he went up 
 
 * See Dr. Gill, Comment, 
 t Bingham's Antiquities, b. xxii. c. iii. s. vi. 
 J Cod. Justin, lib. 6. tit. 3. de Donation, ante Nuptias, leg. 16. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 — After thee will we hasten. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 The King has caused me to be brought into his inner- 
 chambers f . 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 We will exult and rejoice over thee; 
 We will celebrate thy loves, 
 Than wine more grateful : 
 Justly art thou beloved g . 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 I am black 1 ' — 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 — Yet most beautiful 1 1 
 
 with ten thousand men at his feet" (ver. 10). The transition to 
 the conducting of a procession is easy. 
 
 f These words are spoken by the bride on entering the royal 
 apartments. — ' With the virgins, her companions which follow 
 her, she is brought into the King's palace.' Tin signifies pro- 
 perly a veil ; — the veil or curtain especially, which separated the 
 farther part of the tent from the midst. Hence it is applied to the 
 interior of a building, by whatever means separated from the rest. 
 It signifies in this place the private apartments of the palace, 
 secluded from public view and access. 
 
 g TOnK O'ltt^o — ' They do right in loving thee.' ' Recte 
 agentes, rectissime.' Simonis Lex. Heb. ' Thou art every way 
 lovely.' Percy and Good. 
 
 b The bride speaks this as if abashed at their flattering com- 
 mendations, conscious of her own defect in point of beauty : 
 her complexion, from a cause afterwards to be mentioned, having 
 become brown and tawny. 
 
 1 niW — admodum pulchra. Simons. If we suppose a dialogue, 
 there can, I think, need no argument to show the probability 
 that these words are spoken by the virgins, and not, as has been 
 usually imagined, by the bride, in commendation of her own 
 beauty. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. O 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 O Daughters of Jerusalem, — as the tents of Kedar k ! 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 —As the hangings * of the pavilion ' of Solomon ' ! 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Look not on me, for I am very black m ! 
 
 Because the sun has discoloured me : 
 
 The sons of my mother despised me n , 
 
 They set me to look ° after the vineyards P : 
 
 A vineyard of my own I have not looked after q . 
 
 k Tip— it appears, from Gen. xxv. 13, was a name of one of 
 the sons of Ishmael, from whom the Arabians are descended. 
 Dr. Shaw and Mr. Volney inform us, that the tents of the 
 Bedouins, the Arabians of the desert, are woven of goats' or 
 camels' hair, and are of a black or brown appearance. It is to 
 these that the bride compares the complexion of her sun-burnt 
 skin. 
 
 lj-nyi-p.— rendered in our public translation ' Curtains,' always, I 
 believe, denotes something belonging to a tent — the different hang- 
 ings of which it was composed. " I saw the tents of Cushan in 
 affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble*." 
 The beauty and elegance of these hangings in the royal tent of 
 the magnificent Solomon, we may easily conjecture, would form 
 a complete contrast with the sackcloth tents of the wild Arabs. 
 
 m mmrw — q. d. Nigra nigra; i. e. tota nigra, admodum nigra. 
 Discoloured, scorched, or tanned. f\W proprie rigore penetrante 
 perstrinxit vel oculus vel sol. 
 
 n Literally, snorted at me. 
 
 o To keep or watch. 
 
 p o-o — is used generally of vineyards, gardens, and plantations. 
 " Nobilior pars terra: qua? in horti modum colitur." Simon. 
 
 q In hot countries, like Palestine, travellers inform us, that the 
 greatest difference imaginable subsists between the complexions 
 of the women. Those of any condition seldom go abroad, and are 
 
 * Hab. iii. 7. 
 
CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST PARABLE. 
 
 In order to explain this parable, and inquire into 
 its interior sense, it will be first necessary to ascer- 
 tain who are intended by the allegorical persons 
 engaging, or referred to, in the dialogue. 
 
 Respecting the Bridegroom, designated as King 
 
 ever accustomed to be shaded from the sun with the greatest 
 attention: their skin is consequently fair and beautiful. But 
 ■women in the lower ranks of life, in the country especially, being, 
 from the nature of their employment, more exposed to the 
 scorching rays of the sun, are, in their complexions, remarkably 
 tawny and swarthy. Under such circumstances, a high value 
 would, of course, be set, by the eastern ladies, upon the fairness 
 of their complexions, as a distinguishing mark of their superior 
 quality, no less than as an enhancement of their beauty. We 
 perceive, therefore, how natural was the bride's self-abasing re- 
 flection respecting her tawny complexion among the fair daughters 
 of Jerusalem, who, as attendants upon a royal marriage, we may 
 suppose to have been of the first ranks. She assigns the cause 
 of her mean appearance, — she had been exposed to the drudgery 
 of the field. 
 
 This certainly bespeaks the bride, in this idyl, as was noticed 
 above, to have been of low extraction, in compaiison of her royal 
 bridegroom : for we are not to suppose, in the reign of Solomon, 
 the simple equality of the patriarchal age. 
 
 She complains, besides, of the ill treatment of relations in ex- 
 posing her to these servile employments; by which, I think, she 
 is to be understood as meaning to depicture still more the misery 
 of her former situation. ' You see me discoloured by the sun ; it 
 arises from my having been employed in the labours of hus- 
 bandry, not that I myself have reaped any fruits from my industry. 
 I was cruelly reduced to be the slave of others; they alone have 
 received the profits of my toil and labour.' 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 Solomon, in addition to what has been already ob- 
 served in the Preface, we may remark, in the lan- 
 guage of St. Paul, on a similar occasion 3 : First, 
 being by interpretation, " He who is our peace ;" 
 —and after that, also " King of Israel," which is 
 King of the people of God ; the allusion is obvious 
 to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. " Upon 
 him was the chastisement of our peace V— " He 
 has reconciled us unto God by the cross :" and is 
 now " exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to 
 give repentance unto Israel, and remission of sins d ." 
 
 By the name of Solomon, moreover, whose sup- 
 posed bride, as we have already seen, is to be 
 considered, in these parables, as a type of the 
 church, we seem admonished in what capacity the 
 heavenly Bridegroom must first be known, before 
 we can participate, with this redeemed people, in 
 the character of the spouse of Christ. He must be 
 our peace ; and we must submit to his sceptre as 
 the King of Saints. Then, in due course, shall we 
 be called to a communion with our Saviour, far 
 different from the intercourse of subjects with their 
 prince, or of servants with their master ; nay, more 
 intimate than the converse of friends : we shall as- 
 sume the tender relation of the espoused of Christ, 
 and shall answer to the emblem of the bride in 
 these Canticles. 
 
 Of the Messenger, who conducts the procession 
 
 a Heb. vii. 2. •> Isa. liii. 5. 
 
 <=Eph. ii. 16. d Acts, v. 31. 
 
 ^ 
 
8 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 in the idyl before us, an easy interpretation offers, 
 in referring the type to some minister of Christ, or 
 some experienced Christian, who, through grace, 
 becomes the helper of his fellow-christians' joy. 
 St. Paul, in fact, speaks of his apostolical office, in 
 gathering and conducting penitent believers to Jesus 
 Christ, almost under the same allusion, " I have 
 espoused you to one husband, that I may present 
 you a chaste virgin to Christ 6 ." 
 
 By the Virgins, daughters of Jerusalem, the re- 
 maining party in the dialogue, are designated, I 
 conceive, either ministering angels, or Christian 
 companions ; or perhaps both may be sometimes 
 intended. This conclusion may be formed from 
 noticing the purposes for which these virgins are 
 constantly introduced, and the employment always 
 assigned them in these allegories. They are the 
 companions and attendants of the bride ; they are 
 generally described as rejoicing in her happiness, 
 and celebrating her espousals with songs of praise. 
 This corresponds with the notions we are autho- 
 rized to form of the holy angels : " Are they not all 
 ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them 
 who shall be heirs of salvation f ?"-— " There is joy 
 in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
 that repenteth 6 ." 
 
 Spiritual believers, also, engage in the same kind 
 offices towards each other. When it pleases God to 
 convert a sinner from the evil of his way, and to 
 
 e 2 Cor. xi. 2. f Heb. i. 14. « Luke, xv. 10. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 9 
 
 introduce him into the communion of saints, they 
 participate in his joy, and would gladly become 
 subservient to his happiness ; they rejoice over him 
 with songs of praise. 
 
 With these observations on the characters intro- 
 duced in this idyl, we may now proceed to the- 
 parable itself. 
 
 The bride, previously admonished, we may sup- 
 pose " to forget her own people and her father's 
 house," and invited to go and receive the solemn 
 pledge of her espousals, resigns herself to the con- 
 ductors of the bridal procession. So when the 
 Gospel message comes " in power, in the Holy 
 Ghost, and in much assurance 11 " to the believer, 
 he will freely make a surrender of himself to 
 Christ, thankfully availing himself of whatever 
 means his Lord shall have appointed to conduct 
 him to his presence, and to a more intimate know- 
 ledge of his goodness. 
 
 In a comparative view, he will hate father and 
 mother, and brothers and sisters, and wife and chil- 
 dren, yea, and his own life also, for the sake of his 
 Saviour and Redeemer. The language of his 
 grateful heart will be, " What things were gain 
 to me, those I counted loss for Christ ; yea, doubt- 
 less, and I count all things but loss for the excel- 
 lency 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 1 ." 
 
 h 1 Thess. i. 5. '* Phil. iii. 7-. 8. 
 
CN 
 
 10 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 M Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." 
 The sudden exclamation of the spouse implies, per- 
 haps, some degree of anxious doubt respecting the 
 great honour designed her — " But will the King of 
 Israel, indeed, accept and love me, an object so 
 mean and vile?" To disperse these doubts, we per- 
 ceive, the answer of the messenger is devised : 
 " Yea," surely, " more grateful will be thy love 
 than wine ; as the fragrance of thy sweet per- 
 fumes." This figurative language affords a lively 
 representation of that solicitude with which the 
 faithful ministers of Christ and all his people will 
 endeavour to encourage the convert, by assurances 
 of the greatness of the Redeemer's love. This is 
 their perpetual theme ; and this the messengers 
 of God have in charge, " Comfort ye, comfort ye 
 my people, saith your God ; speak ye comfortably 
 to Jerusalem." Literally, speak to her heart, words 
 that may animate and encourage her. 
 
 The virgins, moreover, attest their own love to 
 the object of their master's choice. " A perfume 
 poured forth is thy name, therefore do the virgins 
 love thee." When " the things which accompany 
 salvation " are discerned in any of their fellow- 
 creatures ; when the repenting sinner gives evi- 
 dence of the soundness of his faith, of his increased 
 knowledge, of the holiness and purity of his affec- 
 tions ; when li his light so shines before men that 
 they see his good works, and glorify his Father 
 which is in heaven," his name spreads abroad in 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 11 
 
 the church, nay, as we are taught to conceive, 
 among the heavenly hosts. It is "a good name 
 which is better than precious ointment k ." It con- 
 ciliates the good will of the elect angels, and of all 
 that love Jesus Christ in sincerity. The report is 
 as grateful as was the odour of that costly spikenard 
 which filled the house, when the affectionate Mary 
 brake the alabaster box, and poured the precious 
 perfume upon the feet of her Saviour 1 . 
 
 Surrendering herself into the hands of the mes- 
 senger, the bride addresses him, " Conduct me" 
 — Lead on. The virgins, her companions, gladly 
 join the procession: " We will hasten after thee." 
 And, agreeably with this representation, the peni- 
 tent believer is usually brought to the full know- 
 ledge of salvation, and attains to the enjoyment of 
 the holy comforts of religion. The instructions of a 
 spiritual guide are blessed to this end ; the kind 
 interest which his fellow-christians take in the 
 happiness of his soul, encourages him to persevere, 
 and, " the Lord being merciful to him," he perse- 
 veres with success. 
 
 The procession has now arrived at the destined 
 place ; the bride exclaims, on entering the royal 
 palace, with admiration, we may suppose, at the 
 beautiful mansion prepared for her reception: 
 " The King has caused me to be brought into his 
 inner- chamb ers !" The believer "enters into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus ," — " passes through 
 
 k Eccles. vii. 1. l Luke, vii. 37, 38. m Heb. x. 19. 
 
X 
 
 12 canticles; or, 
 
 the veil*" — " and is given to know the things 
 which are freely given to us of God ." — " The secret 
 of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will 
 show them his covenants" — " For since the begin- 
 ning of the world men have not heard, nor per- 
 ceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O 
 God ! besides thee, what he has prepared for him 
 that waiteth for him V 
 
 The virgins congratulate her on her being brought 
 into the King's palace ; for they, it seems, are in- 
 habitants of this place. " "We will exult and re- 
 joice over thee : we will celebrate thy love, than 
 wine more grateful: justly art thou beloved." 
 When the redeemed of Christ is brought to the 
 enjoyment of his special love, angels rejoice over 
 him : the righteous hear, therefore, and are glad. 
 
 " Glory to God in the highest," no doubt, re- 
 sounds in heaven. With the praises of the Chris- 
 tian church we are well acquainted. The love of 
 Christ to his people, and their returns of grateful 
 affection to him— the narrative of the great deeds 
 of his redemption— how sinners are righteously 
 beloved— how mercy and truth meet together, and 
 righteousness and peace kiss each other, are the 
 continual subjects, the " copious matter" of those 
 psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, which 
 delight the faithful in the house of God. 
 
 We have next described to us the effect pro- 
 
 n Ver. 30. ° 1 Cor. ii. 12. P Ps. xxv. 14. 
 
 q Isa. l.\iv. 4. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 13 
 
 duced on the mind, by the manifestation of the di- 
 vine love. It is humility and self-abasement amidst 
 all the favourable opinions and felicitations of 
 others. " I am black !"— " Yet most beautiful."— 
 " Oh daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of 
 Kedar"— " as the curtains of the pavilion of Solo- 
 mon." Humility will ever be found to be the cha- 
 racteristic mark of those whom God delighteth to 
 honour, and every fresh manifestation of the divine 
 presence will have a tendency to increase their 
 conviction of their own deficiencies. It is not an 
 unusual sight, indeed, to see a truly enlightened 
 Christian so deeply affected with a sense of his 
 own un worthiness, as to think himself not only un- 
 meet for Christ, but not good enough for the society 
 of his people. On his first introduction among 
 them, he will perhaps feel some apprehension lest 
 they should be ashamed of their new companion. 
 
 " Look not on me," the bride continues, in the 
 same strain of self-disparagement, " for I am very 
 black : because the sun has discoloured me." And, 
 in accounting for her appearance, she mentions the 
 misery of her former situation, a complete contrast, 
 indeed, with the honours to which she is now 
 advanced. 
 
 f The sons of my mother despised me ; they set 
 me to look after the vineyards, a vineyard of my 
 own I have not looked after." Thus, under the 
 emblem of an injured and oppressed girl, who is 
 taken from the toils of the field, and introduced, as 
 
14 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 the chosen partner of the prince, among the inhabi- 
 tants of a palace, we are led to consider the circum- 
 stances, in which the love of Christ is accustomed, 
 in its first manifestation, to find its objects. 
 
 It finds them the wretched slaves of sin r , serving 
 divers lusts and pleasures 8 , wearying themselves to 
 no profit in the service of vanity ; and having con- 
 tracted a stain more black and indelible than the 
 Ethiopian's skin, or the leopard's spots * . It may be 
 too — for God doth choose the poor of this world,. — 
 labouring under the full weight of the original curse, 
 " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, in 
 sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy 
 life w . " And, to arrive at the summit of human 
 wretchedness, groaning perhaps, besides, under 
 the yoke of some merciless tyrant. 
 
 In some sense or other, indeed, " weary and 
 heavy laden x ," will be descriptive of all the chosen 
 of God. Each will acknowledge, in application to 
 himself, the demand of the Apostle, " What fruit 
 had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now 
 ashamed y ?" Hence we find them sometimes desig- 
 nated as " poor in spirit," — " mourners," — " per- 
 secuted," sorrowing, while the world rejoices 7 . 
 
 But how great the change of circumstance, when 
 the love of Jesus is manifested to their souls ! when 
 " being justified by faith, they have peace with 
 
 rRom. vi. 17. sTit. iii. 3. t Jer. xiii. 23. 
 
 ■ James, ii. 5. * Gen. iii. 19. 17- * Mat. xi. 28. 
 
 yRom.vi. 21. 8 Mat. v. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 
 
 15 
 
 God, and have access by faith into this grace, 
 wherein they stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory 
 of God." Then the prophetic song is fulfilled: 
 " The Lord raises the poor out of the dust, and 
 lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them 
 among princes, and to make them inherit the throne 
 of glory." 
 
 The most honourable employment, indeed, among 
 men, even the administration of a kingdom, is 
 mean, base, and abject, when compared to the 
 occupation of the spiritual Christian — the espoused 
 of Christ, admitted into his gracious presence. 
 The contrast, however, appears the greater, when 
 the hardships of a mean station in life, its servile 
 employments, or the ill-treatment of earthly supe- 
 riors, are opposed to the tender endearments of the 
 heavenly bridegroom ; when the tired labourer, or 
 the abused slave, finds a secret retreat, or enters 
 into the house of prayer, and holds communion in 
 spirit with his gracious Redeemer. Poor and de- 
 spised as he is among men, and mean as may be 
 his appearance, what honours are conferred upon 
 him in the presence of God ! The messengers of 
 grace, and all the ordinances of Christ's church, are 
 made subservient to his happiness and exaltation ! 
 The espousals of his soul are celebrated! — 
 " Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye 
 be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and 
 her feathers with yellow gold V 
 
 • Ps. lxviii. 13. 
 
16 canticles; or 
 
 IDYL THE SECOND. 
 
 Containing the seventh and eighth verses of the first 
 Chapter. 
 
 The reason why I suppose a new poem to commence In 
 this place, is the entire change of imagery which we here 
 perceive. 
 
 Instead of a royal bride, conducted by a number of 
 attendants into the palace, the spouse is now a shep- 
 herdess, tending her kids ; and her husband, in the room 
 of the King of Israel, a shepherd leading his flock to 
 pasture. A short conversation between this affectionate 
 pair, on a topic most suitable to their pastoral situation, 
 forms the dialogue of this idyl. 
 
 That Solomon and his royal partner should address 
 each other in this language, is hard to imagine. It is true, 
 " the employment of a shepherd was not dishonourable 
 among the Hebrews, and had been the occupation of their 
 revered ancestors." We must remember, however, that, 
 at this period, the state of manners, in the metropolis and 
 court of Solomon, had made rapid strides, from patriar- 
 chal simplicity, towards that refined voluptuousness which 
 ever distinguished the Asiatic monarchies. 
 
 BRIDE OR SHEPHERDESS. 
 
 Tell me, ' O thou,"' that art the love of my soul, 
 Where shalt thou feed ' the flock,' 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 17 
 
 a Where shalt thou rest ' them' at noon ? 
 b For why should I be as a stranger 
 By the flocks of thy companions ? 
 
 BRIDEGROOM OR SHEPHERD. 
 
 If thou shalt not thyself perceive, 
 
 O thou fairest among women, 
 
 Go forth along the footsteps of the flock, 
 
 c And feed thy kids 
 
 Beside the tents of the shepherds. 
 
 a Desirous to be separated as little as possible from her husband 
 during the labours of the day, and anxious, especially, to enjoy 
 his company at noon, when, according to the practice of these 
 hot countries, his flock would lie down in the shade, his affec- 
 tionate wife requests directions where she shall find him. 
 
 b rvtttf wrapt up, veiled, muffled up. Parkhurst. Like a 
 mourner, or like a woman among strangers. ** Operta, deliquium 
 animi patiens." Simon. " As a wanderer." Percy and Good. 
 
 The language is exceedingly beautiful, and full of tenderness. If 
 she lose sight of him, and find herself at a distance from him, when 
 the sultry hour shall compel her to desist from her employments, 
 and to retire somewhere for shelter, how uncomfortable will it be 
 to her, to spend that season of leisure and retirement among other 
 shepherds ! Amidst their flocks she shall be as one sorrowful 
 and forlorn, under the inconvenient restraints, at least, of a 
 stranger. 
 
 c " Feed or assemble." She too, it appears, has a charge to 
 attend, the flock of kids, while her husband is employed with the 
 flock in general. In such circumstances, it might easily happen 
 in an open desert, that, in following their respective cares, they 
 would be separated from each other. Should this be the case, 
 and she should lose him, she is to follow the track made by his 
 flock; the tents, also, of his under shepherds, objects discernible \ 
 at a distance, will serve her for a guide and a signal. 
 
\ 
 
 18 canticles; or, 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE SECOND IDYL, 
 OR PARABLE. 
 
 The imagination of mankind seems, in a particular 
 manner, to have singled out the scene described in 
 this idyl, as the summit of ideal felicity. The 
 shepherdess and her faithful shepherd, happy in 
 each other's affection, following together, at a dis- 
 tance from the noisy contest and contaminating 
 crowd, their not laborious employment amidst the 
 beauties of nature, is the perpetual theme of almost 
 every poet. In comparison of the supposed hap- 
 piness of such a pair, the enjoyments of more culti- 
 vated life, the rewards of industry and ambition, 
 and the splendid amusements of courts, are affected 
 to be despised. 
 
 The picture, it is feared, as it has been wont to 
 be painted, exists not but in imagination. How- 
 ever, we have the opinion of the poets, whose 
 peculiar study is human nature, that amidst the 
 more refined pleasures of polished society, true 
 and satisfactory happiness in love has not usually 
 been obtained. 
 
 The reason of this disappointment is not, in- 
 deed, in the artificial structure of society alone, nor 
 in the multiplied wants of man in a state highly 
 civilized. The cause is more deeply rooted in 
 human nature : it must be sought for in the moral 
 depravity of mankind. It is a cause which would 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 19 
 
 affect the shepherds in Arcadia, as well as the cor- 
 rupted inhabitants of the luxurious metropolis. Yet 
 it must be admitted, that where there has been a 
 considerable departure in the manners of society 
 from primitive simplicity, such a state of society 
 will be still less likely to afford examples of con- 
 jugal affection and domestic happiness. 
 
 This I conceive to be the reason that, in order 
 to exhibit a better prototype for the loves of Christ 
 and his church, the Spirit of inspiration has, by the 
 introduction of this parable, led us from the palace 
 of Solomon'to the cot of the shepherd. 
 
 But, in actual life, whether among princes or 
 peasants, the reflection forces itself upon us, how 
 are the pleasures of love mixed with alloy ! — how 
 liable to be turned into sorrows the most painful to 
 the feeling mind ! The best beloved is not always 
 faithful ; the adored idol not always worthy of the pas- 
 sion, or found, on further acquaintance, by no means 
 resembling the picture presented to the fond imagi- 
 nation ! How many are betrayed, forsaken, or quit 
 the indulgent guidance of gentle parents, for what 
 turns out nothing better than the service of an un- 
 feeling stranger! 
 
 And, supposing all circumstances of the union to 
 be favourable, how uncertain still the tenure of this 
 happiness !— how liable, all along this troublesome 
 pilgrimage, to be made an additional source of care 
 and anxiety ! And whence the widow and the 
 fatherless? the parent bereaved of his children, 
 
 C 2 
 
20 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 " refusing to be comforted because they are not?" 
 Ah, dream not of lasting happiness on earth, made 
 up of-earthly things. Look not to a mortal to fill 
 the place of God. Have you felt of what your 
 heart is capable, even towards a fellow-creature, 
 when your partial regards overlooked his imper- 
 fections, and you forgot his perishable nature ? O 
 remember, there is an object revealed to the children 
 of men worthy of your affections, one whose beauty 
 and whose goodness ought to call them forth in their 
 tenderest form. Here no suspicion of treachery, no 
 anticipated change, need check your confidence ; 
 nor will you hazard the shame of disappointment in 
 the indulgence of the fondest expectations. 
 
 O that those, who are already become the victims 
 of some unfortunate attachment, or who are about, 
 through the deception of a lying imagination, to 
 part, perhaps for ever, with quiet and peace of 
 mind, could be brought to transfer their passion to 
 this heavenly Lover ! Ah, check your roving fan- 
 cies, feigning what is not, what cannot be ! — sure 
 to cover you with shame and remorse ! And come, 
 meditate on his excellencies, whom having not seen 
 the faithful Christian loves, in whom, though now 
 he sees him not, yet, believing, he rejoices with 
 joy unspeakable, and full of glory a . 
 
 The beloved spouse, in the parable before us, is 
 supposed to express her anxiety on going forth to 
 
 a l Pet. i. s. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 21 
 
 the labours of the day, lest she should be separated 
 from the object of her affections : •« Tell me, O 
 thou that art the love of my soul, where shalt thou 
 feed the flock, where shalt thou rest them at noon." 
 To hold communion with Christ, and enjoy his 
 presence, is the great delight of the spiritual mind. 
 This to some will necessarily appear as fancy and 
 enthusiasm. There are those, however, whose ex- 
 perience can attest, that it is an experience war- 
 ranted by the word of God, that a sense of joy, 
 such as no tongue can describe, or earthly com- 
 parison reach, is, at certain seasons, vouchsafed to 
 the followers of Christ — " times " they are, indeed, 
 " of refreshing from the presence of the Lord." 
 
 To those who have tasted that the Lord is gra- 
 cious, how painful the apprehension of the loss of 
 his presence ! — of being employed at a distance as 
 it were, from him who is " the love of the soul!" 
 But duties call for attention. Much time in this 
 lower world must, in usual circumstances, be occu- 
 pied in the want of all sensible experience of the 
 divine presence : — in employments, frequently, 
 which cannot but abstract the mind from religious 
 meditation. It is this consideration which makes 
 it the earnest desire and prayer of the renewed and 
 spiritual Christian, that the wisdom of God would 
 inspire him, so to conduct himself in the manage- 
 ment of temporal affairs ; and his providence so 
 overrule events, and order the circumstances of his 
 
 y 
 
22 canticles; or, 
 
 situation, society, and employment, that he may 
 have his Lord and Saviour constantly before his 
 eyes, or frequent opportunities, at least, of access 
 into his presence. 
 
 And as this is the prayer, so will it be the en- 
 deavour of the faithful : in choosing his residence, 
 in forming his connexions, his inquiry will be, not 
 only, What means of earthly gain, or opportunities 
 of earthly pleasure, shall I acquire, but what reli- 
 gious privileges, what advantages in regard to the 
 communion of saints ? 
 
 '« Where shalt thou rest them at noon?" By the 
 hour of noon may be signified those intervals from 
 active duties, which, in almost every mans situa- 
 / tion, allow of relaxation, and afford leisure, if he be 
 
 so disposed', for purposes of devotion. Or the hour 
 of noon may denote those seasons of affliction and 
 trial, which so frequently incapacitate from duty, 
 and render the comforts of religion, to those who 
 are acquainted with them, more than ever desirable. 
 
 These intervals of labour, or these seasons of 
 trouble, the Christian is particularly anxious to 
 spend, or endure, in the presence of his Lord : as 
 the Psalmist seems to frame his only earthly wish, 
 " One thing have I desired of the Lord, and that 
 will I seek after ; that I may dwell in the house of 
 the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the 
 beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. 
 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. Z6 
 
 pavilion ; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he 
 hide me ; he shall set me upon a rockV 
 
 " For why should I be as a stranger " — or as 
 one dejected — " by the flocks of thy companions V 
 These imaginary associates, I conceive, are other 
 shepherds following the same employ, in the same 
 wilderness. The spouse, pleased only with the 
 society of her beloved, dreads the thought that, 
 when the sultry hour shall oppress, she may be 
 forced to seek for shelter among these other shep- 
 herds. 
 
 So fares it with the truly enlightened Christian, 
 who is compelled to spend his sabbaths, or to seek, 
 the consolations of religion, in times Of difficulty 
 and distress among pastors and teachers who know 
 not the good Shepherd, nor make mention of his 
 name ; but who appear, in a manner, as rivals and 
 competitors of the only Saviour. Among these, the 
 spouse of Christ cannot be satisfied : though to 
 others it seems a matter of indifference — they are 
 pleased, and at home ; she stands by as a dejected 
 stranger, disconsolate, because of the absence of 
 her beloved. 
 
 " If thou shalt not thyself perceive, O thou fairest 
 among women, go forth along the footsteps of the 
 flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents." 
 Such is the answer of the allegorical husband. If 
 she have lost sight of him, and cannot discover 
 
 b Psal. xxvii. 4, 5. 
 
 T 
 
 
24 CANTICLES *, OR, 
 
 herself where he is gone, the track of the flock, and 
 the tents of his shepherds, will be sufficient guides 
 to her where she may find him. 
 
 The moral of this is plain. He who loves and 
 seeks communion with Christ shall not be at a 
 loss to find the way into his presence. Infinite 
 indeed are the mazes of error, and various the 
 deceptions which perplex and bewilder the mind 
 in its search after truth ; but, if our object is to go 
 to Christ, we have here a plain direction to observe. 
 The sheep know the shepherd's voice, and follow 
 him ; their footsteps, therefore, will have left a 
 track along the pathless desert, sufficiently plain to 
 conduct the attentive inquirer to the retreat of the 
 shepherd. 
 
 There is, it is true, a great outcry in the world, 
 respecting the disagreement and differences of 
 opinion among professed Christians ; and an artful 
 adversary is ever busy to raise and increase these 
 disputes, in order to bewilder unstable souls. And 
 we must perhaps admit, that there may be a " dark 
 and cloudy day," when the flock of Christ are par- 
 tially " scattered." But, generally speaking, these 
 differences among true Christians — among those 
 who have fairly made out a title to that name — are 
 more apparent than real, as to all essential points. 
 
 Those doctrines, which have been known to be 
 blessed to the conversion of sinners, and to the 
 establishment of believers in peace and love — 
 those doctrines, through the hearing of which the 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 25 
 
 Holy Ghost has been received, have ever been of 
 the same tendency, and will be found grounded on 
 the same foundation — Christ crucified — admitted to 
 be " of God made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 
 ness, and sanctification, and redemption ." The 
 account moreover given by all enlightened Chris- 
 tians, persons of habits the most unlike, of ages 
 and countries the most remote from each other, 
 when consulted respecting the operation of divine 
 grace upon their souls, and concerning " the plague 
 of their own heart," if fairly examined and com- 
 pared, proves to be but a different narrative of the 
 same events ; — at least of a similar contest, between 
 the same hostile powers, the victory depending on 
 the assistance of the same heavenly agent. 
 
 It is true, you may point out some particular 
 statements of doctrine, and particular rehearsals of 
 experience, as the peculiar marks of certain sepa- 
 rate divisions of the flock ; but a little inquiry, and 
 careful investigation, will enable us, without diffi- 
 culty, to distinguish the track in which the grand 
 body of the flock have followed their shepherd. 
 Our direction is, " Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye 
 in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, 
 where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye 
 shall find rest for your souls d ." 
 
 It follows, indeed, as an useful precept, that all 
 novelties of doctrine, all peculiarities of favourite 
 
 c l Cor. i. 30. d Jer. vi. 16*. 
 
26 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 teachers, and particular sects, are to be avoided and 
 discountenanced, and their exclusive claims treated 
 with more than suspicion. It is a good argument 
 against innovators in religion : "we have no such 
 custom, neither the churches of God e ." — " From 
 the beginning it was not so f ." 
 
 There is also another part of the direction of 
 the mystic shepherd to his spouse, which we are to 
 remark — 
 
 ". And feed thy kids beside the tents of the 
 shepherds." Since the flock of Christ's pasture are 
 men, the shepherds whose tents are here mentioned, 
 can be no other than the appointed ministers of his 
 church, under-pastors in the employ of the great 
 Shepherd and Bishop of souls. We are, of course, 
 to distinguish these shepherds from " the com- 
 panions" of the former verse. Those were rivals, 
 false Christs, false prophets, or false teachers ; but 
 these are the servants of the good Shepherd, whom 
 he sends to feed his flock. 
 
 " Beware of false prophets," is, to all Christians, 
 a needful caution ; and therefore we are to take in 
 conjunction " the track of the flock." The track of 
 the flock is first to be marked, because we are to 
 be followers of Christian pastors, as they are of 
 Christ ; and not when they scatter the flock, or 
 when " there arise among them men speaking per- 
 verse things to draw away disciples after them 5 ." 
 
 e 1 Cor. xi. 16". f Mat. xix. 8. s Acts, xx. 30. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 21 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding, the ministerial office is an 
 appointment of Jesus Christ, to be respected and 
 submitted to by all his people. When he calls 
 himself " chief shepherd," it is in reference to his 
 plan of employing inferior shepherds, in the gather- 
 ing, and in the feeding of his flock. 
 
 Himself has described their characters and their 
 duties : " Householders, bringing out of their trea- 
 sures things new and old h " — " Stewards, whom their 
 Lord shall make rulers over his household, to give 
 them their portion of meat in due season 1 ." And, 
 accordingly, we find that his first-commissioned 
 Apostles " ordained Elders in every city k ." These 
 Elders, or Presbyters, the Scripture tells us, " were 
 made overseers over the flock by the Holy Ghost l ." 
 Such an order of men, we know, has always existed 
 in the visible church of Christ, and the edifying of 
 the saints has generally been through their instru- 
 mentality ; the treasure, destined by the great 
 Master for the enriching of his family, has been 
 usually put in these earthly vessels. 
 
 Those, then, who would seek communion with 
 Christ, must not despise the ministrations of his 
 servants, either by " separating themselves" 1 ," as 
 though they could obtain their object by private 
 exercises of devotion, according to the proud conceit 
 of some in these latter days ; or by indiscriminately 
 countenancing every forward person who chooses to 
 
 h Mat. xiii. 52. 'Luke, xii. 42. com. 1 Cor. iv. 1. 
 
 "Tit. i. 5. "Acts, xx. 28. m Jude, 1$. 
 
28 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 take upon himself the character of a minister of 
 Christ, and thus rendering the holy office contemp- 
 tible in the eyes of all. 
 
 Let us remember, that one direction to the spouse 
 of Christ, how she may find the love of her soul, is 
 the tents of the shepherds ; and this way, most 
 unquestionably, the track of the flock does lead : 
 for that neglect and light esteem of the ministerial 
 office, that unconcern with which the people wit- 
 ness the omission of its most sacred duties, and 
 the violation of its best established orders, has 
 scarcely a precedent in the former practice of the 
 church, at any one period of her existence. And 
 whether this boasted liberty of modern times, though 
 it supplies, indeed, a speedy remedy to some incon- 
 veniences and abuses, and has seemed to some, in 
 the simplicity of their hearts, to promise much good, 
 has, on the whole, tended to the advantage of 
 Christianity, will much be questioned. But there 
 is a more important inquiry than that of expe- 
 diency — Has not the divine precept been infringed : 
 " Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub- 
 mit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as 
 they that must give an account"?" 
 
 By the tents of the shepherds, therefore, where 
 they assemble the people, and feed their master's 
 flock, the faithful are to seek the manifestations of a 
 Saviour's love. His promise to his servants was, 
 " Lo ! I am with you alway, even to the end of the 
 
 n Heb. xiii. 17 '. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 29 
 
 world ." He has said again, but not, I humbly 
 conceive — for he is ever consistent with himself — 
 respecting little parties of professed Christians as- 
 sembled in arrogant opposition to the minister, or 
 in slight and neglect of his office, but respecting the 
 blessed assemblies of his church under their ap- 
 pointed pastors, " Where two or three are met 
 together in my name, there am I in the midst of 
 them p " — " I will make them joyful in my house of 
 prayer -. " And will not the experience of the gra- 
 cious presence of Christ make it the cordial decla- 
 ration of all his faithful followers ? " How amiable 
 are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts, my King and 
 my God!" — " One day in thy courts is better than 
 a thousand"." 
 
 Mat. xxviii. 2. p Mat xviii. 20. 1 1sai. lvi. 7. 
 
 1 Ps. lxxxiv. 
 
30 canticles; or, 
 
 IDYL THE THIRD. 
 
 Corresponding with that Portion of the public Translation 
 contained in the last nine Verses of the first Chapter, 
 and in the seven first of the second. 
 
 Mutual congratulations and expressions of affection 
 between a Bride and Bridegroom, of royal dignity, as 
 we discover, who have just retired from the public pro- 
 cession of their marriage, and await, in the private recess 
 of their beautiful garden, the preparation of the nuptial 
 feast, appear to form the greater part of this Idyl: the 
 feast itself being, as I conjecture, the closing scene. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 I compared thee, my partner, 
 
 To the horse in the chariots of Pharaoh*. 
 
 a According to our notions, we must acknowledge, there is 
 something extremely inappropriate in the comparison of a beau- 
 tiful female to a horse. If, however, such a comparison must 
 be admitted in this place, the same allusion, we may observe, 
 has been pointed out by several commentators in one of the 
 admired poets of antiquity. The similitude, therefore, may have 
 appeared in a different light to people of other times and habits 
 of life. 
 
 But we are to notice, that the allusion before us is not to one 
 particular horse, but to a number of horses: for such is the 
 import of viDD, " H terns," — " Collective Equitium." Parkhurst 
 and Simon. Again, the point of comparison between the bride and 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 31 
 
 Most beautiful were thy cheeks with jewels, 
 And thy neck with strings ' of beads.' 
 Borderings of gold will we make for thee, 
 With pointings of silver. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 h While the King was in his circuit, 
 My nard emitted its fragrance. 
 
 these horse in the chariot of Pharaoh, is neither form, nor 
 action, nor docility; but merely, as far as appears, splendid de- 
 coration: " Most beautiful were thy cheeks with jewels, and thy 
 neck Avith strings of beads." This leads to the conjecture, that 
 these celebrated horses of the royal Egyptian breed, richly capa- 
 risoned, as we may suppose, and loaded with all the display of 
 golden ornament and precious stones which the treasury of the 
 magnificent Solomon could supply, were accustomed to be led 
 forth on days of state, and had appeared a conspicuous object 
 perhaps in some late procession of a royal marriage. 
 
 On retiring, therefore, in private with his bride, the bridegroom, 
 meaning to compliment her on her appearance, is supposed to 
 declare, that, in the late procession, the most splendid objects 
 which the royal state of his kingdom could produce in honour of 
 the event, appeared not in his eyes more beautiful. At the same 
 time, he promises to add to her ornaments. For, though she had 
 appeared so engaging, and every thing about her had seemed so 
 elegant and becoming in the partial view of her lover, yet, pro- 
 bably, her decorations in themselves could by no means be com- 
 pared, in value or in beauty, to " the peculiar treasure of kings." 
 — But henceforth all that her royal bridegroom possessed should 
 be devoted to her service: " Borderings of gold will we make for 
 thee, with pointings of silver." 
 
 b This reply of the bride is confessedly obscure to us. The 
 allusion, however, we are supposing in this idyl to a marriage- 
 procession, from whence the royal pair have just retired, will 
 perhaps afford a more probable solution than has been usually 
 given. The King in his circuit, may either refer to his going 
 round in some part of the procession, or to his taking his stand 
 in the midst of his retinue, while the procession passed before 
 
32 canticles; or, 
 
 A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, 
 It shall lie all night in my bosom c . 
 A cluster of hennah is my beloved to me 
 From the gardens of En-gedi d . 
 
 him, or, as is the common interpretation, to his sitting at table: 
 or we may translate the line, " Until the King had taken his 
 seat." Whichever interpretation is preferred, it should be recol- 
 lected that, among the eastern nations, the throwing of flowers 
 and perfumes upon a person was, on many occasions, and is to 
 this day, practised as a token of high respect and complimentary 
 congratulation. Let us suppose this to be the circumstance 
 alluded to, and the reply of the bride, in answer to the satisfaction 
 which her husband had just expressed at her appearance, will be 
 beautiful and appropriate. It is as much as to say, " My hand 
 was among the first to congratulate the King as he passed, with a 
 profusion of sweets." 
 
 It is not improbable that there is a similar allusion to this same 
 mode of salutation in the xlvth Psalm: " All thy garments smell 
 of myrrh, aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby 
 they have made thee glad." 
 
 The ivory palaces may either denote the receptacles of the 
 perfumes (see the following note), or may describe some part of 
 the royal residence where those persons were stationed, who, in 
 the manner above supposed, congratulated the King. 
 
 c "Tl»n "\)"V( is, according to Castalio, a wreath or nosegay of 
 flowery myrrh. Mr. Parkhurst has a better conjecture. " It 
 seems to be," says he, " what Dioscorides, lib. i. 74, calls ct<x.*.tvi, 
 stacte, and which he informs us makes a perfume of itself. It is 
 very fragrant and dear, and is said to be at present unknown. 
 The eastern ladies were accustomed to enclose this, as well as 
 many other perfumes, in a casket of gold or ivory of the figure of 
 a turret, or small tower — as the Hebrew term expressly signifies 
 W "hotfi — and to place such ornaments in their bosoms, suspended 
 by an elegant chain from their neck. The Persians employ a 
 little casket for the same purpose, which they denominate Nqfeh." 
 Mr. Good. 
 
 d A bunch or nosegay of henna, or cyprus. Dr. Shaw de- 
 scribes it as a beautiful and odoriferous plant — " putting out its 
 

 SONG OP SOLOMON. 33 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 Lo, thou art beautiful, my partner, 
 
 Lo, thou art beautiful, thine eyes are doves. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Lo, thou art beautiful, my beloved. 
 
 How delightful ' the spot' e ! 
 
 How luxuriant our carpet f ! 
 
 Cedars ' are' the beams of our house, 
 
 Cypresses ' are' our roof g ! 
 
 little flowers in clusters." — (Travels, p. 113, 114.) — See Park- 
 hurst. 
 
 • The bride appears in this passage to be admiring some beau- 
 tiful arbour or bower, into which she is led by her husband : 
 " How delightful the spot !" Compare Ps. xvi. 7- 0'»'1H3. in 
 pleasant ' places.' 
 
 f pm " To flourish very much." uny, the carpet or mattress 
 which is usually spread over the divans of the Orientals. — 
 Parkhurst. 
 
 8 Our roof, Impluvia nostra. Simon. 
 
 No conjecture which we can form, respecting this arbour in the 
 royal gardens, can so well illustrate the passage before us, as 
 Milton's description of Adam's bower in his Paradise Lost: 
 
 " It was a place 
 Chos'n by the sovereign Planter, when he fram'd 
 All things to man's delightful use; the roof 
 Of thickest covert was inwoven shade, 
 Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grow 
 Of firm and fragrant leaf; on either side 
 Acanthus, and each odorous bushy shrub 
 Fenc'd by the verdant wall; each beauteous flower, 
 Iris all hues, roses, and jessamine 
 
 Rear'd high their flourish'd heads between, and wrought 
 Mosaic; underfoot the violet, 
 Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay 
 Broider'd the ground, more colour'd than with stone 
 Of costliest emblem — " 
 
 D 
 
34 canticles; or, 
 
 I am a ' wild' rose of the field 1 ', 
 A lily of the valleys. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 As the lily among the thorns, 
 
 So is my partner among the daughters'. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 As the citron among the trees of the forest k , 
 
 So is my beloved among the sons : 
 
 For its shade I longed, ' in its shade' will 1 sit, 
 
 And its fruit will be sweet to my taste ! . 
 
 — O bear me to the house of the banquet, 
 
 They have set up their banner for me, O love m ! 
 
 h A rose of the field or plain. ~Eyu avGoj tou wihov. " I am a 
 flower of the plain." — Septuagint. See also Pool's Synopsis. 
 " But lama' mere' rose of the fields of Sharon." — Good. 
 " But I am a ' mere' rose of the field." — Bp. of Dromore. 
 The bride speaks of herself as an object mean and contemptible 
 amidst the beauties of the surrounding scene. — She must appear 
 like some diminutive, wild flower among the selected plants of a 
 garden or parterre. 
 
 » The lily, or whatever flower is meant by the term, though in 
 itself small and insignificant, might, nevertheless, from the situa- 
 tions in which it was usually found, be an appropriate emblem of 
 comparative beauty. 
 
 k The Holy Land is of all others most celebrated for the excel- 
 lence of its citrons. 
 
 1 Here I conceive the endearing conversation, in the private 
 retreat above described, terminates. For unless we consider the 
 following lines very much involved in figure indeed, the scene is 
 now described as changed to the banqueting-house, whither the 
 bride asks to be conducted : " O bear me," &c. The Septuagint 
 reads in the imperative mood. Hitherto we have discovered no 
 marks of any other persons being present except the bride and 
 bridegroom; but in the following lines it will be seen that at- 
 tendants, both male and female, are addressed. 
 
 1,1 iVn I consider as the 3d per. plu. pret. We find the same 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 35 
 
 Refresh me with cordials, support me with citrons, 
 
 For I am fainting with love n ! 
 
 — His left * arm' is under my head, 
 
 His right doth infold me ° ! 
 
 — I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 ■ As' with the gazels, or ' as' with the deer of the plain p, 
 
 That ye stir not, nor raise up < my' beloved, till he please- 
 
 word as a verb in Ps. xx. 6*. " In the name of our God will we 
 set up our banners" (brtf). One of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. reads 
 it as a verb in the singular number in this passage. " A banner 
 or luminous standard, consisting of a number of lights, was accus- 
 tomed to be carried before the new-married couple on the night 
 of their wedding." — Parkhurst. A reference to a custom of this 
 sort appears, 2 Esdras, x. 1,2. 
 
 n On entering the place where the supper or banquet had been 
 prepared, we suppose the bride to repeat these lines. The suffixes 
 to the verbs are in the masculine plural — a number of male at- 
 tendants are of course addressed. 
 
 ° The bridegroom himself supports her in his arms, and conveys 
 her to her seat, or perhaps, if the custom was indeed so ancient, 
 to the couch on which they reclined at table; or, what is more 
 congenial still with eastern manners, to the carpeted divan where 
 the supper was served. 
 
 p The construction of these words, it must be acknowledged, is 
 in the usual style of adjuration, and might be literally rendered, 
 " I adjure you by the gazels," &c. But the impiety, according 
 to the scriptural precept, of such an oath, besides its total want of 
 solemnity, forbids us to imagine that these words ought to be 
 interpreted as having the force of an adjuration. To understand 
 them, with some, as though the bride should say, " I implore 
 you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by or for the sake of these 
 objects which ye hold s© dear," &c, seems also to render the 
 meaning too insignificant. 
 
 The most eligible interpretation is, that these gazels and deer 
 are mentioned in allusion to their extreme wildness, and timorous 
 nature. Animals of these kinds, as is well known, at the slightest 
 stir, at the least noise, will suddenly start and bound off, with 
 inconceivable rapidity, to their distant retreats, The sense of the 
 
 D 2 
 
36 CANTICLES ! OR, 
 
 INTERPRETATION OP THE THIRD IDYL. 
 
 The exterior imagery of this parable we conceive 
 to be the mutual congratulations of a bride and 
 bridegroom, retiring from the public procession of 
 their marriage to the wedding-feast; where they 
 are regaled in the midst of their friends and 
 attendants. 
 
 With regard to faithful Christians, respecting 
 whom we are preparing to interpret this parable — 
 in anticipation, it is true, of greater things to come 
 — it will not be esteemed an undue stretch of ima- 
 gination to say, that all the public ordinances and 
 ceremonies of religion, as often as they are ad- 
 ministered with a divine blessing, are, in a sort, 
 the ceremonies attending their spiritual nuptials — 
 
 passage then will be, that the bride bids her attendants to be as 
 cautious not to disturb or call off the attention of her husband, 
 whose society she so coveted, as though they were approaching 
 the gazels, or the deer of the plain. 
 
 The last-mentioned terra, nib'K, is a general name for the stag, 
 hart, or deer kind. — Parkhurst. The former, rviX3J7, denotes the 
 gazel, a kind of antelope, the emblem of beauty among the eastern 
 poets. It is thus described by Mr. Jackson, in his Account of 
 Marocco : " The gazel is that pretty, light, and elegant animal, 
 swift as the wind, timid as a virgin, with soft, beautiful, large, and 
 prominent black eyes, which seems to interest you in its favour. 
 In its general appearance the gazel resembles our deer ; it is, 
 however, much smaller, and has straight black horns, curved a 
 little backwards." — " Wild as the hare, more swift than the Bar- 
 bary courser, I have seen them bounding over the plains in large 
 numbers." 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 37 
 
 the procession for conducting the spouse of Christ 
 into the presence of her Lord. 
 
 The solemnities of the Christian worship may, in 
 the eye of an unbelieving world, and in the estima- 
 tion of lukewarm professors of our holy religion, 
 appear of small account ; or they may exist as 
 empty forms when the spirit and the power are 
 gone ; but " the friends of the Bridegroom," who 
 delight to hear his voice, will, in their attendance 
 upon these means of grace, often have " this their 
 joy fulfilled 3 ." All, indeed, who have the spiritual 
 good of mankind at heart, must think highly of 
 public ordinances ; and as the honouring of Christ 
 in the eyes of the world is one object of public 
 worship, for this reason every thing which is con- 
 sidered among men as expressive of respect and 
 veneration, ought to attend its celebration. All 
 negligence and appearance of indifference is there- 
 fore highly blameable,and all affectation of abstracted 
 spirituality, that would treat mankind as if they 
 had no eyes, or as if their eyes affected not their 
 hearts, is much to be reprehended in the conducting 
 of public worship. 
 
 Amidst the solemnities of the most splendid 
 ceremonial, however, with which either the Jewish 
 or Christian congregation has at any time attempted 
 to exhibit an acknowledgment of the government of 
 the Almighty, or to set forth the praises of Redeem- 
 ing Love, we know where the eyes of the heavenly 
 a John iii. 29. 
 
38 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 King would be fixed, with greatest delight and 
 complacency — on that little knot of faithful wor- 
 shippers, Israelites indeed, who appeared as the 
 worshippers of God in spirit and in truth, in the 
 midst of the formal multitude. But for the bride 
 indeed, the marriage-ceremony were an empty 
 pageantry. The daughter of Tyre may be there 
 with a gift ; even the rich among the people may 
 entreat his favour. These are honourable circum- 
 stances. — But — " upon his right hand doth stand 
 the queen in gold of Ophir b ;" all besides is lost 
 sight of in her presence : she only is noticed, she 
 only is addressed. 
 
 " I compared thee, my partner, to the horse in 
 the chariots of Pharaoh ; most beautiful were thy 
 cheeks with jewels, and thy neck with strings of 
 beads." The bridegroom, as we have conjectured, 
 means to declare, that the appearance of his bride 
 in the late procession was, in his view, worthy to be 
 compared with the most magnificent objects which 
 the state of kings could furnish. . And can we sup- 
 pose that the Almighty Jesus looks with so great 
 complacency upon any object in his earthly courts, 
 or on the angels which excel in might attending his 
 "twenty thousand chariots c ," as on his destined 
 spouse, the purchase of his blood, clad before him 
 in the garments of salvation, and prepared as a bride 
 adorned for her husband d ? 
 
 b Psal. xlv. c Ps. lxviii. \J. <* ft ev> xx j o_ 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 
 
 39 
 
 I abstain from the description of these garments, 
 and these ornaments, since in a subsequent parable 
 we shall be expressly invited to consider them. 
 Suffice it to say, that their whiteness, which " fears 
 not the snow," results from this — that they have 
 been washed in the blood of the Lamb ; that these 
 ornaments upon the spouse of Christ, which seem 
 so beautiful in his sight, consist not in " the wear- 
 ing of gold or pearls, but in the hidden man of the 
 heart, in that which is incorruptible 6 ." 
 
 But how beautiful soever the espoused soul appears, 
 even when covered with a Saviour's righteousness, 
 and adorned with the fruits of the Spirit, the King 
 thinks them not yet enough. " Borderings of gold 
 will we make for thee, with pointings of silver.'* 
 Those whom Christ chooses and justifies, and whom 
 he enables to adorn his doctrine with good works, 
 he will also glorify. And though a merciful and 
 affectionate Saviour sets a high value upon the 
 fruits of his grace, as discerned at present in the 
 hearts and lives of his people : though he is more 
 gratified at the sight of the one lost sheep, which he 
 has recovered with so great cost and labour, than of 
 the ninety and nine that went not astray ; yet, for 
 the bride of the Lamb, in order to her appearing 
 with him among the heavenly train, — " far above 
 all principality" " and every name that is named," — 
 her present ornaments must be acknowledged as 
 still unmeet and imperfect. 
 
 e 1 Pet. iii. 4. 
 
40 canticles; or, 
 
 He that has begun the good work, however, will 
 finish it f . Christ will present his redeemed " fault- 
 less before the presence of his glory, with exceed- 
 ing joy g ." As one anticipates, — and one who, in 
 the figurative language of the book before us, was 
 indeed " beautiful with jewels, and his neck with 
 strings of beads." — " Henceforth there is laid up for 
 me in heaven a crown of righteousness, which the 
 Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that 
 day, and not to me only, but unto all that love his 
 appearing h ." 
 
 " While the King was in his circuit, my nard 
 emitted its fragrance." Having before us the as- 
 sembly of the visible church of Christ engaged in 
 his holy worship — to do him honour, and to cele- 
 brate his love, in this circle the King is present ; 
 " there am I in the midst of you." The sweet odours 
 that greet his presence are the prayers and praises 
 of his church \ And who so forward on these oc- 
 casions to pour out their souls before the Lord, and 
 to offer to him the sacrifice of praise and thanks- 
 giving k , as those who have received the special 
 manifestation of his love? " My lips," says one, 
 " shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee ; and 
 my soul which thou hast redeemed."—" There- 
 fore will I praise thee and thy faithfulness, O God, 
 playing upon an instrument of music ; unto thee will 
 I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel 1 ." 
 
 f Phil. i. 6. g .Tude, 24. h 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 'Compare Lev. xxvi. 3 J. and Rev. v. 8. k See Heb. xiii. 15. 
 
 1 Ps. Ixxi. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 41 
 
 " A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, it 
 shall lie all night in my bosom. A cluster of 
 hennah is my beloved to me, from the gardens of 
 En-gedi." The comparison of the constant recol- 
 lection of a beloved object to a casket of perfume, 
 or nosegay of sweetest flowers, placed in the bosom, 
 and worn there continually, is exceedingly beau- 
 tiful. The lover will perceive the propriety of the 
 allusion : — 
 
 " While the fond soul, 
 Wrapt in gay visions of unreal bliss, 
 
 Still paints th' illusive form 
 
 — All nature fades extinct ; and she alone 
 Heard, felt, and seen, possesses every thought, 
 Fills every sense, and pants in every vein." 
 
 And if it be thus in respect of " the constant 
 image of the creature that is beloved, 5 ' shall not the 
 spouse of Christ carry some such sweet and 
 lasting savour from the sanctuary where she has 
 seen the Lord ? " Have I not remembered thee 
 upon my bed, and thought upon thee when I was 
 waking m ?" — " Mine eyes prevent the night- 
 watches, that I might meditate in thy word"." — " I 
 have esteemed the words of his mouth more than 
 my necessary food ." 
 
 Such are the views which the believer has of 
 Christ, and to such communion, though the flesh is 
 weak, the renewed spirit ever aspires ; and when 
 the energies which some late manifestation of 
 
 m Ps. lxiii. « Ps. cxix. 14S. ° Job, xxiii. 12. 
 
42 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 Christ's love has given to the mind are still fresh 
 and operative, this happy communion is sometimes 
 realized, — 
 
 " What is the world to them, 
 
 Its pomp, its pleasure, and its nonsense, all !" 
 
 " Lo, thou art fair, my partner ! lo, thou art 
 fair: thine eyes are doves." The enamoured lan- 
 guage of the fond lover, we observe, is borrowed to 
 express the delight with which the Lord Jesus 
 looks down upon the fruits of his labour, and hears 
 the effusions of the grateful heart which has been 
 won by his love. Nor will this surprise us, when 
 we recollect, that the love of Christ is so great 
 towards his people, that, while they were yet sin- 
 ners, he died for them: thus exhibiting, as the 
 Apostle teaches us to reflect, towards the ungodly, 
 that highest proof of love which mortals can attest 
 towards the most worthy and amiable ! — " much 
 more then being now justified by his blood p !" 
 
 And when the redeemed soul feels satisfied of 
 the love of Christ, and while she meditates upon 
 all the instances of his great goodness, a sweet per- 
 suasion grows that the heavenly Bridegroom is 
 present, and speaks to her in all the promises of his 
 holy word — " when the Spirit of God testifies to 
 the believer's spirit that he is a child of God q " — 
 when he fixes his seal upon him, and puts the 
 earnest of heavenly joy into his heart r ." What 
 
 p Rom. v. 6—11. i Rom. viii. lo\ r Eph. i. 13, 14. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 4.3 
 
 more suitable than the reply of the bride in the 
 parable, " Lo, thou art beautiful, my beloved ! — 
 yea, fairer than the children of men 8 ." How great 
 is his goodness ! how great is his beauty l ! ! 
 
 In these happy moments, moreover, an unusual 
 splendour seems to be cast on all surrounding 
 objects. Whether the believer to whom the mani- 
 festation is vouchsafed, is standing in the courts of 
 the Lord, or is in retirement ; whether he is fol- 
 lowing his daily labours, or, if such be the will of 
 God, is confined to the bed of sickness, or even in 
 the lonesome' dungeon, a sense of the divine pre- 
 sence will convert the scene into a paradise. The 
 imagination of the lover attaches not more the idea 
 of beauty to the scene of his enchanting pleasures. 
 How delightful the spot ! How luxuriant our carpet ! 
 Cedars are the beams of our house, cypresses are 
 our roof! 
 
 And here we again notice the genuine effect of a 
 real manifestation of God to the soul. Every one, 
 so favoured, is humbled and abashed, under a sense 
 of his own meanness and unworthiness. " I am 
 a wild rose of the field, a lily of the valleys." I 
 must appear, in the midst of his saints and angels, 
 like some contemptible wild flower among the 
 selected plants of a garden. 
 
 This state of mind, however, is, we know, beyond 
 all others, pleasing in the sight of God. When we 
 are little in our own eyes, it is then that the Lord 
 
 Ps. xlv. 2. 'Zech.ix. if. 
 
44 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 delighteth to honour us. " He will beautify the 
 meek with salvation"." — " A meek and quiet spirit 
 is in the sight of God of great price V It is this, 
 perhaps, that the mystic language of the songs de- 
 signates by " eyes like doves." The bridegroom, 
 accordingly, again expresses his approbation. 
 
 " As the lily among the thorns, so is my partner 
 among the daughters." With the same strong 
 attachment, with which the lover contemplates the 
 object of his choice, and singles her out amidst all 
 her companions — with such regard, we are taught, 
 does the blessed Jesus look down upon his faithful 
 followers — with such affection does he distinguish 
 among their fellow-creatures his ransomed people, 
 who, " clothed with humility," pray and meditate 
 upon his word. " Then they that feared the Lord 
 spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened 
 and heard it, and a book of remembrance was 
 written before him, for them that feared the Lord, 
 and that thought upon his name. And they shall 
 be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when 
 I make up my jewels ; and I will spare them as a 
 man spareth his own son that serveth himV 
 
 In the reply of the bride, we are admonished by 
 a similar comparison, with what estimation and 
 partiality the beloved of Christ should look up to 
 him, above every other object that can possibly 
 engross the affections of men. " As the citron 
 among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved 
 
 * Ps. cxli.x. 4. w 1 Pet. iii. 4. x Mai. iii. 16, 17. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 45 
 
 among the sons. For its shade I longed, in its 
 shade will I sit, and its fruit will be sweet to my 
 taste." The picture is beautiful, and needs no 
 illustration. It truly represents that " pre-emi- 
 nence" above all other objects, which Christ must 
 necessarily have in the eyes of those who know his 
 love, and are daily " receiving out of his fulness 
 grace for grace." — " Whom have I," says the 
 Psalmist, " in heaven but thee ? and in earth 
 there is none that I desire in comparison of thee y ." 
 " Yea, doubtless," agrees St. Paul, " and 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 2 ." 
 
 In the parable, as we conceive, the wedding- 
 feast has been all this time preparing. — All things 
 are now ready, the attendants are in waiting, the 
 virgins have trimmed their lamps : an opportunity 
 of public worship is returned, some high ordinance 
 is to be celebrated. 
 
 Will the soul that, in private, has been in a 
 spiritual frame, and been indulged with the divine 
 presence, beg to have herself excused ? No, no ! 
 It is to her the celebration of her nuptials ! " The 
 king is again in his circuit." — " O bear me to the 
 house of the banquet ; they have erected their ban- 
 ner for me, O love." — "I was glad when they 
 
 y Psal. lxxiii. 2 5. * Phil. Hi. 8. 
 
46 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 said unto me, Let us go into the house of the 
 Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O 
 Jerusalem*." 
 
 The Christian believer, as was before observed, 
 may consider all the attendants of God's house as 
 his own j he may regard the ordinances of worship 
 as celebrated on his account. " For all are yours, 
 whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, — all are yours, 
 for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's b ." And 
 how comes the favoured soul to this banquet of 
 love? — as rich and having need of nothing ? — In 
 a far different spirit, she calls to the attendants, 
 " Refresh me with cordials, support me with citrons ; 
 for I am fainting with love." — " My soul longeth, 
 yea, even fainteth, for the courts of the Lord's 
 house. O when shall I come to appear in the 
 presence of God d !"— " As the hart panteth for the 
 water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O 
 God e !" 
 
 Such an interest and delight in religious ordi- 
 nances will ever be created in that heart which has 
 experienced much of the love of Christ. And how- 
 ever extravagant the above expressions may appear 
 in the eyes of the world ; however unsuitable to the 
 ideas which many modern professors of Christianity 
 entertain of public worship, let the followers of 
 Christ remember the divine promise, " Blessed are 
 they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness, 
 
 *Ps. cxxii. l, 2. b l Cor. iii. 21,22, 23. « Rev. iii. J 7. 
 d Ps. lxxxiv. 2. e Ps. xlii. 1. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 47 
 
 for they shall be filled f ." — " They shall be abun- 
 dantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and 
 thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy 
 pleasures 5 ." 
 
 " His left arm is under my head, his right doth 
 infold me." The King himself approaches — she is 
 pressed to his bosom as the object of his fondest 
 affection ; and supported by his arm, she enjoys his 
 society, and partakes of the banquet. And we may 
 notice, that, in the interpretation of the parable, the 
 royal bridegroom and the marriage-supper are the 
 same. " Christ is the bread of life." — ?' His body 
 is meat indeed, and his blood is drink indeed." 
 
 The question was once put to our Lord by one 
 of his disciples, " Lord, how is it that thou wilt 
 manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world h ?" 
 The conversation of Christ had raised the expecta- 
 tion, that such manifestations would be vouchsafed. 
 His answer, in the passage referred to, confirms the 
 hope. He leads the inquirer moreover to the con- 
 sideration of the office of the Holv Ghost the Com- 
 
 ■I 
 
 forter. It is, therefore, through the agency of this 
 Divine Being, that the communion and presence of 
 Christ are enjoyed in the soul. Hence we read of 
 " Joy in the Holy Ghost 1 ."—" Of the love of God 
 shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost which 
 is given unto us k ." 
 
 The constant experience also of his faithful 
 
 f Mat. v. 6. 8 Ps. xxxvi. 8. u John, xiv. 
 
 » Rom. xiv. 17. k Rom. v. 5. 
 
48 . CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 people does attest, and in every age has attested, 
 that these spiritual manifestations of Christ, un- 
 known and unsuspected by the world, are, occa- 
 sionally, vouchsafed to them; and the strongest 
 assurances conveyed to their minds of his favour 
 and unchanging affection. These discoveries of the 
 divine love, moreover, as the parable before us 
 seems to intimate, may sometimes be expected as 
 a blessing upon the public ordinances of religious 
 worship. 
 
 To perpetuate these happy seasons would be, 
 indeed, to convert earth into heaven ; but the be- 
 liever needs not to be admonished, that these holy 
 transports are, in this present life, only occasionally 
 granted, and but for a short time. — They are tran- 
 sient, unfixed, and evanescent, like the bow in the 
 clouds, which pledges the covenant in the day of 
 rain. Yet the bride of Christ cannot but wish to 
 retain, as long as possible, the heavenly vision ; 
 and would, especially, be cautious, that no unneces- 
 sary interruption may occur, to banish from her 
 mind the pleasing image of her beloved. " I charge 
 ye, O daughters of Jerusalem, as with the gazels, 
 and as with the deer of the plain, that ye stir not, 
 nor raise up my beloved, till he please." 
 
 Like Peter on the mount of transfiguration, the 
 Christian thinks " it good to be here," and would 
 fain build a tabernacle to prolong the stay of the 
 heavenly visitor. But though the thought of losing 
 sight of the blissful scene is painful to him, and he 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 49 
 
 descends again into this lower world with some re- 
 luctance, yet the kind intent of the gracious Saviour 
 towards him is answered : a pledge, and earnest, 
 and happy foretaste of joys to come has been con- 
 veyed to his soul. This inspires him with a lively 
 hope, and animates him to press forward towards 
 the mark for the prize of his high calling. 
 
 Besides, in these manifestations of the divine 
 benevolence, such a heavenly light is wont to be 
 left upon the believer's mind, beaming forth in 
 " good will towards men," that he can look round 
 upon his friends and upon his earthly charge, and, 
 in submissive patience, say with the Apostle, " To 
 depart and be with Christ is far better ; but to 
 abide in the flesh is more needful for you 1 ." 
 
 1 Phil. i. 24. 
 
50 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 IDYL THE FOURTH. 
 
 Corresponding with that Part of the public Translation 
 contained in the latter Part of the second Chapter, 
 beginning with the eighth Verse. 
 
 The Idyl now before us is altogether pastoral ; no con- 
 nexion whatever in its exterior imagery, except that both 
 are poems upon the common subject of Love, can be 
 pointed out between this and the preceding parable. 
 
 The lovers are here supposed to reside at a great dis- 
 tance from each other : — the imaginary fair relates a visit 
 she had received from her beloved : — she records his 
 affectionate address to her — how she enjoyed his society — : 
 and concludes with expressing an earnest desire for the 
 frequent repetitions of his visits. 
 
 
 It was the voice of my beloved ! 
 
 Lo, it is he ! 
 
 He comes, leaping on the mountains, 
 
 Bounding o'er the hills a ! 
 
 My beloved is like the gazel, 
 
 Or the fawn of the deer b . 
 
 a She suddenly hears, while in the retirement of her garden, the 
 well-known sound of her beloved's voice : he had arrived unex- 
 pectedly, it should seem, from a distance over intervening hills 
 and mountains. 
 
 i> In admiration at the ease and swiftness with which her beloved 
 traverses the interposed mountains, she compares him to the 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 51 
 
 Lo, it is he ! 
 
 Standing behind our fence c ! 
 Looking through the openings ! 
 Showing himself at the lattice ! 
 
 My beloved addressed me and said, — 
 
 " Arise thee, my partner, 
 
 " My fair one, and come: 
 
 " For lo, the winter is over, 
 
 " The rain ' is' passed away, ' and' is gone d : 
 
 " The flowers appear on the ground : 
 
 " The time of the singing ' of birds' is arrived e : 
 
 " The voice of the turtle is heard in our land : 
 
 " The fig-tree is embalming its fruit f ; 
 
 animals here mentioned : a comparison not unusual in Scripture ; 
 
 " Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe." 2 Sam. ii. ] 8. 
 
 • V He shall make my feet like hart's feet, and he will make me to 
 walk upon mine high places." — Flab. iii. 19. 
 
 c ubro, " paries noster." — Simon. " Mr. Harmer supposes 
 the word rendered * fence ' to mean the green wall, as it were, of 
 a chiosk or eastern arbour ;" which is thus described by Lady 
 M. W. Montague: ** In the midst of the garden is the chiosk, that 
 is, a large room commonly beautified with a fine fountain in the 
 midst of it. It is raised nine or ten steps, and enclosed with gilded 
 lattices, round which vines, jessamines, and honeysuckles, make a 
 sort of green wall," &c. — (Harmer's Outlines.) — Parlchurst. 
 
 In this well-known retreat, coming from the scene of his distant 
 abode and occupation, he finds the object of his choice, and in- 
 vites her abroad. 
 
 d The winter or rainy season continues in these countries from 
 November to February, when the spring, the most beautiful season 
 of the year, succeeds. 
 
 e The season of the song is come. The song here referred to 
 Mr. Harmer conjectures to be peculiarly that of the nightingale. 
 
 f " Filling them with that clammy delicious juice which is so 
 well known." — Parkhnrst. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 " The vines in blossom are yielding their fragrances : 
 
 " Arise, thee, my partner, 
 
 »' My fair ' one,' and come. 
 
 — " My dove, < that art' in the clefts of the rocks, 
 
 ' ' In the hiding-place of the precipice h , 
 
 " Show me thy countenance, 
 
 " Let me hear thy voice; 
 
 " For sweet is thy voice, 
 
 " And thy countenance is beautiful." 
 
 i — " Go catch for us the foxes, 
 
 " The little foxes, that destroy the vineyards^, 
 
 " For our vineyards are in bloom l ." 
 
 g Vitium pubescentium sive florentium odori nullam suavitatem 
 praeferri testis est Plinius. — Simon. 
 
 The above assemblage of beautiful figures is evidently intended 
 to describe the pleasant season of the year after the rainy months 
 are gone, and previous to the setting in of the excessive heats of 
 summer. The duration of this season, and the order of the succes- 
 sive productions of the spring here mentioned, would much de- 
 pend on peculiarities of situation ; for few countries, we are told, 
 of equal dimensions, contain within them such a variety of climate 
 as Syria, owing to the uneven surface of this district, and the very 
 great elevation of some of its mountains. 
 
 h In allusion to the security of her place of retirement, which she 
 may now, however, leave in safety, since the winter is over, the 
 rain is passed away, and is gone. 
 
 > Some servants of the bridegroom seem here to have been dis- 
 missed on their assigned employ ; the suffix to the verb is in the 
 masculine plural. 
 
 k " Hasselquist informs us in his Travels, p. 184, that the foxes 
 (canis vulpes) are common in Palestine." — " There is also plenty 
 of them near the convent of St. John in the desert, about 
 vintage-time ; for they destroy all the vines unless they are strictly 
 watched." — Parkhurst. 
 
 Sec also Theocritus, Idyl E. 112. 
 
 1 Perhaps, are setting their fruit. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 53 
 
 " My beloved is mine, and I am his, 
 " Let him eat among the flowers m ." 
 
 Till the day shall breathe, and the shades be fled n , 
 Be on every side, my beloved, like the gazel, 
 Or the fawn of the deer 
 On the mountains of Bether °. 
 
 m" My beloved is for me, and I am for him; let him feed 
 among the lilies." Let him drive his flock to pasture in the 
 flowery meads, and I will accompany him. Or, perhaps, I consent 
 to go with my beloved, but will he not first regale himself amidst 
 the beauties of our garden ? — Comp. ch. vi. 2. 
 
 n The breathing of the day denotes, evidently, the breaking of 
 the morning. Some suppose the phrase contains an allusion to 
 the easterly gale, which frequently accompanies the approach of 
 the sun to the horizon. — See Parkhurst. Others consider the 
 " breathing of the day" to be a figurative expression for the reviv- 
 ing of the day. — See Good. 
 
 ° I must acknowledge some difficulty in these last lines. The 
 generality of interpreters seem content to consider 3D as synony- 
 mous with yy, and render it in the sense of " Return to." But 
 33D, or 3D, though a word which very frequently occurs in Scrip- 
 ture, is never, as far as I am able to discover, used in this sense. 
 It is indeed sometimes used in direct opposition to 3*j, as Gen. 
 xlii. 24. ; and its general signification is, " to turn away, to de- 
 part," or, more correctly perhaps, " to turn round," in order to 
 depart. We might, therefore, translate in this place, " He de- 
 parted." But there is a second meaning, " to surround, to encom- 
 pass, to environ;" which meaning I have been induced to prefer; 
 and have, in imitation of our public translators, in Ps. lxxi. 21. 
 (where the two verbs ^Emn 3Dm, are rendered, " And comfort 
 me on every side"), translated the verbs nsi 3D — " On every side 
 be like." 
 
 Mountains of Bether. nri3 signifies to divide asunder; we may 
 understand, mountains of division, or craggy mountains. 
 
 *""> 
 
54 canticles; or, 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE FOURTH IDYL. 
 
 The circumstance and scenery of this parable will 
 point out to us the occasion to which it is to be ap- 
 plied, in the spiritual concerns of the faithful. 
 
 Joy and peace are indeed the imperishable in- 
 heritance of the beloved of Christ, yet there are 
 times when they are, notwithstanding, " in heavi- 
 ness through manifold temptations." The beloved 
 of their souls is withdrawn. While the children of 
 the world rejoice, having their good things, the 
 children of the bridechamber are seen " to mourn 
 and lament, because the Bridegroom is taken from 
 them." — It is the gloom of the wintry season. But 
 these intermissions of joy, though painful and dis- 
 tressing, cannot exceed their limited time. He who 
 has said, " While the earth remaineth, seed-time 
 and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
 winter, and day and night, shall not cease 3 ," has 
 said also to his afflicted, " That though he cause 
 grief, yet will he have compassion according to the 
 multitude of his mercies b ." " For a small moment 
 have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I 
 gather thee. In a little wrath I hid myself from 
 thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness 
 will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy 
 Redeemer V 
 
 The pleasant season of the spring returns, more 
 
 a Gen. viii. 22. b Lam. iii- 32. c Isa. liv. 7, 8. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 55 
 
 pleasant still from the contrast of the gloomy season, 
 to which it succeeds. So after a time of spiritual 
 distress or inactivity, the light of the divine coun- 
 tenance shines again upon the soul : — the espoused 
 of Christ, after a time of separation, is gladdened 
 with the presence of her Lord. 
 
 " It was the voice of my beloved ! — Lo, it is he ! 
 he comes ! — leaping on the mountains. — Bounding 
 o'er the hills ! — My beloved is like the gazel— or 
 the fawn of the deer!" The language is expres- 
 sive of agreeable surprise. On a sudden, the well- 
 known voice is recognised : her beloved appears in 
 sight. She speaks with astonishment and rapture at 
 the ease with which he traverses the rugged path 
 which leads to her abode. 
 
 It is thus, perhaps, that, after a season of grief or 
 deadness, it may be after long waiting in vain, the 
 communion of Christ is restored to the soul, and 
 restored so easily, that the believer is struck with 
 wonder and admiration. Fear, and an " evil heart 
 of unbelief," had raised mountains of divisions be- 
 tween him and the only comforter of his soul. The 
 desponding language of the Psalmist too nearly 
 expressed the sad surmises of his despairing mind. 
 " Will the Lord cast off for ever ? and will he be 
 favourable no more ? Is his mercy gone for ever- 
 more ? Hath God forgotten to be gracious ? Hath 
 he in anger shut up his tender mercies d ? But the 
 language of reviving hope will be, according to the 
 
 d lxxvii. 7, 8, 9. 
 
56 canticles ; OR, 
 
 beautiful turn given to the following verse of this 
 Psalm, in our old poetical version : — 
 
 " And last I said, This surely is mine own infirmity ! 
 
 " But his right hand can help all this, and change it speedily." 
 
 And, when the happy season of spiritual joy 
 arrives, how every difficulty seems to vanish before 
 the merciful and all-powerful Saviour ! How easily 
 does he surmount every obstacle, which the afflicted 
 and tempted Saint had contemplated with dread, as 
 the eternal barrier of his hope ! " Leaping on the 
 mountains, bounding o'er the hills ! My beloved 
 is like the gazel, or the fawn of the deer!" Or, in 
 the still more elevated language of the Prophet, the 
 believer will address the object of his former appre- 
 hensions, " And what art thou, O great mountain? 
 Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain V 
 
 In the parable the nearer approach of the wel- 
 come visitor is next described. " Lo, it is he — stand- 
 ing behind our fence, looking through the openings, 
 and showing himself at the lattice !" And here let 
 us remark where the object of this visit is found. 
 Alone, and in retirement. Not endeavouring to 
 supply his absence by some other object, or to 
 dissipate her sorrows in the vain amusements of the 
 world. When a concern for an absent lover can 
 indeed be so easily beguiled, a suspicion cannot but 
 arise that there is no true affection. 
 
 " Tis nought but gloom around ; the darken'd sun 
 Loses his light ; the rosy-bosom'd Spring 
 
 f Zech. iv. 7. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 57 
 
 To weeping Fancy pines ; and yon bright arch, 
 Contracted, bends into a dusky vault. 
 All nature fades extinct." 
 
 And it will also be admitted to be a good sign, 
 in regard to the reality and strength of the believer's 
 love to Christ, that when the joys of salvation are 
 withdrawn, and he seems banished from the divine 
 presence, no worldly interest can absorb his cares, 
 nor earthly pleasures console and satisfy his mind ; 
 but in fixed resolution, he determines " to wait for 
 him who hideth his face f ." — " Blessed is that ser- 
 vant whom, when his Lord shall come, he shall find 
 so doing." — " If any man hear my voice, and open 
 the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, 
 and he with me s ." 
 
 " My beloved addressed me, and said, " Arise 
 thee, my partner — My fair one, and come. For, 
 lo, the winter is over— the rain is passed away, and 
 is gone — the flowers appear on the ground — the 
 time of the singing of ' birds' is arrived — The 
 voice of the turtle is heard in our land — the fig-tree 
 is embalming its fruit — the vines in blossom yield 
 their fragrance. Arise thee, my partner — my fair 
 one, and come.' " This affectionate address of the 
 imaginary lover, the beautiful description of the 
 spring, with his invitation to his espoused to come 
 abroad, and enjoy the delightful scene, are clearly 
 emblematical, as we have noticed, of a revival, in 
 the hopes and religious affections of the Christian, 
 
 f Isa. viii, 17. e Rev, iii. 20. 
 
58 canticles; or, 
 
 when, after a season of doubt or temptation, of 
 distress or heaviness, the God of all consolation is 
 pleased to restore to him the joys of the Spirit, and 
 a persuasion of the divine presence and approba- 
 tion. Then indeed it may be said, " The winter is 
 over, the rain is passed away, and is gone." Or, 
 to use the beautiful language of the Psalmist, " And 
 he shall be as the light of the morning, when the 
 sun ariseth, even a morning without clouds ; as the 
 tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear 
 shining after rain 11 ." — The rainy season appeared, 
 perhaps, unpleasant and gloomy, but it has left a 
 blessing behind. So, we may observe, in pursuing 
 the comparison, " no chastening for the present 
 seemeth to be joyous, but grievous : nevertheless, 
 afterwards, it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righ- 
 teousness unto them that are exercised thereby 1 ." 
 
 The transition from winter to spring, in countries 
 under the same parallel of latitude with the Holy 
 Land, is, we are told, remarkably sudden and dis- 
 tinct. The change would therefore be the more 
 observable. In the space only of a very few days, 
 the cold deluging rains, accompanied with the most 
 tremendous thunders, are succeeded by the gayest 
 scenes of verdure and foliage : where the storm so 
 lately roared, and the wintry torrent dashed from 
 the mountains, are heard, the welcome notes of the 
 birds of spring, the turtle, and the eastern nightin- 
 
 h 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. i Heb. xii. 11. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 59 
 
 gale. The vine and fig-tree, at the same time, ex- 
 hibit to the pleased beholder the quickened progress 
 of vegetation, and while they regale his sense with 
 the sweetest odours, contain the promise of a rich 
 and plentiful harvest. 
 
 So fares it with the mind, when, after a time of 
 trial and sorrow, it is again comforted with the 
 Saviour's presence, and feels again the invigorating 
 influence of the Holy Spirit: every thing in the state 
 of its experience undergoes a sudden change. The 
 storm ceases: the clouds of spiritual darkness 
 quickly disperse and roll away. Faith, which, like 
 the leafless tree, scarcely retained the semblance of 
 life, and stood with difficulty against the blast of 
 winter, again nourishes, and becomes pregnant 
 with good. Hope, which languished and faded, 
 feels the influence of the genial season: fair and 
 sweet are its blossoms, while songs of praise and 
 thanksgiving, more melodious than " the concert of 
 the groves," are heard around. Love too, that had 
 spent its energies in mourning for an absent and 
 long-lost object, now, " satisfied with favour," goes 
 forth cheerfully to its labours. 
 
 In a similar strain, we find the Prophet Isaiah 
 describing a revival in the church at some future 
 period ; " The wilderness and solitary place shall 
 be glad for them ; and the desert shall rejoice and 
 blossom as a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, 
 and rejoice even with joy and singing : the glory of 
 Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of 
 
60 canticles; or, 
 
 Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the 
 Lord, and the excellency of our God k ." 
 
 " My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the 
 hiding-place of the precipice." It were impossible 
 perhaps to conceive a more striking emblem of a 
 helpless being, secure through powerful protection, 
 than that of a defenceless dove, who, as is here de- 
 pictured, has fled to some great rock for shelter, and 
 has concealed herself in the deep crevices of its 
 rugged sides, where no foe can penetrate, and where 
 no arrow can be aimed. There is another fine 
 allusion to this circumstance in the Prophet Jere- 
 miah: " O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities 
 and dwell in the rock; be like the dove that putteth 
 her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth 1 ." 
 
 In the exterior of the parable, the allusion we are 
 considering was in reference perhaps to the shel- 
 tered situation of the bride's retreat, from whence, 
 now the winter was past, her beloved would invite 
 her to come. In the interior of the parable, it ap- 
 pears as a striking admonition to the believer of 
 his perfect security in the gloomy period of his 
 spiritual distress, though no sensible comforts give 
 assurance to his mind. In the season of his greatest 
 fear, " kept by the power of God though faith unto 
 salvation" 1 ," he is safe; while he trembles at the 
 raging storm, his defence is the " munition of rocks." 
 The dove, moreover, hasting to escape from the 
 
 k Isai. xxxv. 1, 2. ' Jer. xlviii. 28. m 1 Pet. j. 5. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 61 
 
 stormy wind and tempest, from the barbed arrow, 
 or the bird of prey, and flying to the clefted sides 
 of some mighty rock for protection, affords a true 
 illustration of the act of saving faith : — the applica- 
 tion of the helpless and alarmed sinner to an all- 
 sufficient Saviour, whose pierced side may indeed 
 be said to afford a refuge and a shelter from every 
 evil, a hiding-place in every trouble. 
 
 " Show me thy countenance, let me hear thy 
 voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance 
 is beautiful." This, as we have seen, is part of the 
 invitation of the beloved to his espoused, now that 
 the season admits, to come abroad, and gratify him 
 with her society. " Add to your faith virtue 11 ," is 
 the evangelical precept: that is, fortitude and reso- 
 lution — resolution to come forth and appear on the 
 part of God, exhibiting, in the midst of a wicked 
 and adulterous generation, the beauty and consis- 
 tency of the Christian character — a sight most 
 pleasing in the eyes of our great Master ! And he 
 delighteth also to hear the voice of his redeemed 
 people, in prayer, in praise, in the confession of his 
 holy religion. As he has said, " Whoso offereth 
 praise glorineth me ; and to him that ordereth his 
 conversation aright, will I show the salvation of 
 God ." 
 
 " Go catch us the foxes, the little foxes which de- 
 stroy the vineyard ; for our vineyard is in bloom." 
 
 n 2 Pet. i. 5. ° Ps. 1. 23. 
 
62 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 The season of spring is the season of enjoyment 
 and activity indeed, but it brings with it its peculiar 
 dangers, and corresponding cares. The same genial 
 warmth which restores the verdant and blooming 
 scenes of spring, and which matures the fruits of 
 summer, nourishes also, and brings forth from their 
 retreats, the noxious vermin of the earth. These de- 
 mand, at this season, the redoubled efforts of in- 
 dustry in order to their riddance, or the harvest and 
 the vintage will be expected in vain. 
 
 And thus, in the concerns of the soul, it should 
 seem, that the point of danger, the time when she 
 is most susceptible of injury, is not in the stormy 
 season of her troubles when she feels most alarm ; 
 for that alarm has conduced to her security — she 
 has fled to the rock for safety ; but in those seasons 
 of peace and joy, when she is encouraged to ven- 
 ture abroad, and to engage actively in the duties of 
 her heavenly vocation. " Watch and pray, lest ye 
 enter into temptation p ." " Be sober, be vigilant; 
 because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, 
 walketh about seeking whom he may devour* 1 ." 
 
 " My beloved is mine and I am his, let him eat 
 among the flowers ;" or "let him feed among the 
 lilies." She obeys his call, and, accompanying 
 him abroad, or entertaining him in her garden, is 
 blessed with his society. — A picture of the Christian, 
 who receives the proffered communion of Christ, 
 
 p Mat. xxvi. 41. q 1 Pet. v. 8. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 63 
 
 and in grateful return makes a surrender of himself 
 to his service ; he is refreshed with the comforts of 
 the Holy Ghost, and is led forth in the ways of 
 God, in fellowship with his Lord and Saviour. 
 
 But, as we are perpetually admonished, these 
 seasons of extraordinary joy are granted only, for a 
 short time, during this our earthly pilgrimage. — 
 The night approaches, her beloved ends his visit ; 
 but, as it should seem, has named a day when he 
 shall no longer continue to abide at a distance from 
 the object of his affections, but will come and take 
 her to himself. Until this day shall breathe, and 
 the shades which obscure its dawn be fled, a repeti- 
 tion of these visits from her beloved is the object of 
 her constant and most earnest wish. — " Till the 
 day shall breathe, and the shades be fled, be on 
 every side, my beloved, like the gazel, or the fawn of 
 the deer, upon the mountains of Bether." 
 
 The same mountains of division, which had been 
 before the barriers of her hope, are again, we find, 
 contemplated as intervening between her and the 
 beloved. And the soul, we may observe, after a 
 season of spiritual communion, relapses into herself 
 again, and feels the same inability to recover her 
 departed comforts — the same insufficiency in her- 
 self, " so much as to think a good thought." There 
 is, however, this difference — her reliance on the 
 power and faithfulness of her Lord increases. Hav- 
 ing experienced the futility of her former apprehen- 
 sions, and the exact fulfilment of his promise; having 
 
64 canticles; or, 
 
 seen, more than once, with what ease all her fears 
 and difficulties were surmounted by Almighty Love, 
 the offers the fervent prayer, full of faith, and full 
 of hope : — " Be on every side, my beloved, like 
 the gazel, or the fawn of the deer, upon the moun- 
 tains of Bether." Thus tribulation worketh pa- 
 tience, and patience experience, and experience 
 hope. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 65 
 
 IDYL THE FIFTH. 
 
 Corresponding with the first Jive Verses of the third 
 Chapter. 
 
 A circumstance in domestic life, among the lower or 
 middling classes of society, forms the subject of this Idyl. 
 The scene is not, as is usual in these allegorical poems, 
 when the nuptials of the King of Israel do not serve for 
 the prototype, laid in the country, but in the city : we 
 find ourselves in the streets and broad places, instead of 
 the flowery meads ; among watchmen or guards going 
 their rounds, instead of shepherds feeding their flocks. 
 
 The faithful wife, it is supposed, had in vain been ex- 
 pecting the return of her husband at the hour of rest. 
 Filled with anxiety, she leaves the house in quest of him ; 
 and after long search, by the direction of the nightly 
 watch, which she meets, she at length finds him. — The 
 idyl closes with a description of her great earnestness to 
 retain his society, on which her late disappointment had 
 taught her to set a higher value. 
 
 The wife, for she is here evidently the married wife, is 
 the sole speaker in this idyl, as the espoused, to adopt that 
 term, was in the last. 
 
 * On my bed at night, 
 
 * Those commentators, who, in explaining the exterior of the 
 allegory, confine their notions to the nuptials of King Solomon, 
 
66 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 I sought the beloved of ray soul ; 
 
 I sought him, but I could not find him. 
 
 I will arise now, and go round the city ; 
 In the streets and in broad places, 
 I will seek the beloved of my soul ! 
 
 I sought him, but I could not find him : 
 
 The keepers, who go round the city, found me. 
 
 — " Have you seen the beloved of my soul?" 
 
 'Twas ' but' a little that I had passed them, 
 
 When I found the beloved of my soul. 
 
 I held him, nor would I release him, 
 
 Till I brought him to the house of my mother, 
 
 b To the chamber of her that conceived me. 
 
 are driven to the necessity of supposing a dream, in order to 
 account for the extraordinary circumstances of this idyl ; for ex- 
 traordinary they must be considered, as occurring to a royal bride. 
 Not only, however, have we no intimation of a dream in the sacred 
 text; but such a dream, in the circumstance supposed, must still 
 be acknowledged to be improbable : " not as wont — of works of 
 day past, or morrow's next design ;" but of incidents altogether 
 uncongenial to the situation of the parties. 
 
 b *nn — " an enclosed place or room, a chamber" (see Note f , 
 Idyl 1st). It is particularly applied to what is called a bed- 
 chamber. What Dr. Shaw says (Travels, p. 238-9- 2d edit-) 
 concerning the structure of houses in Barbary (and the Levant), 
 may give some light. " Their chambers are large and spacious, 
 one of them frequently serving a whole family. At one end of 
 each chamber there is a little gallery raised four or five feet, with 
 a balustrade (and doubtless a veil to draw in the front of it). Here 
 they place their beds." This shows the meaning of mm Tin, 
 " a chamber in a chamber. 1 Kings, xx. 30, &c." — Parkhurst. 
 And hence, we are at no loss to account for the supposition of the 
 bride's conducting her husband into the house, and even into the 
 chamber of her mother. For the chamber of the young couple 
 was, in fact, a part of that chamber. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 67 
 
 ** I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 " ' As' with the gazels, and 'as' with the deer of the 
 
 plain, 
 "That ye stir not, nor raise up 'my' beloved till he 
 
 please." 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE FIFTH IDYL. 
 
 As the affectionate wife, separated from her hus- 
 band during the day, while his employments call 
 him abroad, expects with delight his return in the 
 evening, and seems to claim that season as her own ; 
 so the Christian believer, compelled by the duties 
 of his station to divest himself of heavenly medita- 
 tions, and to spend the greater share of his time 
 and attention on secular cares and occupations, 
 looks with earnest expectation for his appointed 
 seasons of prayer and retirement. And, generally 
 speaking, the gracious Saviour is found of them 
 that seek him : the peace and consolation which his 
 presence can alone create, are enjoyed by his people, 
 when they have " entered into their closet, and 
 have shut their door, and pray to Him which seeth 
 in secret a " — " Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and 
 worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in 
 thy ways\" 
 
 But it may be, for purposes of trial or of disci- 
 pline, that these comforts are withdrawn : the soul 
 
 a Mat. vi. 6. h Isa. lxiv. 5. 
 
 F2 
 
 -1 
 
68 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 misses her beloved: the peace and satisfaction 
 usually experienced by the devout mind, is sought 
 in the accustomed means, and at the accustomed 
 hour, and sought in vain. To such a circumstance 
 we would apply the opening of the parable before 
 us, " On my bed at night I sought the beloved of 
 my soul ; I sought him, but I could not find him." 
 
 His absence, however, is intolerable. Nor can 
 that which is very precious in the enjoyment, be 
 lost without proportionate regret. " I will arise 
 now, and go round the city. In the streets and 
 broad places— I will seek the beloved of my soul." 
 The believer, who is distressed in his feelings, and 
 finds no relief in the private exercises of religion, 
 seems admonished, that he should seek the society 
 of the faithful, wherever they dwell. If spiritual 
 distress is felt in the mind, or an unusual deadness 
 oppresses its affections and hopes, a melancholy 
 retirement is by no means to be resorted to ; for we 
 know that it is the Lord's pleasure to bless the in- 
 tercourse of Christians one with another, to their 
 mutual benefit and comfort. Hence the direction, 
 " Comfort yourselves together, and edify one an- 
 other."— " Comfort the feeble-minded, support the 
 
 weak c ." 
 
 The great Apostle himself seems to have looked 
 to this resource ; we read, in the first chapter of 
 his Epistle to the Romans, that one advantage 
 
 « 1 Thes. v. 2—14. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 69 
 
 which he proposed to himself in visiting the eminent 
 Christians at Rome, was, " that I may be comforted, 
 together with you, by the mutual faith both of you 
 and me"." And doubtless the design of our hea- 
 venly Father, in thus constituting a kind of recipro- 
 cal dependence between the members of his family, 
 is, to teach them to love one another, and to hold 
 the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 
 
 And oh, how are the poor and afflicted members 
 of Christ robbed of their happiness by those divi- 
 sions and separations which exist among us ! 
 Never surely ought the affectionate address of the 
 Apostle to the Philippians to be more enforced than 
 in the present day. " If there be therefore any 
 consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any 
 fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels of mercies, 
 fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded, having the 
 same love, being of one accord, and of one mindV* 
 
 But in the parable before us, this second source 
 of religious comfort is supposed to fail ; even in the 
 society of christian friends, consolation is not ob- 
 tained: " I sought him, but I could not find him.'* 
 Accordingly, a still further means is pointed out. 
 
 " The keepers," or " watchmen, who go round the 
 city, found me/' By this incident the ministerial 
 office is clearly intended to be represented, since 
 one of the duties of those who bear this office is 
 " to watch for souls," and to be ready at their ap- 
 
 d Vcr. 12. e Phil. ii. 1,2. 
 
70 canticles; or, 
 
 pointed stations to advise the wanderer, or to com- 
 fort the afflicted. " I have set watchmen upon thy 
 walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their 
 peace, day nor night: ye that make mention of the 
 Lord, keep not silence f ." 
 
 To these watchmen the inquirer applies, — " Have 
 ye seen the beloved of my soul?" And the dis- 
 tressed and tempted Christian should certainly avail 
 himself of the benefit of the divine institution of the 
 ministry. The answer given by these watchmen 
 appears to have been satisfactory: very soon after 
 her application to them, the wanderer finds the ob- 
 ject of her search. This doubtless teaches us that 
 God will honour his appointed means, and so bless 
 the ministrations of his servants, that they shall not 
 labour in vain, nor shall his people be finally disap- 
 pointed, who " seek the law at their mouth, for they 
 are the messengers of the Lord of Hosts 8 ." — * 'Twas 
 but a little that I had passed them, when I found 
 the beloved of my soul." 
 
 The temptation, of whatever kind it was, is dis- 
 persed ; or that, which had caused the Lord to hide 
 his face, is discovered and removed. Peace and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost are again vouchsafed; and 
 on such an occasion, witli what eagerness of mind 
 will the mourner embrace the happy moment of 
 returning consolation ! " I held him, nor would 
 I release him, till I brought him to the house of 
 
 ' isa. lxii. 6. s Mai. ii. 7. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 71 
 
 my mother, to the chamber of her that conceived 
 me." 
 
 Has the distressed or tempted Christian reco- 
 vered a sense of the divine approbation? Was it 
 through the advice and comfortable exhortations of 
 friends or Christian pastors, or was it " too hard 
 for him till he went into the sanctuary of God?" 
 Wherever he has recovered his Saviour's presence, 
 how anxious will he be to carry home his happy 
 frame of mind, and to meditate in private on the 
 manifestation of the heavenly love ! 
 
 And being taught also, by the loss he had lately 
 sustained, to value more the possession of spiritual 
 peace and joy, how careful will he be — how trem- 
 blingly alive to the apprehension, lest he should 
 lose them again, or be interrupted in their enjoy- 
 ment ! " I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem 
 — as with the gazels, and as with the deer of the 
 plain — that ye stir not, nor raise up my beloved 
 till he please!!" 
 
72 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 IDYL THE SIXTH. 
 
 Containing the last six Verses of the third Chapter. 
 
 The exterior imagei'y in this Idyl bears some resemblance 
 to that of the first allegory. It is a marriage-procession, 
 for the purpose of conveying the bride of the King of 
 Israel to his royal residence. 
 
 The circumstances of the processions, however, are very 
 different. The dialogue in the first idyl was maintained 
 between the bride herself, a messenger, and the virgins ; 
 but the dialogue in this poem is carried on between the 
 virgins alone, as the spectators of the ceremony. 
 
 They describe a scene which passes before their eyes. — 
 On the one part appears the bride, borne from a distance, 
 in the royal palanquin of Solomon, surrounded with his 
 guards : on the other part, our attention is suddenly called 
 to the King himself, " Solomon in all his glory," who 
 comes forth to meet his bride on her arrival. This, sup- 
 posing, which is not improbable, an allusion to a real event, 
 was, no doubt, a high day in Jerusalem ; and, like some 
 other circumstances of the times, is allegorized, to veil and 
 typify the mysteries of the everlasting reign of the true 
 Solomon — the " Prince of Peace." 
 
 FIRST VIRGIN. 
 
 a Who is this coming up from the wilderness ? 
 Like columns of smoke, 
 
 * " Or what is this," &c— Percy, Green, and Good. But the 
 most faithful translation is, " Who is this ?" What woman, or 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 73 
 
 From incense of myrrh and frankincense, 
 From all the powders of the merchant 1 
 
 SECOND VIRGIN. 
 
 b Lo! it is the palanquin of Solomon: 
 
 Sixty valiant men surround it, 
 
 Of the valiant of Israel: 
 
 All are swords-men c , 
 
 Disciplined for war: 
 
 Each has his sword on his thigh 
 
 Because of fear in the night d . 
 
 bride, as she is known to be, from her appearance ? <o very rarely 
 refers to things: rw is the 3d per. sing. fem. rbv too is fern, as in 
 1 Kings, xviii. 44. 
 
 " Tt? atvrri i) ctvxfic&ivovcra am t»j tpijAov ;" Septuagint. 
 
 b They are supposed to see a bridal couch or palanquin at a 
 distance, with a multitude of attendants. They compare it to 
 columns of smoke, to the fuming incense of the altar. The at- 
 tendants perhaps were burning perfumes; or their smoking 
 torches, their cottars or luminous standards, might give the pro- 
 cession the appearance here attributed to it. Or, it is possible, 
 the allusion may be to the columns of dust raised by the feet of 
 the attendants, the signal usually observed of the approach of 
 travellers in the desert of Arabia. 
 
 c 3-in nnK " comprehensi, i. e. accincti gladio, vel qui adhrese- 
 runt, adjuncti gladio, per Hypallagen, pro, quibus gladius ad- 
 hsesit sive adjunctus est." Si?nunis, Heb. Lex. 
 
 " Possessed or seised of a sword." — Parkhurst. 
 
 a A party of the royal guards we may suppose to have been 
 sent with the royal vehicle. They conduct the bride, as it ap- 
 pears, from a distance. This vehicle, a description of which fol- 
 lows, must undoubtedly, according to Mr. Harmer and other 
 commentators, have been a kind of palanquin. For first, it is 
 called non, a bed or couch, something which would admit a per- 
 son to lay himself at length. Secondly, it is, evidently, portable, 
 and surrounded with attendants for a journey. Of the other 
 
74 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 King Solomon has made him a palanquin, 
 
 He formed it of the woods of Lebanon ; 
 
 Its supporters he made of silver; 
 
 Its mattress of ' cloth of gold ; 
 
 Its hangings ' are' of purple e ; 
 
 Its inside ' is' spread over with love f 
 
 By the daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 THIRD VIRGIN. 
 
 « Go forth, and see, O daughters of Zion, King Solomon 
 
 term, by which it is called pnSK, Simon observes, " Compositum 
 ex 2 synonymis -|3K Arab, cucurrit, latus est; et ex Chald. ma 
 cucurrit, latus est." — " It is used in the Misnah for the nuptial 
 bed, or open chariot, in which the bride was carried from her 
 father's house to her husband's." — Dr. Gill. 
 
 e The chariot or body part, stragula. 
 
 f Its inner lining was spread over, literally paved, worked so as 
 to resemble a pavement, with appropriate devices and mottos, by 
 the women of Jerusalem. — Harmer's Outlines. 
 
 " And to illustrate, if not confirm, this supposition, I observe, 
 from Lady M. W. Montague, Lett. xxv. vol. i. p. 158, that the 
 inside of the Turkish coaches is (in our times) painted with 
 baskets and nosegays of flowers, intermixed commonly with little 
 poetical mottos." — Parhhurst. 
 
 s While the company of virgins are contemplating the equipage 
 of the bride, and are admiring its beautiful construction, their 
 attention is suddenly called to another quarter : they have notice 
 that the bridegroom is coining, " decked" with his splendid 
 " ornaments." The marriage-ceremonies of the Jews, and other 
 eastern nations, were always grand and imposing : we may easily 
 imagine, therefore, the magnificence which would accompany a 
 bridal procession of King Solomon. 
 
 We cannot, indeed, require a more convincing proof of the rich 
 decoration of the person of the bridegroom on these occasions, 
 than the circumstance of the royal Psalmist's having alluded to it, 
 for a comparison of the most grand and beautiful object in nature 
 — the rising sun : " He cometh forth as a bridegroom out of his 
 chamber." 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 75 
 
 With the crown with which his mother has crowned him, 
 
 On the day of his espousals, 
 
 On the day of the gladness of his heart ! 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE SIXTH IDYL. 
 
 The conducting home of a bride espoused to King 
 Solomon is, as we have seen, the exterior and os- 
 tensible imagery of this allegory. The conducting 
 of the purchased people of Christ to his presence 
 and blessed abode, is, I think, the interior and 
 remote sense which is veiled under this thin and 
 pellucid covering. 
 
 The first Idyl, the subject of which is, in like man- 
 ner, the conducting home of a royal bride, has been 
 explained of the first introduction of the favoured 
 Christian into that state of joy and sense of the 
 divine favour, which is wont to accompany that first 
 fruits of the Spirit, by which the believer is sealed 
 until the day of redemption. 
 
 The very different circumstances, however, of 
 the procession we are now to contemplate, lead to 
 the notion, that a different event is intended by the 
 emblem. We explain the present allegory, there- 
 fore, with reference to the anticipated conveyance 
 of the espoused of Christ from this world to the 
 mansions above ; and in its full amount, to the 
 manifestation of the sons of God in the last day, 
 when the New Jerusalem will be seen as a bride 
 
76 canticles; or, 
 
 adorned for her husband, and the assembled uni- 
 verse will be called to celebrate the " marriage 
 supper of the Lamb V 
 
 In view of these two events, the entrance of the 
 soul of the faithful into paradise, and the glory to 
 be brought to the church at large at the revelation 
 of Jesus Christ, we may consider this present world 
 as the wilderness, through which the perilous jour- 
 ney, supposed in the opening of the parable, has 
 just been effected. 
 
 " Who is this," or " what bride is this that 
 cometh up from the wilderness?" The beautiful 
 land of Canaan, it is well known, was bordered 
 on the south and south-east by the dreary and 
 arid desert of Arabia. Through this desert, Israel 
 had journeyed from Egypt to the land of promise. 
 From this circumstance, and from the inevitable 
 inconveniences of the journey by which their country 
 was approached on this side, and the pleasing 
 change which opened to the traveller's view when 
 he had once passed the boundary, " coming up 
 from the wilderness," appears to have been a con- 
 stituted emblem among the Jews of the faithful ser- 
 vants of God, who, finishing their earthly pilgrimage, 
 enter into their heavenly rest. 
 
 The question in the allegory before us amounts, 
 therefore, in fact, to that put to St. John in the 
 Apocalypse, while he stood contemplating a large 
 
 a Rev. xix. 19. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 77 
 
 assembly of the redeemed from among men, " What 
 are these which are arrayed in white robes ? and 
 whence came they ?" — " These are they which came 
 out of great tribulation," &c. &c. b 
 
 The columns of smoke which are noticed, as if 
 ascending from the burning of myrrh and frank- 
 incense, and all the aromatic powders of the mer- 
 chant, and which first attract the attention of the 
 virgins, is emblematical, I conceive, of the prayers 
 and piaises of the saints, as offered in the name of 
 Christ, with the memorial of his death — and in 
 reference to his atoning sacrifice — ascending, to use 
 the Scripture metaphor, as a sweet- smelling savour 
 before the mercy-seat of the heavenly tabernacle. 
 " And another" angel " came and stood by the 
 altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given 
 unto him much incense, that he should offer it, with 
 the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar 
 which was before the throne. And the smoke of 
 the incense, which came with the prayers of the 
 saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's 
 handV 
 
 To relieve the tiresome way, through which his 
 bride must pass, to shelter from the parching sun 
 by day, and to defend from midnight robbers, King 
 Solomon, it seems, had sent a magnificent palan- 
 quin, attended by threescore valiant soldiers. The 
 virgins recognise the equipage, and perceive, of 
 
 b Rev. vii. c Rev. viii. 34. 
 
78 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 course, whose bride it conveys. " Lo, it is the pa- 
 lanquin of Solomon ! Sixty valiant men surround it, 
 of the valiant of Israel." 
 
 So he, who is the peace of his people, the King 
 of the heavenly Zion, has carefully provided for the 
 safe and pleasant conveyance of his redeemed, 
 through the wilderness of this world, to the man- 
 sion prepared for them in his Father's house. 
 " They are kept by the power of God through faith 
 unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last 
 time d ." This world in itself is a comfortless desert ; 
 yet they, through his care, enjoy many comforts in 
 passing through it. " In the world ye shall have 
 tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace 6 ." 
 
 " In the time of trouble," says one, " he will hide 
 me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle 
 shall he hide me f ." Compare too the remarkable 
 declaration in the prophecy of Isaiah : " Hearken to 
 me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the 
 house of Israel, which are borne by me from the 
 belly, which are carried from the womb : and even 
 to your old age I am he ; and even to hoar hairs 
 will I carry you : I have made and I will bear ; 
 even I will carry and will deliver you*." 
 
 If we inquire particularly respecting the armed 
 attendance which guards the royal couch, the Scrip- 
 ture affords an easy solution : " He shall give his 
 
 d 1 Pet. i. 5. e j hn, x vi. 33. t Ps. xxvii. 5. 
 
 g Isa. hi. 3, 4. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. <» 
 
 angels charge over thee to keep thee in all thy ways, 
 they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou 
 dash thy foot against a stone h ;" — " The angel of 
 the Lord encampeth round about them that fear 
 him, and delivereth them 1 ." Of the angels again 
 we read, " Are they not all ministering spirits, 
 sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of 
 salvation"." 
 
 We come next to consider the description of the 
 bridal palanquin itself. " King Solomon has made 
 him a palanquin : he formed it of the woods of Leba- 
 non. Its supporters he made of silver ; its mattress 
 of cloth of gold ; its hangings are of purple ; its 
 inside is spread over with love by the daughters of 
 Jerusalem." The vehicle, we observe, was con- 
 trived for rest, and easy conveyance ; but its beauty 
 and magnificence bespake, at the same time, the 
 quality and riches of its possessor. 
 
 The emblem well applies to the provisions which 
 have been made in the scheme of redemption for 
 the present peace, safety, and happiness of the ob- 
 jects of the divine compassion and love. Their 
 comfort, and the relief of their many infirmities 
 during the toilsome and perilous journey of life, 
 have been graciously considered and provided for 
 by their all- wise and powerful Saviour; so that, 
 notwithstanding the dreary scene around them, and 
 the inconveniences necessarily incident to travellers 
 
 h Ps. xci. 11,12. j Ps. xxxiv. 7. k Heb. i. 14. 
 
80 canticles; or, 
 
 in a desert, the followers of Christ shall not fail to 
 find the words of the heavenly wisdom true, that 
 " her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her 
 paths are peace 1 ." 
 
 " Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose 
 mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in 
 thee m ." The God of mercy has bid them " cast 
 their burden upon him, promising to sustain them 11 ." 
 • — " To be careful for nothing, but by prayer and 
 supplication, with thanksgiving, to let their requests 
 be known unto him°." Remarkable are the words 
 of our Lord, even when comparing his service to a 
 yoke: " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my 
 yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and 
 lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest for your 
 souls p ." The believer, therefore, relying upon a 
 Saviour's promise, and so far placed above the cares 
 and troubles of life, and secure from harm, while 
 passing through this world to a better world above, 
 fully answers to the emblem before us. 
 
 This palanquin, or travelling couch, which Solo- 
 mon had sent to convey his bride across the desert, 
 could not indeed, from its very nature and purpose, 
 display all the rich magnificence of that Prince's 
 court ; yet still, we see it displayed, in its minor 
 ornaments, the royal munificence of its owner. The 
 cedar, the silver and gold, the purple and rich em- 
 
 >Prov. iii. 17. m Isai. xxxvi. 3. ■ Ps, Iv. 22. 
 
 Phil. iv. 6. v Mat. xi. 29, 30. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 81 
 
 broidery, were, so to speak, the decorations of a 
 palace on a smaller scale. On the occasion which 
 supplied the exterior of the allegory, this beautiful 
 means of conveyance, we may easily conceive, 
 would exhibit to Solomon's chosen an encouraging 
 pledge and specimen of her splendid entertainment, 
 when she should once arrive at the residence of her 
 royal Bridegroom. 
 
 In like manner, the state of grace, as entered 
 and enjoyed by the people of God here below, 
 though it cannot be thought to bear comparison 
 with that glory which is to be revealed — with that 
 " inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven for 
 them ;" yet does it exhibit, in its rich provisions, 
 and in the present joys which it affords, an ani- 
 mating specimen of the munificence of the King of 
 Glory. It contains that which is to the believer an 
 earnest and a foretaste of those pleasures that are 
 at God's right hand for ever. " Eye hath not seen, 
 nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart 
 of man the things which God has prepared for them 
 that love him, but God has revealed them to us by 
 his Spirit V 
 
 The silver, and the gold, and the purple, there- 
 fore, we consider as emblematical of the true and 
 more durable riches of faith, of the heavenly joy 
 that hope can realize on earth, and of those mani- 
 
 1 1 Cor. ii. 9. 
 
82 canticles; or, 
 
 festations of the " bleeding love" of Christ, which, 
 in the midst of an otherwise miserable world, satisfy 
 and comfort the Christian's heart. And — adopting 
 the ingenious idea given above, respecting the em- 
 blems and mottoes worked by the daughters of Jeru- 
 salem for the inside of the royal couch— the com- 
 munion of saints, with all the records and memorials 
 they have left, testifying their own happy expe- 
 rience of the love of Christ and his faithfulness in 
 the trying hour— their dying sayings especially, will 
 be readily admitted to correspond with this storied 
 lining of the bridal palanquin. 
 
 But, to proceed with the counter-part of the alle- 
 gory. While the eyes of these daughters of Zion 
 are fixed upon the company which is conducting 
 the Bride from the wilderness, and while they are 
 employed in listening to the description of her con- 
 veyance, a cry is heard — " Behold the bridegroom 
 cometh ! Go ye out to meet him." — " Go forth and 
 see, O daughters of Zion, King Solomon, with the 
 crown with which his mother crowned him, on the 
 day of his espousals, on the day of the gladness of 
 his heart." 
 
 In " Solomon," decked " in all his glory," in the 
 character of " a bridegroom, corning out of his 
 chamber" to meet his bride on her entrance into his 
 capital, we have a type of our Lord and Saviour, 
 when he shall welcome his redeemed to glory: — 
 when he shall welcome the departing saint to that 
 mansion in his Father's house, which he has pre- 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 83 
 
 pared for him; and, especially, in that great day 
 when he shall meet his whole church in the charac- 
 ter of her Bridegroom. 
 
 In the days of his flesh, our gracious Master 
 prayed, and his prayer was heard; " Father, I will 
 that those, whom thou hast given me, be with me 
 where I am, that they may behold my glory r ." The 
 effect of this prayer the soul of the dying saint shall 
 find when angels shall carry her to the Paradise of 
 God. She departs to meet her heavenly Bride- 
 groom. For to depart from the body is to be with 
 Christ. And He who bought her with his precious 
 blood, and has espoused her to himself, in righ- 
 teousness, in loving kindness, and in mercy, will 
 welcome her arrival. The effect of this prayer will 
 be further seen, and the type we are considering 
 receive its full accomplishment, when the whole as- 
 sembled church of Christ shall receive their perfect 
 consummation of bliss both in body and soul: — 
 " when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from hea- 
 ven with his mighty angels" — " when he shall come 
 to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in 
 all them that believe 5 ." 
 
 We have a description of this great event 
 under the same allusion in the nineteenth chapter 
 of the Revelation: "And I heard as it were 
 the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of 
 many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun- 
 
 » John, xvii. 24. »2 Thes. i. 8-- 10. 
 
 G2 
 
84 canticles; or, 
 
 derings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omni- 
 potent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and 
 give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb 
 is come, and his wife has made herself ready. 
 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed 
 in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is 
 the righteousness of saints. — And I saw heaven 
 opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat 
 upon him was called Faithful and True, and in 
 righteousness he doth judge and make war. His 
 eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were 
 many crowns ; and he had a name written that no 
 man knew but he himself. And he was clothed 
 with a vesture dipped in blood : and his name is 
 called the word of God. And the armies which 
 were in heaven followed him on white horses, 
 clothed in fine linen, white and clean— and he hath 
 on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, 
 King of Kings, and Lord of Lords 1 ." 
 
 On the head of the King of Zion, you are told, 
 there are many crowns. — There is the regal crown. 
 For a kingdom and dominion, which shall be for 
 ever, is given to him. — There is the crown of vic- 
 tory. For he went forth conquering, and to con- 
 quer; and all his enemies are subdued under his 
 feet. — There is the crown of merit. For he is ex- 
 alted above his fellows, "because he has loved 
 righteousness, and hated iniquity 11 ." 
 
 <■ Rev. -\ix. 6, &c. « Ps. xlv. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 85 
 
 But there is another crown which, in a particular 
 manner, marks him out to the attention of his faith- 
 ful people — the bridal crown. " Go forth and see, 
 O daughters of Zion, King Solomon, with the 
 crown with which his mother has crowned him," on 
 the day of his espousals, on the day of the gladness 
 of his heart. His faithful people will meet him on 
 that day in the character of the Bridegroom of souls. 
 — " Blessed and happy is he that shall be called to 
 the marriage-supper of the Lamb." 
 
 It is the day of the gladness of his heart. It is 
 the day that brings the recompense of all the Re- 
 deemer's toil and trouble. To wear this crown, 
 so great was his love to his church, he emptied him- 
 self of his glorious majesty, and became a man of 
 sorrows, and suffered the bitterest agonies of death. 
 To wear this crown was the joy set before him, for 
 the sake of which he endured the cross, despising 
 the shame. 
 
 Contemplating him in the midst of his strange 
 sufferings, the prophetic Spirit declared, " He shall 
 see of the travail of his soul, and be satisfied V 
 And, as the good shepherd gathers, one by one, his 
 scattered flock, we are told, " that he layeth it on 
 his shoulders rejoicing"." When the hour of their 
 departure comes, again we read, " Right dear in 
 the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints y ." 
 
 w Isai. liii. 11. x Luke, xv. 5. y Ps. cxvi. 15. 
 
86 canticles; or, 
 
 When, finally, all the members of the church, which 
 he has bought with his own blood, shall be brought 
 to glory, then shall the Redeemer s joy be full. — 
 Then, in the most emphatic sense, will be " the 
 day of the gladness of his heart." 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 87 
 
 IDYL THE SEVENTH. 
 
 Including the fourth Chapter and the first Verse of the 
 
 fifth. 
 
 The various and discordant opinions of the most re- 
 spectable expositors respecting the literal meaning of that 
 portion of the Canticles on which we are now entering, 
 forewarn us of difficulties ; and demand from the reader an 
 extraordinary degree of candour and indulgence towards 
 the present attempt. 
 
 This Idyl, according to the division which I have 
 adopted, begins with a description of the personal charms 
 of the fair one, as they appeared in the eyes of her ad- 
 mirer. — He next declares his intention of departing — and 
 taking his leave, with expressions of his entire satisfaction 
 with his espoused, promises one day to take her with him 
 to his home, and acknowledge her as his bride. — He then 
 describes the residence he has provided for her, where she 
 may wait in pleasure and security the arrival of this ap- 
 pointed day. — Lastly, the spouse entertains her beloved 
 and his companions. 
 
 Such, if I am right in my conjectures, is the exterior 
 imagery of this beautiful allegory. The scene of the poem 
 is distinctly marked as lying on the northern borders of the 
 Land of Promise. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 Lo, thou art most beautiful, my partner, 
 Lo, thou art most beautiful: — 
 
88 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 a Thine eyes are doves behind thy tresses b : 
 
 Thy hair is like a flock of the goats, 
 
 That go in the morning to water from Mount Gilead: 
 
 Thy teeth like a flock of even-sized ' ewes' d , 
 
 Which ascend from the wash-'pool,' 
 
 Which go all of them in pairs 6 , 
 
 a Or, " Thine eyes are the eyes of doves." There is some 
 uncertainty whether the dove itself, or the eye of the dove, be 
 the intended comparison. It may be necessary also to observe, 
 that several of the following comparisons, as illustrations of 
 female beauty, though they may appear to us obscure or inapt, 
 might, nevertheless, in the times and circumstances when these 
 poems were composed, have been most appropriate and elegant. — 
 The figurative language before us is probably of that sort, which 
 any enamoured lover of the age of Solomon would have employed 
 to panegyrize the admired object of his passion. 
 
 b Parkhurst, after Micha'elis, renders riEtf a vail, and so does 
 Dr. Percy. But the more probable meaning appears to be, the 
 projecting hairs ornamenting the forehead, and flowing down the 
 sides of the face. " Cirrus." — Simon. " Beneath thy shadowy 
 hair." — Good. 
 
 c So Shultens, and after him Simon, give the force of the single 
 word wbj. mane aquatum ivcrunt. Parkhurst renders it glisten 
 (nitent), and observes, that the bride's hair is compared not 
 merely to the long curled hair of the eastern goats, but to a flock 
 of goats glistening from Mount Gilead ; in allusion not only to its 
 glossiness, but also to the numerous ringlets or tresses into which 
 it was broken, and which adorned the head of the bride, as the 
 glistening goats did the sides and precipices of the mountain. — To 
 perceive the aptness and beauty of this image, we should, of 
 course, have been acquainted with the local scenery of Mount 
 Gilead in the time and circumstances supposed. 
 
 d niSlifp prsecisae : determinate, ordinate, i. e. invicem similes, 
 q. d. ejusdem caesionis, h. e. proportions. Coll. 1 Reg. vii. 3f. ut 
 Bochartus et Clericus interpretantur. — Simonis, Heb. Lex. 
 
 « CDKn. geminus duplex fuit. — Simonis. " The Arabic verb 
 CDNn denotes not only to bring forth twins, but also to have a 
 companion." See Henley's note in Gregory's trans, of Lowth's 
 Lectures. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 89 
 
 And no one among them ' is' bereaved ' of her fellow.' 
 
 Like a thread of scarlet i are' thy lips, 
 
 And thy mouth < is' most beautiful : 
 
 f Like the splitting-bloom of the pomegranate 
 
 1 On' thy face behind thy tresses. 
 
 Thy neck is like the tower of David, 
 
 Erected for the suspending of trophies g : 
 
 Whereon a thousand shields are hung, 
 
 f nVa is properly a fragment, a piece split off, some understand 
 it of the bloom. So Simon, ' Eruptio floris.' Others of the fruit 
 when the shell bursts of itself. So Dr. Gill, " The rind being 
 broken, it appears full of grains and kernels, of a white colour, in- 
 terspersed with a reddish-purple juice, like blood, as Pausanias 
 remarks, and looks very beautiful." So that one might almost 
 conclude, that the comparison is intended for the mouth, and not 
 for the temple or cheek. T\p~\ from pp"l, is generally indeed 
 translated The Temple; but the order of the above comparisons 
 forbids us to suppose that ihis part of the face is intended in this 
 place. The Septuagint and many other interpreters render it 
 cheek. The meaning of the verb pp-|, however, tenuis fuit vel 
 factus est, attenuatus est, as well as the nature of the comparison, 
 may be supposed to favour the notion, that the lower or narrow 
 part of the face, where the mouth is situated, is intended. Mr. 
 Good, though he understands the comparison of the cheek, " As 
 the blossom of the pomegranate, so are thy cheeks beneath thy 
 locks ;" yet, in another part of his work, p. 129, in a long quota- 
 tion, which he has given us from the Gita-govinda, has accident- 
 ally afforded a very similar use of the same comparison. — " O 
 thou whose lips, which outshine the grains of the pomegranate, 
 are embellished, when thou speakest, by the brightness of thy 
 teeth !" 
 
 s Some tower built by David, which we may conjecture to have 
 been, from its situation, and the symmetry of its proportions, an 
 object of general admiration, and which, from the additional cir- 
 cumstance of its being used for the suspending of armour, might 
 have afforded an appropriate comparison for the neck and its 
 ornaments. Compare Ezek. xxvii. 2. '"iVsV/V " armamentaria." — 
 Simon. 
 
90 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 All armour of the mighty : 
 
 Thy two breasts ' are ' like two fawns, 
 
 Twins of the gazel, feeding among lilies. 
 
 Until the day shall breathe, and the shades be fled, 
 
 I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, 
 
 — To the hill of frankincense h . 
 
 — Thou art fair, my partner, 
 
 There is no spot in thee ! 
 
 — With me from Lebanon espoused, 
 
 With me from Lebanon shalt thou come ; 
 
 Thou shalt look from the top of Amana, 
 
 From the top of Senir and Hermon ; 
 
 From the Lions' dens, from the Leopard-mountains k . 
 
 h The mountain of myrrh and hill of frankincense, most com- 
 mentators agree in supposing to be Mount Moriah, where the 
 temple was built — the hill appropriated to the burning of incense 
 and sacrifice. 
 
 The connexion and meaning I conceive to be, " I am about to 
 depart and return to my distant abode, but let her be assured from 
 no dissatisfaction with the object of my affections. — The day too 
 will come when I will take her with me, and acknowledge her as 
 my bride, in my father's house." — rf?3 is an appellation of the 
 bride here, for the first time introduced. It corresponds indeed 
 with our bride, inasmuch as it belongs to a new-married woman, 
 (Isa. lxi. 10. Jer. ii. 32) ; but it appears, she did not afterwards 
 lose the title in her adoptive family, at least so long as her hus- 
 band's parents were living (Gen. xxxviii. 11. lfj. 24. Ruth, i. 0, 
 7, 8)- For it should be remarked, that the term is not used in 
 direct reference to the husband, but to his parents : she is their 
 rbl, not his rto (Lev. xviii. 15). It corresponds therefore more 
 nearly with our term daughter-in-law ; and the French term for 
 daughter-in-law, une belle fille, i. e. a fine daughter, is almost 
 
 equivalent, as Mr. Parkhurst observes, to the Hebrew nbo " A 
 
 perfecto ornatu vel a corona qua ornari solebat ; vel quod tecta 
 sive velata ad sponsum adduceretur, et post hac tecta incederat." — 
 Simon. 
 
 k As the mention of the mountain of myrrh, designated Mount 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 91 
 
 Moriah, or Jerusalem, as the abode of the departing lover, so it 
 now appears from these lines, that the supposed residence of the 
 espoused was situated somewhere beyond the north or north-east 
 borders of the land of Canaan. Mount Lebanon is well known. 
 Amana, if the conjecture be right, which places it at the rise of 
 the celebrated river of Damascus, Abana, or, as the margin 
 reads, Amaua, was an eminence at no great distance. Senir, 
 Sheuir, or Sirion, is also a mountain in the same parts, as appears 
 from Deut. iii. 8, 9» and 1 Chron. v. 23. In the poetical language 
 of the royal Psalmist, it is mentioned as a compeer of the lofty 
 Lebanon (Ps. xxix. 6). Herinon, an appellation given to several 
 mountains, belongs particularly to that mountainous track where 
 the Jordan originates, which still fixes our attention to the same 
 northern border. The Mountain of Leopards is also mentioned 
 as being the name of a round and high mountain very near to 
 Lebanon (see Andrichomius in Gill, and Pool's Syn.) And the 
 spot called the Lions'-dens, though we discover no vestige of the 
 name, was, in all probability, not very remotely situated. 
 
 In order to go to the residence of her beloved, the spouse must 
 pass this border; and on the eminences here mentioned, spots, I 
 conceive, celebrated for the extent of view which they com- 
 manded, she would be first gratified with a prospect of the land of 
 promise, and of the distant abode of her husband. 
 
 That this conjectural interpretation is countenanced by the 
 general appearance of the country, the following very interesting 
 extracts from Volney's Travels will show* : — 
 
 " Whether we approach Syria from the side of the sea, or by 
 the immense plains of the desart, we first discover, at a distance, 
 a clouded ridge, which runs north and south as far as the sight 
 extends ; and, as we advance, distinguish the summits of moun- 
 tains, which, sometimes detached, and sometimes united in chains, 
 uniformly terminate in one principal line which overtops them 
 all; we may follow this line, without interruption, from its entry 
 by the north, quite into Arabia. It first runs close to the sea, 
 between Alexandretta and the Orontes, and. after opening a pas- 
 sage to that river, continues its course to the southward, quitting, 
 for a short distance, the shore, and, in a chain of continued sum- 
 mits, stretches as far as the sources of the Jordan, where it sepa- 
 
 * Volney"s Travels in Egypt and Syria, Third Edition. 
 
92 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 rates into two branches, to enclose, as it were, in a basin, this 
 river, and its three lakes. In its course it detaches from this line, 
 as from a main trunk, an infinity of ramifications, &c." 
 
 " A view of the country will convince us that the most ele- 
 vated point of all Syria is Lebanon, on the south-east of Tripoli. 
 Scarcely do we depart from Larneca, in Cyprus, which is thirty 
 leagues distance, before we discover its summit, capped with 
 clouds. This is also distinctly perceivable on the map, from the 
 course of the rivers. The Orontes, which flows from the moun- 
 tains of Damascus, and loses itself below Antioch ; the Kasmia, 
 which, from the north of Balbeck, takes its course towards Tyre ; 
 the Jordan, forced by the declivities towards the south, prove that 
 this is the highest point." — P. 272. 
 
 " Lebanon, which gives its name to the whole extensive chain 
 of the Kesraowan, and the country of the Druzes, presents us 
 every where with majestic mountains. — The loftiness and steep 
 ascent of this mountainous ridge, which seems to enclose the 
 country; those gigantic masses which shoot into the clouds; in- 
 spire astonishment and awe. Should the curious traveller then 
 climb these summits, which bounded his view, the wide-extended 
 space which he discovers becomes a fresh subject of admiration ; 
 but completely to enjoy this majestic scene, he must ascend the 
 very point of Lebanon, or the Sannin. There, on every side, he 
 will view an horizon without bounds ; while in clear weather the 
 sight is lost over the desert, which extends to the Persian Gulf, and 
 over the sea which bathes the coast of Europe. He seems to com- 
 mand the whole world, while the wandering eye, now surveying 
 the successive chains of mountains, transports the imagination in 
 an instant from Antioch to Jerusalem ; and now approaching the 
 surrounding objects, observes the distant profundity of the coast, 
 till the attention, at length, fixed by distincter objects, more mi- 
 nutely examines the rocks, woods, torrents, hill-sides, villages, and 
 towns; and the mind secretly exults at the diminution of things, 
 which before appeared so great." — P. 274. 
 
 " To the west is the vast liquid plain of the Mediterranean; to 
 the east the plain of the desert, no less vast, but absolutely dry; in 
 the midst of these two level surfaces rise the mountains, whose 
 summits are so many observatories, from whence the sight may 
 discern full thirty leagues." — P. 305. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 93 
 
 1 Thou hast affected my heart, my sister espoused, 
 Thou hast affected my heart ! 
 m With one ' look' of thine eyes, 
 n With one turn of thy neck. 
 How pleasant is thy love, my sister espoused, 
 How much better is thy love than wine, 
 And the odour of thy perfumes than of all perfumes ° ; 
 Thy lips, espoused, distil the virgin honey p : 
 Honey and milk ' are' under thy tongue : 
 And the odour of thy garments < is' like the fragrance of 
 Lebanon 9 . 
 
 1 aaS To take away, to ravish the heart.— Parhhurst. Eku^'wo-us 
 v)[/.xs, Septuagint. 
 
 m Supply, itfn- — See Dr. Percy and Mr. Good. 
 
 n So Percy and Good. The meaning is, I conceive, that he had 
 resolved, and had declared his intention to depart; but the anxiety 
 expressed in the parting look — the turn of the head — the " long- 
 lingering look," which was meant to bid farewell, had much 
 affected him, and called forth the tenderest emotions of his heart. 
 He declares his entire satisfaction, and tells her, that the day will 
 come, when she shall be welcomed to his home as his acknow- 
 ledged bride. The terms rb3 'finx, m y sister — daughter-in-law to 
 my parents, if we may be allowed to imitate the force of the 
 original word (see note h ), are a sort of anticipated welcome to 
 his family. 
 
 oThe same comparisons have occurred in a former idyl. 
 
 P nuj, honey which parts and distils from the comb of its own 
 accord, without pressing, virgin honey. — Parkhurst. 
 
 The comparison of persuasive eloquence to a comb dropping 
 honey, will be familiar to most readers. " So Pindar compares his 
 ode to honey mixed with milk." — And in Plautus, " Your words 
 are honey and milk." — Gill. 
 
 Prov. v. 3. " The lips of a strange woman drop as an honey- 
 comb, and her mouth is smoother than oil." 
 
 q Either like the cedar-wood from Lebanon, or like the smell 
 of its fragrant fields and woods. " See," says Isaac, " the smell 
 
94 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 r A garden ' is' enclosed, my sister espoused, 
 
 s A spring ( is' shut up, a fountain ' is' sealed. 
 
 1 ' Pomegranates ' are the 1 productions < of thy garden, 
 
 With fruits of delicious < sorts'. 
 
 Hennahs with nards, nard and saffron, 
 
 Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense ; 
 
 Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. 
 
 " ' The' fountain of ' thy' gardens * is' a well of living waters, 
 
 And streams ' flowing' from Lebanon. 
 
 of my son is as the smell of a field, which the Lord has blessed." 
 (Gen. xxvii. 2.) 
 
 Mr. Good quotes the following passage from Musaeus:— 
 
 — Altai's? QvovjToq ei/i Trrepvyiaai. 
 
 " The heights of odorous Lebanon." 
 
 r The following lines are thought, by Dr. Percy and Mr. Good, 
 with other commentators, to contain certain established metaphors 
 which were applied by the Hebrews, upon nuptial occasions, to 
 signify the unsullied purity of the bride, and the chastity and 
 reserve she was to evince in the marriage state. But, for a reason 
 afterwards to be stated, I consider these lines not as containing 
 comparisons of the bride, but as descriptive of the residence 
 prepared for her reception, until the day alluded to above should 
 breathe. 
 
 3 " A spring is locked up." As Sir John Chardin says, he had 
 known them to be in divers parts of Asia, on account of the 
 scarcity of water. — Harmer. 
 
 1 " Thy productions," or, " Thy plants are a paradise of pome- 
 granates," &c. 
 
 "The fountain by which this beautiful garden was watered never 
 failed: it was a perpetual spring: which is the simple meaning of 
 the Hebraism, " well of living waters." Lebanon, on account of 
 its immense height and extent, is the source of many of these 
 streams and rivulets, besides the larger rivers which collect at its 
 base. In particular, we read in Maundrel, that " there is a very 
 deep rupture in the side of Libanus, running at least seven hours' 
 travel directly up into the mountain. It is on both sides exceed- 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 95 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Awake, O north-wind, and come, 
 Breathe, O south, ' upon' my garden, 
 That its odours may exhale. 
 — Let my beloved come into his garden, 
 And eat of its precious fruits w . 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 I am come into my garden, my sister espoused, 
 I have gathered my myrrh with my spices ; 
 I have eaten my honey with my conserve ; 
 I have drunk my wine with my milk*. 
 Eat, my companions — drink — 
 Yea, drink plentifully, my friends y. 
 
 ingly steep and high, clothed with fragrant greens from top to 
 bottom, and every where refreshed with fountains, falling down 
 from the rocks in pleasant cascades. — The streams, all uniting at 
 the bottom, make a full and rapid torrent, whose agreeable mur- 
 muring is heard all over the place"— a satisfactory illustration of 
 pjnb-Jtt D^lA " Trickling streams from Lebanon." 
 
 "Such is the grateful language of the bride. « My beloved has 
 placed me in this beautiful retreat. Let him come himself and 
 enjoy its sweets, and its fruits ; and O, may the hour be propitious! 
 Awake, O north-wind," &c. 
 
 x The bridegroom as readily complies with her request, and 
 declares his great satisfaction in the repast which she had pre- 
 pared for him. 
 
 y These two last lines, unless we take most unwarranted liberties 
 with the sacred text, evidently contain an invitation and welcome, 
 either from the bride or bridegroom, to others, his companions and 
 beloved friends, to partake with him of the productions of this 
 garden : which circumstance, I conceive, will be esteemed a suf- 
 ficient reason to dissuade from the notion that this garden is meant, 
 in the exterior of the allegory, as a figure of the bride herself. 
 And if not the enclosed garden, neither is she the spring locked 
 
9G CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF IDYL THE SEVENTH. 
 
 All that appears to the present view in what forms 
 the exterior imagery, in the commencement of this 
 allegory is, as we have noticed, a lover's descrip- 
 tion of the beauty of the choice of his heart, in the 
 taste and language of the times when these divine 
 songs were composed. 
 
 If the individual comparisons which we have 
 been considering, besides being illustrations of fe- 
 male beauty, were designed, originally, to have 
 each of them a mystic import and meaning in ap- 
 plication to the graces of the church, or of the faith- 
 ful Christian, we must acknowledge that these sig- 
 nifications are entirely lost : — " Thy eyes are doves 
 behind thy tresses, thy hair like a flock of goats," 
 &c. &c. And certainly great discredit has been 
 done to the Canticles by the vague and fanciful 
 guesses of some former commentators, in their at- 
 tempts to spiritualize these similitudes. 
 
 But I am content to think, that all these com- 
 parisons were, even in their original state, merely 
 descriptive of feminine beauty — that the moral of 
 the allegory is simply this: — how great is that 
 partiality with which a human lover looks upon 
 
 up, nor the fountain sealed. But, according to the interpretation 
 given above, these are the beauties and conveniences which belong 
 to the residence which her husband had prepared for her recep- 
 tion—till the day should breathe, and the shades be fled. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 97 
 
 the object of his passion, and which would lead 
 him, in such strong language, to express his ad- 
 miration of her personal attractions ! With a simi- 
 lar fondness, and with the same partial delight, 
 does the heavenly Bridegroom contemplate his 
 church, and each faithful Christian of which it is 
 composed. 
 
 For though black as the tents of Kedar, in her 
 native state, hateful and deformed through sin, yet, 
 since the redeemed soul has been precious in the 
 sight of her Saviour, she has been honourable, and 
 he has honoured her : nay, she is '* perfect in 
 beauty through the comeliness which he has put 
 upon her." For Christ has loved his church, and 
 given himself for it, that he might sanctify and 
 cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word, 
 that he might present it to himself a glorious church, 
 not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but 
 that it should be holy, and without blemish a ." 
 
 In what the beauties of the renewed soul consist, 
 we may read without a figure in several passages of 
 Scripture. " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who 
 of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, 
 and sanctiflcation, and redemption b." — " The fruit of 
 the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle- 
 ness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ." — 
 " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and 
 beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness 
 
 a Ephcs. v. 25, &c. b 1 Cor. i. 3C. c Gal. v. 22. &c. 
 
 II 
 
98 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 of mind, meekness, long-suffering. — And above all 
 these things, put on charity, which is the bond of 
 perfectness ; and let the peace of God rule in your 
 heart V 
 
 These are the beauties which the heavenly lover 
 admires in his espoused — these the ornaments which 
 he has made for her — this the salvation, with which 
 he " beautifies the meek." And if we are permitted 
 to reason, that the value of a thing, in the estima- 
 tion of the purchaser, is that which he will give for 
 it, the care and pains which he will bestow upon it, 
 how dear in the sight of the Lord must his re- 
 deemed and sanctified people be ! — the people 
 whom he has bought with his most precious blood, 
 and whose preparation for glory is now the great 
 object of his solicitude, the great end and object of 
 his mediatorial office ! 
 
 The seeming extravagance of the following de- 
 claration will not therefore startle or offend us: 
 That the church, as she appears in the eyes of the 
 heavenly bridegroom, is esteemed by him, when 
 contrasted with all other parts of his creation, 
 though he has made all beautiful in their place and 
 season, 
 
 — — " so lovely fair, 
 That what seem'd fair in all the world, seem'd now 
 Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain 'd, 
 And in her looks." 
 
 The beloved, as usual in these allegories, is re- 
 presented as preparing to take his leave. " Until 
 
 d Col.iii. 12, &c. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 99 
 
 the day breathe and the shades be fled, I will get 
 me to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frank- 
 incense." The day, whose expected dawn is an- 
 ticipated in these songs, is doubtless that emphatic 
 day to which the Scriptures so often refer us : 
 •* the day of the Lord :" — " the day of Jesus Christ:'' 
 — " of his appearing and glory :" — the appointed 
 day when he is to come again, and take his people 
 to himself. 
 
 The place whither our Lord is gone, we also 
 know. " Him the heavens must receive, until the 
 times of restitution of all things 6 ." The mountain 
 of myrrh, and hill of frankincense, is literally, I 
 imagine, Mount Zion or Moriah, where the holy 
 incense and perfume, the composition of which is 
 so particularly described in the law of Moses f , were, 
 by a perpetual ordinance of the God of Israel, burnt 
 before the ark of the testimony. Hence we read, 
 " The Lord has chosen Zion ; he has desired it for 
 his habitation. This is my rest for ever : here will 
 I dwell, for I have desired it 8 ."— " The hill of God 
 is as the hill of Bashan ; an high hill, as the hill of 
 Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills ? This is the 
 hill which God desireth to dwell in ; yea, the Lord 
 will dwell in it for ever h ." 
 
 But this choice of Zion, and all the sacrificial 
 rites directed to be observed thereon, to distinguish 
 
 e Acts, iii. 21. f Ex. xxx. 34. &c. sPs. cxxxii. 13, 14. 
 hPs. lxviii. 15, 16. 
 
 H 3 
 
100 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 that hill as the place of the divine residence, what- 
 ever may be the future fulfilment of the prophetic 
 symbol — may be considered as typical of heaven — 
 of heaven as opened to penitent believers. The ta- 
 bernacle and sanctuary, with all their furniture, and 
 instruments of worship, were a little model of the 
 preparations made in the celestial world, for re- 
 ceiving there the sinful sons of Adam, " through the 
 redemption which is in Jesus Christ." — There Je- 
 hovah sitteth, as was represented in the Jewish 
 sanctuary, in his " fearful holiness" indeed, but 
 upon a seat of mercy, consecrated by that one offer- 
 ing which perfects for ever them that are sanctified, 
 and which affords a perpetual incense to be offered 
 up with the prayers of all saints. — Into this ta- 
 bernacle Jesus, our High Priest, is for us entered. 
 — At the door of this tabernacle the Israel of God 
 now worship. 
 
 The bridegroom's indication of his departure, 
 reminds us of our Lord's address to his disciples : 
 " Little children, yet a little while I am with you. 
 And as I said to the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot 
 come ; so now I say to you." He had said to the 
 Jews, " I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and 
 shall die in your sins : whither I go ye cannot come. 
 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because 
 he saith, Whither I go ye cannot come ? And he 
 said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from 
 above : ye are of this world, I am not of this world ; 
 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 101 
 
 sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die 
 in your sins'." 
 
 They could not follow him to his holy habitation, 
 for nothing unholy and unclean can enter there. 
 The Jews, because they believe not in Christ, who 
 alone could save them from their sins, would die in 
 this state, and would go to their own place beneath. 
 For this is the decisive sentence — " He that be- 
 lie veth not shall be damned." 
 
 But does our Lord repeat the same awful decla- 
 ration to his disciples, " Whither I go ye cannot 
 come ?" — He graciously explains his meaning, 
 " Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but 
 thou shalt follow me hereafter." Naturally, indeed, 
 there is the same impediment : " All have sinned, 
 and come short of the glory of God." All are in 
 themselves unholy and unclean. But believers in 
 Christ shall not die in their sins. They are 
 " washed, and sanctified, and justified, in the name 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our 
 God k ." But still, " flesh and blood cannot inherit 
 the kingdom of God. Neither doth corruption in- 
 herit incorruption." When, however, the work of 
 grace is completed, and the regenerated and sanc- 
 tified soul is considered by the heavenly Husband- 
 man as ripe for the harvest, and proper to be se- 
 vered from its earthly stock, then shall the espoused 
 of Christ follow her Lord. And " He that ap- 
 
 1 John, viii. 21, &c. k 1. Cor. vi. 2. 
 
102 canticles; or, 
 
 peared once to put away sin by the sacrifice of 
 himself, will, to those who wait for him, appear a 
 second time without sin to salvation 1 ." 
 
 We should notice too, that it is not in anger, nor 
 in any dissatisfaction with his espoused, that the 
 bridegroom departs: quite the reverse.— " Thou 
 art all fair, my partner, there is no spot in thee." 
 Let this encourage the believer, when, after a 
 season of extraordinary joy, without any of those 
 culpable causes on his part, noticed in some other 
 parables, the presence of the Saviour seems again 
 to be withdrawn. 
 
 " Thou art all fair, my partner, there is no spot 
 in thee." As seen in Christ, viewed as apprehend- 
 ing that, for which he is apprehended in Christ 
 Jesus, the believer is perfect in holiness— he is 
 put in the way to attain perfection, the leaven is 
 hid in his heart which is to assimilate the mass ; 
 and Christ is his surety and his strength. And, 
 moreover, " he is not under the law, but under 
 grace." 
 
 As called to self-examination and repentance, the 
 people of God do find, indeed, that in many things 
 they offend all; and they judge themselves, that 
 they may not be judged according to that disci- 
 pline which is to take away their sins : that they 
 may not smart under that chastising rod which the 
 heavenly Father, though unwilling to afflict, some- 
 
 1 Heb. ix. 28. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON, 103 
 
 times sees it necessary to use, in order to make his 
 adopted children " partakers of his holiness m ." But 
 spared through mercy, till the sovereign remedy — 
 Christ set forth to be a propitiation for sins — our 
 sanctification, as well as our righteousness, shall be 
 applied to the cure of every corruption, as well as 
 the pardon of every sin, they are now in the eyes 
 of God what the blessed Jesus is: " He is well, 
 pleased for his righteousness sake n ." And taking 
 it for granted, what none can call in question, that 
 Christ will fulfil his engagement, accomplish his 
 undertaking, and redeem his pledge, we may, in con- 
 fident anticipation, say with the Apostle, " Blessed 
 be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in 
 heavenly places in Christ, according as he has 
 chosen us in him before the foundation of the 
 world, that we should be holy and without blame 
 before him in love°." 
 
 In addition to the declaration of his entire ac- 
 ceptance, the beloved in the text honours his chosen 
 partner with the title of Espoused, or Bride, and 
 promises one day to take her with him to his dis- 
 tant abode in the mountain of myrrh, and the hill 
 of frankincense. " With me from Lebanon, es- 
 poused, with me from Lebanon shalt thou come. 
 Thou shalt look from the top of Amana, from the 
 
 m Heb. xii. 10. n Isa. xlii. 21. ° Eph. i. 3, 4. 
 
104 canticles; or, 
 
 top of Senir and Hermon, from the Lions'-dens, 
 from the Leopard mountains." 
 
 Lebanon, and the mountains here mentioned, 
 formed, as we have observed above, one of the 
 boundaries of the Holy Land : — the border, in fact, 
 which, from its situation, would be most frequently- 
 passed by the Israelites in going and returning from 
 foreign countries. They were eminences also, 
 which commanded extensive prospects, perhaps, 
 over all the land of promise. The recollection of 
 these circumstances will, I conceive, guide us to 
 the true interpretation of this beautiful imagery. 
 When we consider the metaphorical language of 
 Scripture in general, and remark how every thing 
 relating to this extraordinary people, and their 
 habitation in the land of Canaan, is constantly alle- 
 gorized by the sacred writers, to typify the concerns 
 of Christ's church and kingdom, it seems very 
 natural, that the passing of this celebrated boun- 
 dary, and looking from the tops of these moun- 
 tains in their progress homeward, should be con- 
 sidered as emblematical of the true Israelites en- 
 tering into that rest which remaineth for the people 
 of God. 
 
 Imagine to yourself the Jew, with his known 
 love and superstitious reverence for his native 
 country, returning from his sojourning, or captivity, 
 among the hated Heathen ; suppose him to reach at 
 length these celebrated spots, where, after a long 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 105 
 
 absence from the scenes of his youth, " the glory 
 of all lands "is first disclosed to his view : or recall 
 to your recollection those disconsolate captives, 
 whose sorrows are so pathetically described in the 
 hundred and thirty-seventh Psalm : "By the waters 
 of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, 
 when we remembered Zion. We hanged our 
 harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." Sup- 
 pose them to have been addressed, by some one 
 compassionating their distress, in the language be- 
 fore us, " Ye shall pass again the borders of your 
 beloved country, ye shall look from the top of 
 Amana, from the summits of Senir and Hermon, 
 from the Lions'-dens, and from the Leopard moun- 
 tains." In this point of view, how beautiful and 
 striking is the allusion, considered as emblematical 
 of the Redeemer's purpose and promise of one day 
 taking his " pilgrims and strangers," as they ap- 
 pear on earth, " his banished ones," home to his 
 blessed abode in paradise and glory ! 
 
 " Let not your hearts be troubled," was one of 
 the actual farewell declarations of our gracious 
 Lord ; " ye believe in God, believe also in me. 
 In my Father's house there are many mansions : 
 if it were not so, I would have told you. I go 
 to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
 prepare a place for you, I will come again, and 
 receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye 
 may be alsoV 
 
 P John, xiv. 1, 2, 3. 
 
106 canticles; or, 
 
 And perhaps it will be permitted us to include 
 in our interpretation of this allusion to these spots, 
 so celebrated as we conceive for the prospects they 
 afforded of the Holy Land, an intimation of those 
 anticipations of hope, which disclose to the be- 
 liever's view the distant landscape of the brighter 
 world above. — The time of the bride's departure to 
 the beloved of her soul, was not yet arrived, but 
 she might go occasionally to these well-known 
 spots, and gladden her heart with a prospect of that 
 pleasant land, which contained in its remote hori- 
 zon all that was most dear to her. 
 
 So the Christian, who is waiting for his Lord 
 from heaven, and sets his affections on things 
 above, has, through Christ, " access by faith into 
 that grace wherein he stands, and rejoices in hope 
 of the glory of God q : he receives those joys of the 
 Spirit, which are " the earnest of his inheritance 
 until the redemption of the purchased possession." 
 — We may compare his situation to that of the 
 Jewish legislator, who, though he might not go 
 over Jordan " to the good land, and that goodly 
 mountain and Lebanon'," yet, before he dies, he 
 is permitted, from the top of Pisgah, to behold it 
 with his eyes. 
 
 " Thou hast affected my heart, my sister, es- 
 poused, thou hast affected my heart, with one look 
 of thine eyes, with one turn of thy neck." These 
 
 i Rom. v. 2. J Deut. iii. 25. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 107 
 
 lines need no interpretation to the feeling mind. 
 They are particularly designed, if we have con- 
 jectured right, to represent how much the anxiety 
 discovered in the parting looks of the beloved ob- 
 ject, had affected the heart of her husband. It is 
 this, it should seem, which leads him, in the following 
 lines, to give her fresh assurances of his love, and 
 of his delight in her society: and which induces him 
 to point out the conveniences and beauties of the 
 residence, where she was to be left " till the day 
 should breathe, and the shades be fled." 
 
 And in reading the history of our divine Master, 
 when he visited this earth in great humility, we 
 cannot but have noticed what precious promises, 
 what kind assurances of his love, the sorrow dis- 
 covered by the disciples, when he had intimated the 
 approach of his departure, seemed to extort from 
 his gracious lips ! 
 
 " Because I have said these things unto you, 
 sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless, I tell 
 you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go 
 away," &c. — " Peace I leave with you, my peace I 
 give unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto 
 you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it 
 be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I 
 go away and come again unto you. If ye loved me 
 ye would rejoice, because I said, I go to the 
 Father." But let the whole of those parting say- 
 ings of our compassionate Redeemer, contained 
 in the fourteenth and two following chapters of 
 
108 canticles; or, 
 
 St. John's gospel, be read as an exposition of this 
 part of the Canticles. And then, I think, it must be 
 acknowledged, that the expressions of the enrap- 
 tured lover, in the symbolical representation before 
 us, are not too strong, to paint the affection of the 
 dying Jesus to the souls of his people. 
 
 " How pleasant is thy love, my sister, espoused, 
 how much better is thy love than wine ; and the 
 odour of thy perfumes than of all perfumes. Thy 
 lips, espoused, distil the virgin honey : honey and 
 milk are under thy tongue, and the odour of thy 
 garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon." Some 
 of these figures we have already considered. — We 
 may observe in general, that things esteemed the 
 most grateful to the human senses are referred to 
 in order to give us some notion and satisfactory 
 assurance of the delight with which the gracious 
 Saviour looks upon his people, especially w r hen 
 they testify by their actions their unfeigned love 
 towards him; and whose lips express, in prayer 
 and praise, the effusions of a grateful heart. The 
 grand inference which we are to draw is this, " As 
 the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so will the 
 Lord thy God rejoice over thee s ." — And thus are 
 the nuptials of two faithful lovers consecrated to so 
 excellent a mystery, that therein is signified and 
 represented, the spiritual marriage and unity be- 
 twixt Christ and his church 1 ." 
 
 « Isa. Ixii. 5. t Com. Pray. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 109 
 
 We come next to the description of the pleasant 
 residence, where, as we have conjectured, the 
 spouse is lett till the time appointed for her removal 
 to the abode of her beloved. " Pomegranates are 
 the productions of thy garden," or " Thy plants are 
 a paradise of pomegranates, with all precious fruits ; 
 hennahs with nards, nard and saffron; calamus and 
 cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh 
 and aloes, with all the chief spices. The fountain 
 of thy gardens is a well of living waters, and streams 
 flowing from Lebanon." 
 
 The garden, or cultivated estate, is, as we have 
 seen, described as being enclosed, and well secured 
 from every depredator ; and also as being well 
 supplied with water, that most essential of all arti- 
 cles in these hot countries — springs of water are 
 appropriated to its use. A garden it is described 
 to be, like the paradise in which our first parents 
 were placed, " Out of the ground made the Lord 
 God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, 
 and good for food u . " — Its waters too are not like the 
 wintry torrents, to which Job compares the de- 
 ceitful friend : " which are blackish by reason of the 
 ice, and wherein the snow is hid: what time they 
 wax warm they vanish ; when it is hot they con- 
 sume out of their place ; the paths of their way 
 are turned aside, they go to nothing, and perish*." 
 But the fountain which supplies these gardens is a 
 
 u Gen. ii. 9. w Job, vi. 16", &c. 
 
110 canticles; or, 
 
 well of living or spring waters, and streams flowing 
 from Lebanon. 
 
 This delicious paradise is, no doubt, meant to 
 portray the state and condition of those happy be- 
 lievers, who, having received the reconciliation, 
 and being sealed by the spirit of adoption, are 
 kept by the power of God unto the salvation ready 
 to be revealed in the last day — " whose heart the 
 Lord has directed into the love of God and patient 
 waiting for Jesus Christ *." " Theirs is the world, 
 and life, and death, and things present, and things 
 to come ; all are theirs, for they are Christ's, and 
 Christ is God's r." 
 
 The metaphor here employed to represent a state 
 of spiritual prosperity, is very usual in Scripture. 
 " Their soul shall be as a watered garden, and 
 they shall sorrow no more at all z ." — " The Lord 
 shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in 
 drought, and make thy bones fat : and thou shalt 
 be like a watered garden, and like a spring of 
 waters, whose waters fail notV — " How goodly 
 are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O 
 Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gar- 
 dens by the river's side, as the trees of lign-aloes 
 which the Lord has planted, arid as cedar-trees be- 
 side the waters V — " In that day sing ye unto her, 
 A vineyard of red wine : I the Lord do keep it ; I 
 will water it every moment : lest any hurt it, I will 
 
 x 2 Thes. iii. 5. * 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. z Jer. xxxi. 12. 
 ■Jsai. lviii. 2. b Num. xxiv. 5, 6. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. Ill 
 
 keep it night and day c ." — " Salvation will the Lord 
 appoint for walls and bulwarks." — " Lest they 
 which go by the way should pluck her, lest the boar 
 out of the wood should waste it, and the wild beast 
 of the field devour it d ." 
 
 The expressions indeed of our blessed Master 
 himself, as well as the constant use of the metaphor 
 in the Old Testament, guide to the particular inter- 
 pretation of this spring locked up, this fountain 
 sealed — well of living waters, as it was, and 
 streams from Lebanon ; nor can we hesitate, after 
 considering the following passages, to understand it 
 of that supply of the Holy Spirit, which God doth 
 shed abundantly on them that believe. 
 
 " But whosoever drinketh of the water that I 
 shall give him, shall never thirst ; but the water 
 that I shall give him shall be in him a well of living 
 water, springing up into everlasting life 6 ." 
 
 " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and 
 drink. He that belie veth in me, as the Scripture 
 has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living 
 water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they 
 that believe on him should receive : for the Holy 
 Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was 
 not yet glorified f ." 
 
 These streams of divine grace are, moreover, re- 
 presented as wholly appropriated to the use of the 
 
 c Isai. xxvii. 2, 3. d Ps. lxxx. 12, 13. « John, iv. 14. 
 f John, vii. 38,39- 
 
112 canticles; or, 
 
 church. " A spring locked up, a fountain sealed/' 
 — « God is loving unto every man, and his mercy is 
 over all his works." But we have now before us a 
 representation of those special influences of the Holy 
 Ghost, which prepare and seal the heirs of heaven. 
 " He sanctifieth all the elect people of God." — 
 After that they believe in Christ, they are " sealed 
 with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest 
 of our inheritance until the redemption of the pur- 
 chased possession unto the praise of his glory s " — 
 " Him the world cannot receive, because it seeth 
 him not, neither knoweth him ; but ye know him, 
 for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you h ." 
 
 Under the figure, therefore, of this blissful para- 
 dise, and its perpetual fountain, we have an exhi- 
 bition of the present happy state of the spiritual 
 believer — of his privileges in the kingdom of 
 heaven, as that kingdom is now established " in 
 righteousness and peace, and joy, in the Holy 
 Ghost*." 
 
 The remaining part of the allegory seems to re- 
 present the anxious struggles of the grateful soul, 
 to show some sense of the mercies received, and to 
 make some return to her beneficent Lord, which 
 though poor and disproportioned, may nevertheless 
 be such as his love will deign to accept. 
 
 " Awake, O north wind, and come ! Breathe, O 
 south, upon my garden, that its odours may exale." 
 
 gEphes. i. 13, 14. h John, xiv. If. 'Rom, xiv. If. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 113 
 
 — " Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat 
 of its delicious fruits." The blowing of the wind 
 is another established emblem of the Holy Ghost, 
 that irwisible agent, whose effects are yet so dis- 
 cernible on every side. " We hear the sound 
 thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh, or whither 
 it goethV 
 
 The invocation of the Spirit on this occasion 
 forcibly reminds us of that most true doctrine re- 
 cognised in our tenth Article : " The condition of 
 man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot 
 turn and prepare himself, by his own natural 
 strength and good works, to faith and calling upon 
 God: wherefore we have no power to do good 
 works pleasant and acceptable to God, without the 
 grace of God by Christ, preventing us, that we may 
 have a good will, and working with us ivheii we have 
 that good will." 
 
 We have represented to us also in this parable 
 ow graciously the Lord accepts at the hands of 
 his people their sacrifice of praise and obedience. 
 " I am come into my garden, my sister, espoused ; 
 I have gathered my myrrh with my spices ; I have 
 eaten my honey with my conserve ; I have drunk 
 my wine with my milk. "There is an entertainment 
 to be prepared by his faithful people for the Saviour 
 himself — prayer and thanksgiving — even songs of 
 praise, with every exercise of faith, of hope, and of 
 
 k John, iii. 
 
114 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 love; of meekness and of long-suffering. By these 
 things we are to hallow his holy name. This is the 
 part of the sacrifice to be burnt upon the altar ; — 
 " an offering made by fire unto the Lord for a sweet- 
 smelling savour." 
 
 But besides, you notice that the bridegroom in- 
 vites his friends and companions to partake of the 
 repasts which his grateful spouse has prepared. 
 " Eat, my companions ; drink, yea, drink plenti- 
 fully, my friends." And we are all aware that one 
 of the most distinguishing virtues of the followers 
 of Christ has ever been charity to the poor. " To 
 do good and to distribute forget not, for with such 
 sacrifices God is well pleased 1 ." This is that labour 
 of love m , which a gracious God has said " he will 
 not forget." It is indeed considered as a personal 
 favour shown to the Saviour. " Then shall the King 
 say to them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed 
 children of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
 pared for you, from the foundation of the world. 
 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat : I was 
 thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, 
 and ye took me in : naked, and ye clothed me : I 
 was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and 
 ye came unto me." — " Verily I say unto you, inas- 
 much as ye did it unto one of the least of these my 
 brethren, ye have done it unto me V 
 
 1 Heb. xiii. 16\ ™ Heb. vi. 10. n Mat. xxy. 
 
IDYL THE EIGHTH. 
 
 From the second Verse of the fifth Chapter, to the second 
 Verse of the sixth inclusive. 
 
 The following Idyl is certainly very distinct in its exterior 
 imagery from the foregoing, nor is it difficult to be under- 
 stood in its leading circumstances, whatever obscurity our 
 ignorance of ancient habits may have cast upon some 
 minor particulars. The allegory possesses a considerable 
 affinity to the fifth, and is one of those, which I con- 
 ceive the most fertile imagination would find it no easy 
 task to interpret, in its external form, of King Solomon 
 and a royal bride. 
 
 A domestic occurrence in much humbler life very clearly 
 supplies the present parable. The husband is one that has p 
 travelled far in the night, and returns late to his desired 
 home and beloved companion. — He finds the door barred 
 against his admission, and, though his wife is awakened by 
 his call and knocking, yet her delay and trifling leading 
 him to suppose that he was not heard, he departs to seek a 
 lodging elsewhere. — Her distress at finding him gone — her 
 unsuccessful search, with the unfortunate circumstances 
 which attend it, are then described. 
 
 Such is the exterior imagery of the first part of thi3 al- 
 legory : the second part, if it ought not rather to be sepa- 
 rated from it, and made a distinct idyl of itself, we shall 
 notice afterwards. The spouse, or wife, we are to re- 
 member, is the relater in this part of the poem. 
 
 2 I 
 
116 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 I was asleep ; but my heart awoke a : 
 
 It was the voice of my beloved, who was knocking. 
 
 " Open to me, my sister, my partner, 
 
 " My dove, my perfect ' one,' 
 
 " For my head is filled with dew, 
 
 " My hair with the drops of the night b ." 
 
 " I have put off my clothes, 
 
 " How shall I put them on again 1 
 
 " I have washed my feet, 
 
 " How shall I dirty theme ?" 
 
 My beloved thrust his hand through the opening d ; 
 e My affections were stirred towards him, 
 I arose to open to my beloved, 
 My hands dropped myrrh, 
 My fingers pure myrrh f , 
 
 a "tip. " Surrexit, excitavit se, excitatus est." — Simon. 
 
 " But my heart awoke." A very natural description of the 
 manner in which the mind of one asleep, or partly asleep, is ex- 
 cited by some expected call. 
 
 b The copious and, in some situations, pernicious dews which 
 fall during the night in these countries, are mentioned by many 
 travellers. 
 
 c A clear description, I conceive, of the hesitation of a person 
 half awakened, whose drowsy and impotent resolution seems in 
 vain to encounter a thousand unreal difficulties. 
 
 d " It was the ancient custom to secure the door of a house by 
 a cross-bar, or bolt, which by night was fastened by a little button 
 or pin ; in the upper part of the door was left a round hole, 
 through which any person from without might thrust his arm, and 
 remove the bar, unless this additional security were superadded." 
 — See Dr. Percy, p. 76. 
 
 e Bowels or pity. 
 
 f 13J? yiJ2' Current or passing myrrh, being, according to 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 117 
 
 Upon the handles of the bolt. 
 
 I opened to my beloved, 
 
 But my beloved had turned away and was gone : 
 
 My soul went out for his word : 
 
 I sought him, but I could not find him ; 
 
 I called him, but he did not answer. 
 
 The keepers found me, 
 
 Who were going their rounds in the city : 
 
 They struck me and wounded me, 
 
 The guards of the wall 
 
 Took from me my veil g . 
 
 Bochart, that myrrh which wept, or dropt from the tree itself. — 
 These were probably the unguents, or perfumes, which, accord- 
 ing to the customs of the times, she had prepared for the refresh- 
 ment and gratification of her husband on his return. — Compare 
 Prov. vii. 17. 
 
 s In the estimation of an eastern lady, one of the greatest indig- 
 nities that could be offered her. 
 
118 canticles; or, 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 The bride has been hitherto, as we have noticed, the sole 
 relater ; it appears, from what follows, that she had been 
 telling her distress to the daughters of Jerusalem. Having 
 accounted for the state in which she appeared among them, 
 she pours her complaint into the bosom of her friends. — 
 She charges them with a message to her beloved : — their 
 answer draws from her a description of his person : — they 
 on their part declare their readiness to assist her in the 
 search. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 If you find my beloved, — 
 
 ' Whatever ' you tell him — 
 
 Tell him that I am fainting with love * ! 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, 
 O fairest among women, 
 
 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, 
 That thou adjurest us thus b ? 
 
 » " What can ye say, but that I faint for love >" — Good. 
 
 b Such is the imaginary inquiry put into the mouths of the 
 daughters of Jerusalem, designed, as I conceive, to draw forth 
 from her own lips a description of the person and peculiar excel- 
 lencies of the beloved object. Repecting 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. UP 
 
 BRIDE. 
 My beloved is fair and blooming : 
 ' He is' conspicuous among ten thousand d . 
 His head ' is ' like pure native gold e ; 
 His hair ' is ' clustering, 
 And black as a raven f ; 
 His eyes ' are ' like doves 
 Beside the streams of water, 
 Washing in milk, 
 Cowering in the fulness ' of the stream' g : 
 
 Respecting this description, we may make the same reflections 
 as on a former occasion, when the personal charms of the bride 
 were panegyrized : That whatever seeming inaptness there may 
 be in the allusions, or obscurity in the language, according to our 
 modes of thinking, there can be no difficulty in admitting, that, in 
 the age of Solomon, each individual figure would be thought 
 beautiful and appropriate to the occasion. 
 
 c DHK, red. 
 
 d ^U"J, pro vexillo, vel instar ve.xilli supra alios erectus. Latine 
 dicas, insignis. ExXEAo^a^svof onto pv^xSav. — Septuagint. 
 
 e Probably in allusion to its ornaments. 
 
 f ttbrbn, the Septuagint rende Er^arce? ; and the Vulgate more 
 plainly, Elatas palmarum, i. e., the clusters or strings of embryo 
 fruits after they have burst from the sheaths of the female palm- 
 tree, &c. — See Parkhurst. 
 
 — Copiosi penduli, i. e., crispi. — Simon. 
 
 s Or " sitting in the full channel." Simon renders it differently, 
 " Pala sive fundula, quae gemma insititia impletur." The com- 
 parison intended, I conjecture, is, that of the pupil of the eye to a 
 dove washing itself, as these little creatures are accustomed to do, 
 by running into the midst of the water, and making a quick 
 vibratory motion with their wings. In this situation the soft 
 colours of their beautiful plumage, as seen in contrast with the 
 white reflected light from the water, called in the comparison milk, 
 would appear, perhaps, to us no inapt similitude of a handsome 
 eye. — " His eyes are sparkling, and yet mild, like those of milk- 
 
120 canticles; or, 
 
 His cheeks ' are' like the frames of balm u — 
 
 * The' raised beds of aromatics ' : 
 
 His lips ' are' lilies k , 
 
 Distilling pure myrrh ; 
 
 His hands ' are like 1 ornaments of gold, 
 
 Set with topazes 1 ; 
 
 His body < is like' a work of ivory, 
 
 Covered with sapphires m ; 
 
 His limbs ' are like' pillars of marble, 
 
 Founded on pedestals of gold : 
 
 His appeararce ' is' like Lebanon, 
 
 ' He is' tall n as the cedars, 
 
 His speech c is' most sweet, 
 
 white doves, when they are delighted as they sit by the water- 
 side. — Sec Patrick, Bochart, &c." — Percy. 
 
 h rWVJJ, Scala, in qua fulcimenta quaerit vitis et opibalsimi arbor, 
 Vulgo areola horti, sed sine idoneis argumentis. 
 
 I rnVuo, Loca terras elatiora: h. e. areola, vel sec. Cocceium, 
 loca in quibus crescunt aromala et herbaa pigmentariorum. — 
 Simon. 
 
 k Bishop Patrick supposes the lily here mentioned to be the 
 same which, on account of its deep red colour, is particularly 
 called by Pliny, " Rubens lilium," and which he tells us was 
 much esteemed in Syria. 
 
 1 b'h, in genere, in rotundum flexum et convolutum quid, opus 
 tornatum. — See Simon. 
 
 II Bracelets arc on his wrists, set with jewels." — Harmer. 
 tt"l£nn, the chrysolite of the ancients, the topaz of the modern 
 
 jewellers. 
 
 m T3D. ii A kind of precious stone, so called, perhaps, from the 
 number of gold-coloured spots with which it is beautified. Pliny 
 informs us, that the sapphire glitters with golden spots, that they 
 are of an azure or sky-blue colour, but rarely intermixed with 
 purple." — Parkhurst. 
 
 "liro, choice or majestic. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 121 
 
 He is altogether lovely ° ; 
 
 This is my beloved, and this my partner, 
 
 O daughters of Jerusalem. 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 Whither went thy beloved, 
 O fairest among women, 
 Whither turned thy beloved ? 
 For we will seek him with thee p . 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE EIGHTH IDYL. 
 
 A part of Christian experience, too frequent, alas ! 
 with believers in their intercourse with the heavenly 
 Bridegroom, is illustrated in the first part of this 
 parable. Under the notion of the returning travel- 
 ler, who finds the partner of his cares asleep, and 
 knocking in vain for admission, retires elsewhere 
 for shelter, is represented the loss of a season of 
 spiritual communion and holy joy, through culpable 
 inadvertency, the prevalence of a slothful spirit, or 
 a too great degree of self-indulgence. 
 
 We have, at the same time, in the painful anxiety 
 of the wife, and in her unhappy wanderings, when 
 she finds her husband is departed, an exhibition of 
 
 ° It is not easy here to give the force of the original. Literally 
 " His mouth is sweetnesses, his whole is delights." 
 
 P They own him worthy to be beloved, deserving of the anxiety 
 expressed on his behalf: they inquire which way she thinks it pro- 
 ba le he is gone, and offer to accompany her in the search. 
 
r\ 
 
 122 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 the distress with which the pious Christian will be 
 affected when, perceiving the loss he has sustained 
 through his negligence, he seeks, and for a time, 
 perhaps, seeks in vain, to retrieve it. 
 
 " I was asleep, but my heart awoke ; it was the 
 voice of my beloved, who was knocking !" " Behold," 
 says our Lord to the church of the Laodiceans, " I 
 stand at the door and knock : if any man hear my 
 voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, 
 and will sup with him, and he with me 1 ." The lan- 
 guage of this passage is very similar to that of the 
 text ; and, that an opportunity of spiritual commu- 
 nion with the beloved Saviour is indicated thereby, 
 will not be doubted ; the passage will therefore 
 much assist us in our comment. 
 
 Stress seems evidently laid on this — " If a man 
 hear my voice, and open the door," — " If he obey 
 my call, and be ready to receive me, I will come in 
 to him," — otherwise, the opportunity would be lost. 
 Such is the case supposed in the parable before us : 
 the voice of the beloved is not heard, or not heard 
 so readily as expected : his spouse does not open to 
 him " immediately :" the opportunity is therefore 
 suffered to pass unimproved. For though she is at 
 length roused from her slumber, it is too late ; — too 
 late for her present comfort, though not too late to 
 bewail her loss, and in her sorrow and humiliation 
 to lay the foundation of future joys. 
 
 a Rev. iii. 20. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 123 
 
 The sleep depictured seems indeed to be that of 
 a drowsy slothful person ; and it appears to have 
 been in circumstances, when, the expectation of her 
 husband's call, should have kept her watching, and 
 prepared to receive him. It is not, however, let us 
 remark, that deep sleep, which, during all the day 
 of mercy, seals the eternal ruin of unbelievers : who, 
 deaf to the invitations of the Gospel, will slumber 
 till a louder call awake them — till the voice of the 
 Archangel and the trump of God summon them to 
 judgment ! But we should remember, nevertheless, 
 the admonition of our departed Lord, " Watch, 
 therefore, for ye know not in what hour your Lord 
 doth come b ." Let your loins be girded about, and 
 your lamps burning, and ye yourselves like men 
 that wait for their lord — when he shall return from 
 the wedding ; that when he cometh and knocketh, 
 they may open to him immediately*." 
 
 The attention of the spouse in the parable is, 
 indeed, after some time at least, excited, so that 
 she hears the calling and the knocking: but still 
 she is not roused to action. Like a drowsy person, 
 between sleep and wake, all lost and impotent, 
 difficulties upon difficulties are started, the most 
 trifling objections stifle the rising energies of the 
 mind. She just recognises his voice, and hears his 
 endearing language, " Open to me, my sister, my 
 
 b Matt. xxiv. 42. * Luke, xii. 35, 36. 
 
124 canticles; or, 
 
 partner, my dove, my perfect one,'' — but she is not 
 ready to open to him immediately. 
 
 Remark also, in the parable, the representation 
 of the trivial and foolish excuses, which the mind 
 of the slothful makes for itself while the precious 
 opportunity is lost. " I have put off my clothes, 
 how can I put them on again? I have washed 
 my feet, how can I dirty them ?" The incident, no 
 doubt, was natural, according to the habits and 
 manners of the times. And oh ! how true and 
 striking a picture does it afford of the state in 
 which we are too often found, when opportunities 
 are offered us of communicating with our heavenly 
 Master — we had not attended to the injunction 
 " Watch and pray." We were asleep. A temp- 
 tation of sloth, or improper self-indulgence had pre- 
 vailed. We might have entertained our Lord, have 
 been gladdened with his presence, or employed in 
 some office of love towards his dear person ; but we 
 were worn out with the cares of other things ; or 
 we were in a foolish and trifling humour ; or, for 
 some trivial reason or other, not quite at leisure for 
 the holy meditation ; were not prepared to meet the 
 occurring trial of our faith ; or not ready to seize 
 the opportunity which presented itself of performing 
 some act of Christian charity. 
 
 For let it never be forgotten, that it is not in the 
 abstracted thought alone that the believer holds 
 intercourse with his God, but in the energies of his 
 mind also in active duties : when, while he is 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 125 
 
 watering others, he is watered himself ; or when, 
 through the comforts of religion, he rises superior 
 to worldly trouble ; or, striving against evil, feels 
 the helping hand of God, and " endures as seeing 
 Him that is invisible." — " My little children, let us 
 not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and 
 in truth. And hereby we know that we are of the 
 truth, and shall assure our hearts before him d ." 
 
 The manner in which, according to the figurative 
 language of the parable before us, the beloved of 
 our souls is made to present himself, forcibly re- 
 minds us indeed of a call to acts of benevolence to- 
 wards our Christian brethren, " For my head is 
 filled with dew, my hair with the drops of the 
 night." — " Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, 
 or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
 prison, and did not minister unto thee ? Verily I 
 say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not unto one 
 of the least of these my brethren, ye did it not unto 
 me e ." 
 
 Alas ! what cause have we then for watchful- 
 ness, lest any backwardness to the calls of duty, 
 lest any tardiness in the mode of performing them, 
 or any contracted habits of sloth or self-indulgence, 
 causing the opportunity of doing good to pass un- 
 improved, should create a suspicion of the sincerity 
 of our attachment to a crucified Saviour ; or should 
 
 * 1 John, iii. 18, 19. e Matt. xxv. 
 
126 canticles; or, 
 
 cause him, at any time, to withhold his endearing 
 presence and approbation. How needful that 
 prayer of our Church ! — " Give us grace to use 
 such abstinence, that, our flesh being subdued to 
 the spirit, we may be ever ready to obey thy godly 
 motions in righteousness and true holiness f ." 
 
 " My beloved thrust his hand through the open- 
 ing, my affections were stirred towards him. I 
 arose to open to my beloved ; my hands dropped 
 myrrh, my fingers pure myrrh, upon the handles of 
 the bolt." The attempt to open the door fully 
 awakens her, and she awakens with her wonted 
 affections. And we may observe, that the spiritual 
 life of the soul is not extinct in the hour of pre- 
 vailing temptation ; however its powers may ap- 
 pear benumbed and enfeebled, or suppressed by 
 the opposite powers of the flesh. " O fools, and 
 slow of heart to believe," is a reproof often, indeed, 
 merited by the children of God from their patient 
 Teacher; yet still they know the voice of their 
 Shepherd, and will follow him. 
 
 " The hands dropping myrrh," &c. Whatever 
 difficulties may attend its literal meaning, from the 
 frequent usage of the same metaphor, is plain as to 
 its spiritual signification. The believer is roused 
 to the exercise of prayer : and when holy affections 
 are stirred up within us, the voice of confession 
 
 f Collect for the Jirst Sunday in Lent. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 1*27 
 
 will be heard. " For out of the abundance of the 
 heart the mouth speaketh." — " It is like the oint- 
 ment of the right hand that bewrayeth itself 6 ." 
 
 But, as to her present comfort, we have observed, 
 the soul is represented as too late recovering from 
 her slumbers. She had quenched the spirit : and 
 now a different exercise awaits her : instead of en- 
 joying the communion of the Holy Ghost, she must 
 mourn the departure of her beloved, and seek him 
 sorrowing. " I opened to my beloved, but my be- 
 loved had turned away and was gone." Hence we 
 learn to trace the cause of much of the spiritual 
 distress of the Christian. " Watch and pray, lest 
 ye enter into temptation." 
 
 " My soul went out for his word." — She listens 
 in expectation of the well-known voice — listens till 
 her agitated mind starts at the apprehension of the 
 unlooked-for disappointment. " I sought him, but 
 I could not find him : I called him, but he gave me 
 no answer." 
 
 But who can describe the feelings of the believer, 
 when, on being awakened from a state of spiritual 
 sloth, he finds himself shut out from the presence of 
 God! " He has hid his face from him."—" He 
 has turned away his ear, that he will not hear his 
 prayer." This is indeed an awful moment ! How 
 earnestly does the Psalmist deprecate its occur- 
 rence ! " Be not silent to me, lest, if thou be silent 
 
 * Prov. xxvii. 16. 
 
128 canticles; or, 
 
 to me, I become like them that go down into the 
 pit h ." You may taste the wormwood and the gall ; 
 but it is, however, no case for despair. " Thy 
 Maker is thy husband \" — " He will not cast off for 
 for ever. But though he cause grief, yet will he 
 have compassion according to the multitude of his 
 mercies k ." Let not then the spouse of Christ sink 
 into despondency : but let her seek, in sure reliance 
 upon the unchanging love of Christ, to recover her 
 lost happiness. 
 
 " The keepers going their rounds in the city 
 found me; they struck and wounded me. The 
 guards of the wall took away my veil." The 
 watchmen, on their nightly rounds, are again intro- 
 duced to our notice, as in a former idyl : to them 
 the distressed wanderer has recourse, but receives 
 this time no satisfactory answer ; she meets, on the 
 contrary, with severe rebuke and chastisement ; she 
 finds herself treated as a suspicious character. 
 Whether these watchmen are supposed to have 
 done their duty harshly, or whether it was impos- 
 sible, in such circumstances, for them to distin- 
 guish, is not said. 
 
 The representation, however, is strikingly just. 
 The Christian, through inattention, through sloth 
 or self-indulgence, has lost his comfortable ex- 
 perience, and that heavenly zeal w r hich rendered 
 him so lively and so fruitful. He has quenched the 
 
 h Ps. xxviii. 1. Isai. liv. 5. k Lam. iii. 31, 32. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 129 
 
 spirit ; but roused by that voice, which will not 
 suffer him to sleep the sleep of death, he perceives 
 and laments his loss. 
 
 In this state of desertion, the regular returns of 
 the appointed seasons and ordinances of religious 
 worship find him. These opportunities had been 
 generally found productive of joy to his mind ; had, 
 in various instances, proved sufficient for the re- 
 covery of his interrupted peace. But now he seems 
 to perceive the word of God to be altogether against 
 him : he hears, in application to his own case, no- 
 thing but reproof and censure, and declarations, 
 which painfully wound his tender conscience. 
 
 It is possible, as we intimated, that the harshness 
 of the minister may be objectionable. In his zeal 
 to detect the hypocrite, and to alarm the careless, 
 he may not sufficiently discriminate ; and the de- 
 serted soul is driven almost to distraction. Or, 
 most probably, no blame attaches to the minister 
 of Christ ; he is dividing rightly the word of God. 
 He is going his rounds, if the allusion may be ap- 
 plied so minutely, through the system of doctrines, 
 through the code of precepts, or through the range 
 of character ; but it is the will of God that the neg- 
 ligent should meet with a sharp rebuke, and even 
 feel himself treated as an impostor in the assembly 
 of the saints. 
 
 O 
 
 
130 canticles; or, 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 The afflicted spouse is still represented as mourn- 
 ing the folly and negligence which had lost her the 
 blissful society of her beloved : she now seems to be 
 pouring her complaint in the bosom of her friends and 
 companions ; stating her case to them, and entreat- 
 ing their interpositions in her behalf. " I adjure 
 you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my be- 
 loved, whatever you tell him, tell him that I am 
 fainting with love." Christians are commanded 
 to pray one for another. They are encouraged to 
 think that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous 
 man availeth much. " If any one among you be 
 overtaken with a fault, ye, that are spiritual, restore 
 such an one with the spirit of meekness 1 ." 
 
 We are next called to remark, that the dialogue 
 of the parable is so contrived, as to make the 
 deserted spouse discover, that the image of her be- 
 loved was at no time more lovely in her eyes, than 
 ^ now she is deploring his loss. And never appears 
 the Saviour more precious in the view of his people, 
 than when they mourn his absence, and, contrasting 
 the recollection of their former joys, perceive how 
 inadequate is all created good, to supply the want 
 of his presence. 
 
 " What is thy beloved more than another be- 
 
 1 Gal. vi. 1, 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 131 
 
 loved, O thou fairest among women ? what is thy 
 beloved more than another beloved, that thou charg- 
 est us thus ?" 
 
 I do not consider the circumstance of such ques- 
 tions being put by the daughters of Jerusalem, as 
 sufficient to induce the inference, that by these 
 allegorical persons, mere professors of religion, or 
 mere inquirers after the way of salvation, are in- 
 tended to be represented. The questions do not 
 necessarily imply an ignorance of the person of the 
 beloved ; they may be meant merely to draw forth, 
 from her own lips, a description of what they so 
 much delight to hear. 
 
 As it happened to the two disciples going to 
 Emmaus, one, who well knew the subject of their 
 thoughts, addressed them by the way, " What 
 manner of communications are these that ye have 
 one to another, as ye walk and are sad m ?" And 
 one of them answered, " Art thou only a stranger 
 in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which 
 are come to pass in these days ? And he said unto 
 them," not surely because he did not know, but 
 because he would hear their account, " What 
 things ?" Such I conceive to be the nature of the 
 inquiries before us. — And their design is answered: 
 they draw from the spouse the description of the 
 beloved of her soul. 
 
 " My beloved is fair and blooming ; he is con- 
 spicuous among ten thousand. His head is like 
 
 «» Luke, xxiv. 17. 
 
 K2 
 
 • 
 
\ 
 
 132 canticles; or, 
 
 pure native gold ; his hair is clustering, and black 
 as a raven; his eyes are like doves beside the 
 streams of water, washing in milk, cowering in the 
 fulness of the stream; his cheeks are like the 
 frames of balm— the raised beds of aromatics ; his 
 lips are lilies, distilling pure myrrh ; his hands are 
 like ornaments of gold, set with topazes ; his body 
 is like a work of ivory covered with sapphires ; his 
 limbs are like pillars of marble, founded on pe- 
 destals of gold ; his appearance is like Lebanon, 
 tall as the cedars ; his speech is most sweet, he is 
 altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this my 
 partner, O daughters of Jerusalem." 
 
 Respecting this description of the beauties of the 
 person of the beloved, we may make the same ob- 
 servations, as on a former occasion, respecting the 
 figurative expressions that set forth the personal 
 charms of the bride— that they would form, in the 
 language of the times, a complete portraiture of what 
 would then be considered a perfect model of beauty 
 of person, and grace of manners— that the aptness, 
 and even the meaning of some of these allusions, 
 does not perhaps appear to us ; and that, if there 
 ever was a mystic signification intended to be con- 
 veyed by each particular comparison, they are to 
 us, of course, lost. 
 
 This, however, does not strike me as ever having 
 been the design of these individual similitudes ; 
 but, that the intention of the divine Author is 
 simply this, — The pasion of love between two ten- 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 133 
 
 der and amiable persons being allegorized to re- 
 present that affection which subsists between Christ 
 and his faithful people ; among other things relat- 
 ing to these true lovers, we are called to remark 
 how lovely and excellent they appear in each other's 
 view. — In each other's view they are all perfection; 
 every excellency is believed to unite in their per- 
 sons ; whatever is fair or beautiful in nature, or C\ 
 esteemed most choice among the works of art, seems 
 to their partial judgment no more than a fit and ap- 
 propriate emblem, whereby to illustrate the par- 
 ticular beauties of each other. 
 
 It is thus between the faithful soul and her hea- 
 venly Bridegroom, or the allegory would not be just 
 and true. But then it is something far different 
 from the charms of a human person, which is the 
 foundation of this holy affection, and which calls for 
 the language of admiration reciprocally between 
 Christ and his church. 
 
 The graces of the redeemed and sanctified soul, 
 which render her so amiable in the eyes of her 
 heavenly Bridegroom, we have attempted, in the 
 part of the work just referred to, to enumerate. 
 This was indeed the part of the subject with which 
 we were best acquainted. The character of Christ's 
 spouse is continually exemplified before our eyes : 
 " an epistle read and known of all men." 
 
 But how shall we describe the person of the 
 heavenly Bridegroom himself, or enumerate his 
 perfections? This to mortal man is impossible. 
 
134 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 We have not yet seen him as he is. Even as ma- 
 nifested in spirit to his favoured people, he is seen, 
 but < through a glass darkly.' It is enough in- 
 deed to win all the affections of the soul : but who 
 can satisfy the inquirer? Could Peter, who had had 
 a much nearer view, when he descended from the 
 mount of transfiguration ? 
 
 So far, however, if we have tasted that the Lord 
 is gracious, shall we be able to answer to the ques- 
 tion, What is thy beloved more than another be- 
 loved? "He is fairer than the children of men, 
 grace is poured from his lips*." But, with respect 
 to a full delineation of the majesty and the beauty 
 of his person, the Christian's profession is, " Whom 
 ^ having not seen we love ; in whom, though now we 
 see him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy un- 
 speakable, and full of glory °." Yet, whatever ideas 
 of greatness, or of beauty, we can gather from 
 created things, the grandeur and the beauty must 
 be His, whose hand has made them all. 
 
 Thine the universal frame, 
 
 Thus wondrous fair; thyself how wondrous then! 
 
 Or, open the volume of Revelation, and learn 
 the character of Emmanuel. How great is his 
 beauty, how great is his goodness ! Think of the 
 o-race that undertook to redeem lost mankind! 
 Think of the wisdom and the mighty power that 
 
 n Ps. xlv. o 1 Pet. i. 8. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 135 
 
 carried that plan into effect ! What an idea does it 
 give us of the excellent majesty of the Son of God, 
 — " whom He has appointed the heir of all things" — 
 " being the brightness of his glory, and the express 
 image of his person, upholding all things by the 
 word of his power V 
 
 And you will remember that the Word was once 
 made flesh, and dwelt among men. And though 
 now we are to know him after the flesh no more, 
 yet we shall study attentively the character of Jesus 
 Christ during that season when he came to visit us 
 in great humility. 
 
 It is true, the men of that generation were disap- 
 pointed in his personal appearance. " His visage 
 was so marred, more than any man, and his form 
 more than the sons of men q ." But there was a 
 cause for this — a cause which will not make him 
 less lovely in the eyes of his faithful people, though 
 dishonoured in their presence, and in the sight of 
 all men. " Surely he has borne our griefs, and 
 carried our sorrows ; — he was wounded for our 
 transgressions ; he was bruised for our iniquities : 
 the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him ; 
 and with his stripes we are healed 1 ." And if, 
 during this sad period, he had no form nor comeli- 
 ness, no beauty that we should desire him, that 
 scene is past. He is returned back to his glory — 
 the glory which he had with the Father before the 
 
 p Heb. i. 2, 3. i 1sa. lii. 14. r Isa. liii. 4, &c. 
 
136 canticles; ob, 
 
 world began. " For a little time was he made 
 lower than the angels for the suffering of death— but 
 having purged our sins, he is set down at the right 
 hand of the Majesty on high 8 ." 
 
 Both Ezekiel and John saw him in his glory : the 
 one before, the other after, his incarnation. As 
 well as human language can convey the idea, they 
 describe to us the impression which the divine 
 image made upon their minds. 
 
 Ezekiel's description is, " And above the firma- 
 ment that was over their heads (the heads of the 
 cherubims as above described) was the likeness of 
 a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone ; 
 and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness 
 as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I 
 saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of 
 fire, round about within it, from the appearance of 
 his loins even upward, and from the appearance of 
 his loins even downward, I saw as it were the ap- 
 pearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. 
 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud 
 in the day of rain, so was the appearance in the 
 brightness round about. This was the appearance 
 of the likeness of the glory of the Lord." Ezek. i. 26. 
 
 The beloved disciple describes it, " And I saw 
 in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks one 
 like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment 
 down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a 
 
 s Heb. ii. 9,— i. 3. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 
 
 137 
 
 golden girdle. His head and his hair were white 
 like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes were as 
 a flame of fire ; and his feet like unto fine brass, as 
 if they burned in a furnace ; and his voice as the 
 sound of many waters ; and his countenance was as 
 the sun shineth in his strength." Rev. i. 13. 
 
 " And the day is fast approaching when he shall 
 come in the clouds of heaven, and every eye shall 
 see him." — " He shall come to be glorified in his 
 saints, and to be admired in all them that believe 1 ." 
 O that each of us in that day may be able to say, 
 " This is my beloved, and this is my partner !" Be 
 this then now, in prosperity, or in adversity ; in 
 honour, or in dishonour ; in good report, or in ill 
 report, the constant language of our lips and of our 
 hearts : " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? 
 and in earth there is none that I desire besides 
 thee." 
 
 * 2 Thess. i. 10. 
 
138 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 IDYL THE NINTH. 
 
 From the second to the tenth Verse of the sixth Chapter. 
 
 A difficulty certainly occurs in fixing the boundaries 
 of this Idyl, and in giving an account of the exterior of 
 the allegory. 
 
 I have ventured to fix its commencement with the second 
 verse of the sixth chapter : for though, at first sight, that 
 verse appears to be an answer to the inquiries made in the 
 preceding verse, yet, if we consider the circumstances in 
 which the spouse is supposed to hold that conversation 
 with the daughters of Jerusalem, it does not seem probable 
 that she was able at that time to give so distinct an account 
 respecting the way which her beloved was gone, as that 
 contained in the following lines. 
 
 We may consider the fair bride, therefore, as describing, 
 in the present idyl, an opportunity which she had lately 
 had of enjoying the society of her beloved ; and as re- 
 hearsing the affectionate language in which he expressed 
 his satisfaction at her appearance. 
 
 My beloved went down to his garden, 
 
 Among the frames of balsams : 
 
 To eat in his gardens, 
 
 And to gather ' his' flowers. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 139 
 
 " I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine, 
 '* Let him eat among the flowers 3 . 
 
 ' ' Thou art fair, my partner, as Tirza, 
 
 (*■ Beautiful as Jerusalem b , 
 
 " Dazzling as the bannered-hosts c . 
 
 " Turn thine eyes from me, for they have greatly affected 
 
 me d : 
 e " Thy hair ' is ' like a flock of goats, 
 " Which go in the morning to water from Mount Gilead : 
 " Thy teeth ' are' like a flock of ewes, 
 " Which ascend from the wash-pool ; 
 " Which are all ' of them' in pairs, 
 " And no one among them is bereaved ' of her fellow. 
 ' < Like the splitting bloom of the pomegranates 
 " Is thy face behind thy tresses. 
 " Threescore ' are' they ' the' queens, 
 
 * In this language she addressed and welcomed him ; and in the 
 following terms he declared his affection. 
 
 b These two cities are, no doubt, mentioned on account of the 
 beauty of their situation. Tirza signifies " delightful." 
 
 c Much may be seen of ingenious conjecture concerning the 
 meaning of nV?viJ> both in Parkhurst after Harmer, and in Good 
 after Percy : the former interprets it of the dazzling appearance of 
 the bride's robes ; the latter, " dazzling as an army with banners ;" 
 and in the tenth verse, where the same term occurs, " dazzling as 
 the starry hosts." 
 
 " n^K is, properly, amazing, exciting awe and consternation, 
 terrible, and here, by a synecdoche of the effect for the cause, 
 dazzling." —Dr. Percy, p. 80. 
 
 d WiTinj " Animosum me reddiderunt; al. fortiter me move- 
 runt."— Simon. 
 
 e The following lines are iterated from the seventh idy], with 
 the omission of one image only. 
 
 f The six following lines I have endeavoured to give as literally, 
 and as much in the air of the original, as possible, in order that 
 
140 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 " And fourscore * are the' concubines ; 
 
 u And « there are' virgins without number. 
 
 s " One < is' she, my dove, my perfect one, 
 
 my readers may be able to form their own judgment upon their 
 meaning. For, from the different expositions which have been 
 offered on this passage, its meaning must necessarily appear 
 involved in some obscurity. 
 
 Taking the lines as they stand above, it is as evident, on their 
 simple inspection, that a contrast is designed to be drawn between 
 the fair object, whose beauties have just been celebrated, and a 
 multitude of women, forming, according to the customs of the 
 times, the matrimonial establishment of the monarch. In oppo- 
 sition to this retinue of queens, and concubines, and unnumbered 
 virgins, the speaker attests, that the object of his affections is but 
 one : she has no partner, nor rival. But whose words are these ? 
 Can they be words of Solomon in his proper person ? The sup- 
 position is rendered almost impossible by the history of his times. 
 In endeavouring, therefore, to account for the exterior imagery of 
 the allegory, the passage before us, I would remark, contains a 
 tacit intimation, that though King Solomon's name, and King 
 Solomon's pen, were made use of by the divine Inspirer of these 
 Canticles, to construct an allegory representative of the loves of 
 Christ and his Church, very different loves from those of Solomon 
 must be imagined as the archetype, even when, in the exterior of 
 the allegory, circumstances of royalty, and circumstances con- 
 nected with the Israelitish monarch, are supposed. And it is for 
 the same reason, as we have been before called to remark, that, 
 though King Solomon is the undoubted author of these songs, he 
 so frequently disrobes himself of his royal character, and speaks 
 in the person of a shepherd, or leads us to contemplate some 
 faithful pair in the humbler ranks of life. 
 
 g In addition to what has been said in the former note, we may 
 notice, that the fair object of this attachment is pointed out, and 
 distinguished as being an only one to her mother, the choice one, 
 or one separated to her that bare her, no less than as being the 
 only one of her husband. Polygamy, and the voluptuousness of 
 the great, had debased, it should seem, as far as their influence 
 extended, the general character of women, and had extinguished 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 141 
 
 " One * is' she to her mother, 
 
 " Separated ' is' she to her that bare her 11 . 
 
 every truly feminine grace, and amiable quality, which could 
 make them the worthy objects of a real affection. How could it 
 indeed be otherwise in women brought up and educated for a 
 Harem or Seraglio! 
 
 " so blithe, so smooth, so gay, 
 
 Yet empty of all good wherein consists 
 
 Woman's domestic honour and chief praise ; 
 
 Bred only and completed to the taste 
 
 Of lustful appetence, to sing, to dance, 
 
 To dress, and troll the tongue, and roll the eye!" 
 
 No wonder then, that, reaping the full evil of the violation of 
 the primitive law of matrimony, Solomon, with all his wisdom, 
 should " find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is 
 snares and nets, and her hands as bands ;" and should be com- 
 pelled to declare it, as the result of his experience, " One man 
 among a thousand have I found ; but a woman among those have 
 I not found." Eccles. vii. 28. 
 
 I conclude, therefore, that the text contains an admonition, 
 that the royal slave, whether concubine or queen, was as unmeet 
 as her haughty lord, to supply the prototype required: and that 
 for this reason the Spirit of wisdom would guide the imagination 
 to form to itself the picture of a tender, amiable female, the sole 
 charge of her good mother, separated to her, and pure from all 
 the world besides ; innocent and simple ; trained to domestic 
 virtues ; content and satisfied in retirement ; and evincing, by her 
 very assiduous attention to her honoured parent, that her heart 
 was susceptible of gratitude, and capable of a faithful and tried 
 attachment to a friend. " She is the only one of her mother, the 
 choice one of her that bare her." And for every age and country, 
 we need not scruple to assert, that we have here a general outline 
 of that formation of the female character, which will ever prove 
 most conducive to domestic happiness, and to the support of a 
 real and lasting affection. 
 
 h rVD, " purificata, pur.i, nitida-um, Cant. vi. 9, 10. Fs. xix. 
 9." — Simon. t\2, however, according to the same writer, has two 
 
Pv 
 
 142 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 " The daughters beheld her, 
 " And pronounced her happy; 
 " The queens and concubines, 
 " And extolled her praises. 
 
 " Who is this looking forth as the dawn; 
 " Fair as the moon; clear as the sun ; 
 " Dazzling as the bannered hosts?" 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE NINTH IDYL. 
 
 A pleasing scene opens to our view in this para- 
 ble: it is laid in a beautiful garden, abounding 
 with fruits and flowers ; here the fair spouse enter- 
 tains her beloved, and receives from him a renewed 
 declaration of his affection. 
 
 The state of the believer, which this imagery is 
 intended to designate, it is not difficult to perceive : 
 the constant usage of the same emblem in Scripture 
 guides us to the interpretation. Thus we read, in 
 
 significations: 1. Purus fuit, moraliter et physice. 2. Separavit, 
 quoniam purificatio fit pura ab impurisseparando. (Ezek. xx. 38.) 
 And hence it is, by some, supposed to take the meaning of choos- 
 ing, the interpretation preferred in our public translation. Park- 
 hurst considers rra as the fem. of -q, a son, a child, an innocent ; 
 a term of affection. 
 
 The same Hebrew word is used in the last line but one of this 
 idyl, " Clear as the sun. On which Bishop Percy observes, ma 
 is, properly, clear, unsullied, of unobscured splendour, and there- 
 fore is well applied to the glowing surface of the great orb of day 
 The same author considers nibatJ as synonymous with rviK32f > an( l 
 translates the line, " Dazzling as all the starry hosts.." 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 143 
 
 the prophet Isaiah, " For as the earth bringeth 
 forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things 
 which are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord 
 thy God will cause righteousness and praise to 
 spring forth before all nations a ." — " The seed is 
 fallen upon the good ground." — » The earth has 
 drank the rain which cometh oft upon it, and 
 bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is 
 dressed, and receiveth blessings from GodV The 
 Christian " is spiritual ;" and " has his fruit unto 
 holiness d ," abounding in the work of faith, in the 
 patience of hope, or in the labour of love e . 
 
 And it is to diligent and obedient children that 
 the full assurance of hope, and the peculiar comforts 
 of the Holy Ghost, are promised. " If ye love me, 
 keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, 
 and he shall give you another Comforter, that he 
 may abide with you for ever." — " I will not leave 
 you comfortless; I will come unto you f ." — " My 
 beloved went down to his garden, among the frames 
 of balsams ; to eat in his garden, and to gather his 
 flowers." — " I am my beloved's, and my beloved is 
 mine. Let him eat among his flowers." — " Herein 
 is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." — 
 " If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide 
 in my love." — " These things have I spoken to you, 
 that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy 
 might be fulls." 
 
 Msai.lxi. 2. »>Heb. vi. 7. c Gal. vi. 1. 
 
 d Rom.vi.22. « 1 Thess. i. 3. f John, xiv. 15, 16— 18. 
 g John, xv. 8, &c. 
 
r^ 
 
 144 canticles; or, 
 
 The same figurative language, which we have 
 already considered in the interpretation of the 
 seventh idyl, expresses again in this place the af- 
 fection of the heavenly Bridegroom towards his 
 faithful spouse. This is realized in the experience 
 of the believer, when the Spirit of God bears wit- 
 ness to his spirit, that he is his adopted child* — 
 when " the love of God is shed abroad in his heart 
 by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him k ." 
 
 We have indeed, in this idyl, some additional 
 comparisons. " Thou art fair, my partner, as Tirza, 
 beautiful as Jerusalem, dazzling as the bannered 
 hosts." These comparisons, however, are subject 
 to the same reflections which have been offered on 
 the description of the personal charms of the bride, 
 in the idyl above-mentioned ; to this description 
 I refer ; and proceed with the remainder of the 
 allegory. 
 
 " Threescore are they the queens, and fourscore 
 are the concubines ; and there are virgins without 
 number. One is she, my dove, my perfect one ; 
 one is she to her mother, separated to her that 
 bare her." I have mentioned, in the preceding 
 notes, what I suppose to be the meaning and inten- 
 tion of this contrast between the loves and character 
 of some faithful pair, and the unblessed loves of the 
 literal Solomon. 
 
 You are to suppose, in the first place, as a pro- 
 totype for the heavenly Bridegroom, not the eastern 
 
 h Rom. viii. \6. ' Rom. v. 5. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 145 
 
 despot, with his crowded harem, but the faithful 
 lover, who has fixed his whole affections on one 
 only object. For of this description is the love of 
 Christ to his Church : she has no rival, nor partner, 
 to divide his affections. Though, indeed, believers 
 are many, yet they are " called in one body ;" and 
 as members of that one body, they partake of this 
 love of Christ. And, though there are doubtless 
 other beings who are the objects of the love of the 
 Son of God, as well as the redeemed from among 
 men, yet we have no grounds to suppose that they 
 are regarded with that peculiar affection, to cele- 
 brate which is the design of this book. The church 
 solely exists in the character of " the Bride, the 
 Lamb's wife." The angelic beings, like John the 
 Baptist in his ministerial capacity, may be consi- 
 dered as the friends of the Bridegroom ; they rejoice 
 when they hear his voice : but she that hath the 
 bridgroom is the bride. And to which of the angels 
 said he at any time, " Thy Maker is thy Hus- 
 bandi?"— '< This is bone of my bone, and flesh of 
 my flesh-?" This relationship, we have every 
 reason to conclude, belongs alone, and exclusively, 
 to " the church of God, which he has purchased 
 with his own blood n "— " to that peculiar people 
 whom he hath purified to himself ," and " whom 
 only he hath known of all the families of the 
 earth p ." 
 
 k Isai. liv. 5. lGen. ii. 23. comp. Eph. v. 30. 
 
 m Acts, xx. 28. n Tit. ii. 14. ° Amos, iii. 2. 
 
146 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 Again, you observe, that as Solomon himself, in 
 his matrimonial relations, could not supply a correct 
 type of Christ espousing his Church; so neither 
 could any of his threescore queens, and fourscore 
 concubines, and virgins without number, afford a 
 type of that true and conjugal affection, which the 
 Church bears to her spiritual husband. You are 
 therefore to suppose, for the required emblem, a 
 woman whose character has been differently formed, 
 and who is united to her husband by a different 
 bond. And it must be acknowledged, that no affec- 
 tion subsisting among the human race can be pointed 
 out, more strong, more constant, and more enduring, 
 than the affection of a virtuous and tenderly-edu- 
 cated woman toward her husband, or the man to 
 whom she has pledged her vows. Oh ! let us se- 
 riously reflect what love have we in our hearts to 
 Christ that will, in any sort, bear the comparison 3 
 
 " The daughters saw her, and pronounced her 
 happy : the queens and concubines, and they ex- 
 tolled her praises. Who is this that looketh forth 
 as the dawn ? fair as the moon ; clear as the sun ; 
 dazzling as the bannered hosts?" — " All intelligent 
 beings shall acknowledge the superior excellency of 
 the church, when He who bought her with his own 
 blood shall present her faultless before the presence 
 of his glory with exceeding joy p." — " And the glory 
 which thou gavest me, I have given them; that 
 
 p Jude, 24. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 147 
 
 they may be one, even as we are one. I in them 
 and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
 one ; and that the world may know that thou hast 
 sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved 
 me q ." Such, I conceive, is what is here intimated 
 by the praises bestowed upon the imaginary fair by 
 the daughters, the queens, and the concubines. 
 
 And if the person and earthly grandeur of Solo- 
 mon, mean and base as they must necessarily 
 have been in comparison, are nevertheless chosen 
 as typical allusions to the coming of Christ in his 
 kingdom, it need not surprise us, that the multitude 
 of females which, according to the circumstances of 
 regal state in those days, formed the establishment 
 of this monarch's palace, should be made emblema- 
 tical of those superior beings which surround the 
 Redeemer's glory in heaven, and shall be seen as- 
 cending and descending upon the Son of man when 
 he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom. — It is 
 the royal magnificence of Solomon, not his moral 
 worth, which we are to*place before us when we 
 consider him as a type of the King of Glory. 
 
 It is observed by St. Paul, respecting these an- 
 gelic beings, whom we suppose to be represented 
 in this part of the parable, when the plan of their 
 Creator, concerning his blood-bought church, was 
 beginning to be more clearly unfolded by the preach- 
 ing of the Gospel — " to the intent that now, unto 
 
 1 John, xvii. 
 
 L2 
 
148 canticles; or, 
 
 the principalities and powers in heavenly places, 
 might be known" or " made known by the church 
 the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eter- 
 nal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord'." 
 
 No wonder then, that, at the consummation of 
 the redeemed, when they shall all have been made 
 like unto the Son of God, they should be presented 
 in heaven in the midst of admiring angels. Nay, 
 the same Apostle assures us, that the earnest ex- 
 pectation of the whole creation waiteth for the mani- 
 festation of the sons of God — when the heirs of God, 
 the joint heirs with Christ, shall be glorified to- 
 gether with him \ 
 
 The visions of the Revelation often disclose 
 something of this glorious scene : St. John in one 
 place describes it in language very similar to 
 that employed in the allegory before us : " And 
 there appeared a great wonder in heaven : a woman 
 clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet ; 
 and upon her head a crawn of twelve stars." — 
 " And a voice came out of the throne, saying, 
 Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that 
 fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it 
 were the voice of a great multitude, and as the 
 voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty 
 thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God 
 Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, 
 
 r Eph. iii. 10, 11. s Rom. viii. 18—22. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 149 
 
 and give honour to him : for the marriage of the 
 Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself 
 ready. And to her was granted, that she should be 
 arrayed in fine linen, clean and white : for the fine 
 linen is the righteousness of saints \" 
 
 4 Rev. xix. 5, 6, 7, 8. 
 
150 canticles; or, 
 
 IDYL THE TENTH. 
 
 From the eleventh Verse of the sixth Chapter to the ninth 
 of the seventh. 
 
 The bride retiring into her garden, and tending there her 
 pleasant cares, finds herself on a sudden unexpectedly 
 surrounded by a company of singers, or a chorus of 
 women, " with tabrets and dances," who immediately 
 make her the object of their panegyric : — they celebrate 
 her beauties, and anticipate in their song the felicity of 
 her nuptials. Such appears to be the outline of this 
 idyl ; though difficulties not easily to be explained occur 
 in the interpretation. 
 
 I went down to the retired garden % 
 To see the fruits of the valley b , 
 To see whether the vines were grown, 
 Whether the pomegranates had blossomed. 
 
 * mtrnu, on the authority of the Septuagint and Vulgate, has 
 been rendered Garden of nuts. Castell, Tremellius, and Parkhurst 
 interpret it by Pruned garden. Schultens, from the Arabic 
 " hortus reclinationis ," &c. 
 
 b Vmn OK, " Virores rivi, h. frutices et arbores ad rivura 
 plantataa et virentes." — Simon. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 151 
 
 -I was not aware ! 
 
 My heart made me like the chariots of Aminadib c ! ! 
 
 THE CHORUS. 
 
 " Return, return, Salome, 
 
 " Return, return, that we may behold thee d ." 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Why would ye behold Salome, 
 
 As ' the object of a procession of bands 6 ? 
 
 c These two lines must be acknowledged to be very obscure; 
 only so far I think seems apparent, that her retirement is suddenly 
 interrupted by a number of persons, whose appearance at first 
 alarms her. " My heart made me like the chariots of Aminadib," 
 whatever be the allusion, probably describes the flutterings of her 
 heart through fear, taken as she was by surprise, 'and driven to 
 flight. 
 
 d This is the address, it should seem, of the people who had 
 broken in upon her retirement : who these were, we shall see in a 
 following note. She had, we may suppose, turned away to con- 
 ceal herself. Bishop Lowth observes, that " rebuff is the same 
 name as r\Kb\V, with the feminine termination (which may be 
 expressed in Greek HoM^v SoAo^tk), though the latter Jews have 
 strangely disguised and obscured it by a vicious pronunciation ; 
 for Solomon and Solomitis have evidently the same relation to 
 each other, as the Latin names Caius and Caia." — Lect. xxxi. 
 Both in Josephus and in the New Testament we have preserved 
 the pronunciation of a woman's name among the Hebrews, evi- 
 dently derived from the same root as Solomon — Salome : this 
 therefore I have ventured to adopt. — " nTH sequente 3 objecti, 
 cum studio et voluptate videre — delectare re." — Simons. 
 
 e The meaning of this passage has perhaps been generally over- 
 looked. D^nJOn rv?nM, I have translated " as the object of a pro- 
 cession of bands." rurTO, from nJn> to pitch, as travellers their 
 tents, signifies a camp, or any band or company of persons, mar- 
 shalled in some degree of order. It is used for the bands into 
 which Jacob divided his people and flocks ; and also for the hosts 
 of angels which he saw. (Gen. xxxii.) It appears also to have 
 
152 
 
 canticles; or, 
 
 THE EPITHALAMIUM. 
 
 Sung by the Chorus, or Procession of Bands. 
 
 " How beautiful are thy feet in thy sandals, O noble 
 lady, 
 
 been used for the bands of Levites, attending on the service of 
 the Temple, in their respective charges: vid. 1 Chron. ix. 18 
 and ]0. 
 
 nVin», the same as ^mn, signifies a chorus, or dance ; or a pro- 
 cession of persons marching or parading with music in a kind of 
 dance, or measured step. 
 
 Now it appears, from many parts of Scripture, that these pro. 
 cessions of bands were constantly employed on occasions of public 
 rejoicings. They were, indeed, as has been generally supposed, 
 even used in the divine worship of the Jews; hence we read, 
 " Praise him in the dances." In a dance or procession of this 
 kind, Miriam, the prophetess, led forth the women of Israel, while 
 they sung the song of Moses, " Sing ye to the Lord, for he has 
 triumphed gloriously." (Exod. xv. 20.) And these processions 
 seem to have been, moreover, the customary mode of saluting the 
 victorious Commander on his return, and of celebrating° his 
 achievements in battle. In this manner the unhappy Jepththah 
 Avas met by his daughter, when he returned victor from the 
 Ammonites. We read also that, when David returned from the 
 slaughter of the Philistine, " the women came out of 'all the cities 
 of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tablets, 
 with joy, and with instruments of music." And the women 
 answered one another as they played, and said, " Saul has slain 
 his thousands, and David his ten thousands." That these proces- 
 sions of bands — of women, who, in the manner above described, 
 had formed themselves into bands for the purpose, should consti- 
 tute a part of the matrimonial ceremonies, is a very probable con- 
 ^ jecture. And such a party, to all appearance, come prepared, on 
 the occasion before us, to perform an epithalamium, taking that 
 word in its more extensive sense, to the honour and praise of the 
 bride, and to congratulate her on her nuptials. — Their sudden 
 appearance, as we have seen, at first alarms her. They beseech 
 her to stop, that they may behold and celebrate her beauties— she 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 153 
 
 f " The mouldings of thy limbs * are ' like ornaments, 
 
 " The workmanship of a true hand ! 
 
 6 " Thy waist < is' like a goblet 
 
 " Filled with mixed wine ; 
 
 h " Thy body ' is' like a heap of wheat, 
 
 " Bounded with lilies ; 
 
 " Thy two breasts ' are' like two fawns, 
 
 " Twins of the gazel : 
 
 " Thy neck ' is' like a tower of ivory ; 
 
 " Thine eyes ' are' like the pools of Heshbon, 
 
 " Beside the gate of Beth-Rabbim: 
 
 " Thy nose ' is' like the tower of Lebanon, 
 
 " Which looketh towards Damascus. 
 
 " Thy head upon thee * is' like Carmel ; 
 
 <* The hair of thy head ' is' like the royal purple 
 
 " Bound on the rafters'." 
 
 modestly replies, perceiving at length the design of the intruders, 
 " Why should you behold Salome, as ' in' a procession of bands, 
 i. e. so as to make her the object of your song f" 
 
 f See Good. Ambitus femorum, Simon. Draivers, Parkhurst. 
 
 8 That waist is the real import of tw, in this place Mr. Good 
 has ably and sufficiently proved. 
 
 nDrp"^K iron fax, some elegantly-shaped vessel, we may sup- 
 pose, appropriated to the serving of mixed wine. Parkhurst, 
 however, interprets n\ff of the clasp of the girdle, made to look 
 like a goblet filled with mixed wines, by the disposition of its 
 jewels. 
 
 h The meaning is uncertain : the most probable conjecture is 
 that noticed by Parkhurst, which explains it of some close-fitting 
 garment, with its ornamental edging. 
 
 1 The rendering of the Vulgate is, '* Comae capitis tui, sicut 
 purpura regis vineta canalibus." Alluding, as Mons. Goguet 
 supposes, to the practice of the dyers of purple, of plunging their 
 skeins, when dyed, into running water. — See Parkhurst. Different 
 interpretations are given of this similitude by other authors ; a 
 statement of them may be seen in Mr. Good's note on the place. 
 
 /- 1 
 
\ 
 
 154 CANTICLfes ; OR, 
 
 " How beautiful and how comely 
 
 « « Art thou,' O love, in thy elegant attire k ! 
 
 " Thy person resembles the palm ' tree/ 
 
 " Thy breasts the clusters ' of its fruit.' 
 
 " I said, I will climb the palm • tree,' 
 
 " I will lay hold on its branching top 1 : 
 
 " And now will thy breasts be like the bunches of the 
 
 grape, 
 " And the smell of thy breath ' will be' like the citrons; 
 " And thy speech ' will be' like the excellent wine m ." 
 
 That given from the Syriac and Arabic versions seems best de- 
 serving of notice. " Thine erect head is like Carmel : and the 
 braided tresses of thy head as the royal purple suspended over 
 theatres of entertainment." This probably explains the true 
 meaning. D'tsm we have had before in this book, in the sense of 
 rafters forming a roof. 13 IDK signifies tied, or fastened to. Hence 
 it seems most natural to conceive the allusion to be to some rich 
 canopy of state suspended from the roof of the palace, and which 
 formed, in the estimation of the people of those days, a perfect 
 model of beauty. " Cirri capitis tui velut purpura regia nodo 
 pendens ex laquearibus." — P. Houbigant. 
 
 k tWUPfl delicise. From the comparison of Micah, i. l6, the 
 dress and its ornaments are probably intended, 'w'rj? W 
 
 1 D\JDJD, cacumina palmse in plures ramos divisa, vel potius 
 spathse, spathulse, &c. — Simon. 
 
 m The whole of this I conceive to be the song of the Chorus of 
 Virgins : having celebrated the personal charms of the bride, they 
 personate the bridegroom. " How beautiful, how comely, O love, 
 in thy elegant attire, &c." And next, under the allusion of one 
 gathering the fruit of palm, of the vine, or of the citron-tree, they 
 anticipate his delight in receiving his bride. And in the last two 
 lines, they perhaps in like manner indicate how desirous the bride 
 will be, that her conversation may be agreeable to her husband- 
 Having supposed him to compare her speech to the excellent 
 wine, they personate her in saying, " Let it flow or move to my 
 beloved as it ought, sparkling against the lips and the teeth. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 155 
 
 " Let it move to my beloved as it ought, 
 " Sparkling against the lips and the teeth"." 
 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE TENTH IDYL. 
 
 The scene of the present idyl, the retirement of a 
 cultivated garden, where the spouse is described as 
 going to watch the progress of vegetation in the 
 prolific season of the spring, is a sufficient indica- 
 tion of what is intended to be delineated in the 
 parable. In retirement, and in private meditation, 
 the Christian character is formed and perfected. 
 Not, however, in the retirement of the idle, of the 
 self-indulgent, or of the trifler ; but in a retirement 
 
 n If we adopt the reading of the Septuagint, the Syriac, and 
 Vulgate, the translation here offered of this difficult passage puts 
 as little force upon the original as most others which have been 
 suggested: -jVin, in Numbers! xvii. 11, has been considered by 
 some as in the imperative mood. The word is used for the flowing 
 of water, Josh. iv. 18. And the expression in Prov. xxiii. 32, 
 DnttPM "f?nn» so nearly resembles that of the text, OHP'E' 1 ? ^in, 
 that, as both phrases are used respecting wine, the probability is 
 great that their signification is nearly the same. " May it move 
 itself right— may it prove ripe and good, effervescing against the 
 lips and the teeth." nan signifies strictly muttering repeatedly ; to p 
 
 understand it therefore of wine in a state of effervescence, is full 
 as natural as in the sense of making to speak. The meaning 
 however, " adrepens leniter" will be perhaps preferred by some ; 
 we may then translate with Bishop Percy, " And thy speech as 
 the choicest wine, sweetly entering my palate; flowing down 
 smoothly, through my lips and teeth." 
 
156 canticles; or, 
 
 consecrated to religion, to the cultivation of holy af- 
 fections, and to the devising of plans of usefulness. 
 " I went down to the retired garden, to see the 
 fruits of the valley ; to see whether the vines were 
 grown, whether the pomegranates had blossomed." 
 The Christian has renounced the world, with its 
 pomps and vanities, and all covetous desires of the 
 same a . When, therefore, he is released from the 
 stated discharge of his duties in life, the world has 
 no attractions for him : a secret attachment calls him 
 from the busy haunts of men. He seeks not their 
 praise or to be seen of them ; but a far more im- 
 portant concern, the interest of Christ's kingdom, 
 occupies his attention. His prayer is, that all 
 things belonging to the Spirit may live and grow 
 within him, and in his prayers he watches with all 
 perseverance : nor is he an unconcerned spectator 
 whether the interests of the Gospel flourish or decay 
 round about him. 
 
 Such are the interesting cares and employments 
 of him whom the world misses in the thronged 
 paths of ambition, and of pleasure, and deems un- 
 happy, or lost to his proper interests. — The " Man 
 of God" has fied these things indeed, but he is 
 following after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, 
 patience, meekness. " He is fighting the good fight 
 of faith, laying hold on eternal life b ." 
 
 In this career, it is true, he receives no plaudits 
 
 a Baptismal Service. b 1 Tim. vi. 11, 12. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 157 
 
 from the world. They conceive his life to be with- 
 out profit, and his end without honour. But he has 
 frequent indications, that he is compassed about 
 with " a great cloud of witnesses," who, cheering 
 him in his contest, seem to hail him victor. He 
 pursues the noiseless tenour of his way unknown, 
 unnoticed, or only noticed to be pitied; and at 
 length a vision of approving angels shall burst upon 
 his view, and with songs of divine rapture shall 
 welcome his soul to the mansions of endless joy. 
 
 These processions of bands, with music and 
 singing, which unexpectedly break into the retire- 
 ment of the spouse, we may indeed consider as 
 partly emblematical of those praises and congra- 
 tulations, which the humble, unassuming Christian 
 hears to his surprise from his fellow-christians, 
 when the songs of the daughters of Zion especially 
 record with honour his flourishing graces, and the 
 labours of his love. In humility and self-abasement, 
 he would turn away from the sight of all, but the 
 Lord delighteth to honour him, and his works praise 
 him in the gate. 
 
 Chiefly, however, we would decipher the emblem 
 of that band of ministering angels, which shall be 
 sent to convey the soul of the Christian, like that of 
 the once obscure Lazarus, to Abraham's bosom : 
 when, pouring consolations into the mind of the 
 dying saint, they shall deliver their message, " Well 
 done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into 
 the joy of thy Lord." 
 
 < 
 
158 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 Their approach may startle, nature may recoil at 
 the prospect of her dissolution, and tremble to see 
 the awful stroke prepared that will reduce her to 
 her dust. "But precious in the sight of the Lord is 
 the death of his saints V The departing soul shall 
 hear the salutations of the messengers of peace ; 
 and, O transporting thought! shall hear herself 
 congratulated as the spouse of Christ ; and, while 
 flesh and heart faileth, shall hear " the Lord pro- 
 claimed as the strength of her heart, and her por- 
 tion for ever d ." — " Therefore, the redeemed of the 
 Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion ; 
 and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they 
 shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and 
 mourning shall flee away 6 ." 
 
 " How beautiful are thy feet in thy sandals, O 
 noble lady," &c. &c. In this song of the chorus, 
 we have again described, in the taste of the times, 
 the person of a beautiful female, a royal bride, as it 
 should seem, dressed out in all her rich and elegant 
 attire. The comparisons made use of, so far as we 
 can understand them, seem to bespeak a much 
 more magnificent display than those comparisons 
 which celebrated the personal charms of the fair 
 spouse in the seventh and ninth idyls. 
 
 The most admired objects of art and nature are 
 referred to, as comparisons to illustrate her beauties. 
 '* The glory of Lebanon, the excellency of Carmel," 
 
 c Ps. cxvi. 15. d Ps. Ixxiii. 2(5. e Isai. liii. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 159 
 
 and the perfections of other established standards of 
 beauty and grandeur, are all supposed to unite in 
 her person, and in the appearance of her bridal 
 ornaments. It is " the Queen in gold of Ophir" — 
 " all glorious within" — " her clothing of wrought 
 gold ;" — " as she is brought unto the King in rai- 
 ment of needle -work f ." When applied to the 
 church, and to each faithful Christian, all this de- 
 notes, no doubt, the perfection of that " beauty of 
 holiness" in which they shall one day be presented 
 to their heavenly Bridegroom. 
 
 Of the essentials of the Christian character, and 
 of those graces which form its present excellency in 
 the sight of God and man, we are not uninformed. 
 Charity we know abideth ; faith also, and hope, will 
 only be extinguished by being realized in posses- 
 sion. But our present knowledge must vanish 
 away, and that which is perfect must come, before 
 we can describe the beauties of the glorified saint, 
 as he appears, " clothed upon with his house, which 
 is from heaven g "— as he appears in " the glory that 
 shall be revealed in him h ." — " It does not yet 
 appear what we shall be, but we know that when 
 Christ shall appear we shall be like him K" 
 
 We have an exhibition of this glorious state of 
 the redeemed under another set of images in the 
 Revelation of St. John, which it may be interesting 
 to compare with that before us. "I John saw the 
 
 f Ps. xlv. 9—13, 14. 2 Cor. v. 2. h Rom. viii. 18. 
 
 1 1 John, iii. 2. 
 
160 canticles; or, 
 
 holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God 
 out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
 husband." — " And one of the seven angels talked 
 with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the 
 bride, the Lamb's wife; and he carried me away in 
 the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed 
 me that great city — having the glory of God, and 
 her light was like unto a stone most precious, even 
 like a jasper stone, clear as crystal : — and the build- 
 ing of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was 
 pure gold, like unto clear glass ; and the foundations 
 of the wall of the city were garnished with all 
 manner of precious stones. The first foundation 
 was jasper ; the second, sapphire ; the third, a chal- 
 cedony ; the fourth, an emerald ; the fifth, sardonyx ; 
 the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, a chrysolite ; the 
 eighth, a beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a 
 chrysoprasus ; the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, 
 an amethyst ; and the twelve gates were twelve 
 pearls ; every several gate was of one pearl : and 
 the street of the city was pure gold, as it were 
 transparent glass k ." 
 
 Only conceive to yourself such a city as this 
 which John saw in the visions of the Almighty — 
 how does it beggar all the riches and magnificence 
 of man ! Why, the value of the least part of its ma- 
 terials, a piece that you could hold in your hand, 
 could scarce be calculated according to its current 
 
 k Rev. xxi. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 161 
 
 price among mankind ! But here is an immense 
 city built of all such precious stones ! ! ! 
 
 We perceive the intent of our heavenly Instructor. 
 It is to show — to give some idea at least, — how far 
 the riches and the glory of that inheritance which 
 God has prepared for them that love him, exceed 
 all that this world can afford. 
 
 What was the appearance of the royal city of 
 Solomon to this New Jerusalem ? So far must his 
 royal bride fall short of the saint entering into his 
 glory ; of which she is here an emblem, as Solomon 
 himself of the King of Glory. 
 
 The part of the song, or epithalamium, of the 
 chorus, beginning, " How beautiful and how comely, 
 O love, in thy elegant attire ! " — where they speak 
 in the person of the bridegroom, and under the 
 figure of one gathering the fruit of the admired 
 palm, of the vine, or of the citron, and praising its 
 delicious flavour as he gathers it, they congratulate 
 the bride, and anticipate her husband's pleasure in 
 her society and conversation, may stand in the 
 parable as the soul's welcome to the embraces of 
 her Saviour, when she shall depart hence, and be 
 with the Lord. This blessed anticipation frequently 
 forms the subject of her songs in the house of her 
 pilgrimage. The angels shall meet her with the 
 same congratulation in a dying hour — when her 
 fruit shall be ripe, and shall be gathered into the 
 heavenly garner. 
 
 M 
 
 r\ 
 
162 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 IDYL THE ELEVENTH. 
 
 From the tenth Verse of the seventh Chapter to the fourth 
 of the eighth. 
 
 Assured of the affections of her husband, the Bride in 
 this Idyl would contrive to have more of his society. She 
 would lead him from the busy scene of the populous city, 
 where the happiness she enjoyed in his company suffered 
 so frequent interruption. She invites him to go with her 
 to a country residence, which the faithful pair are sup- 
 posed to possess at some distance. She urges the pleasant- 
 ness of the season : — the beauties of the spot would be in 
 perfection : — the choicest fruits that could gratify his 
 taste had been carefully provided : — Oh, that circum- 
 stances did not so often deprive her of the opportunity of 
 entertaining him ! 
 
 I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me a . 
 Come, my beloved, we will go to the country ; 
 We will abide all night in the villages; 
 We will go early in the morning into the vineyards b ; 
 
 a Some plead for a different reading in this place ijipwrv It 
 would then be, " And my desire is towards him." — Dr. Hodgson 
 and Mr. Good. 
 
 b The journey proposed, I conceive, is to some remote vine- 
 yard, or rather cultivated estate : for the word we render vineyard 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 163 
 
 We will see if the vine flourishes, 
 
 — The blossom will be opened ; 
 
 The pomegranate will have budded : 
 
 There will I present thee with mandrakes c ; 
 
 The mandrakes will be emitting their fragrance : 
 
 And over our doors all sorts of fruits, new and old a, 
 
 For thee, my beloved, I have laid up in store. 
 
 is of more general signification, as was observed in a note of the 
 first idyl. It would be necessary for them, it seems, to pass the 
 night at some villages on the road ; early on the following morning, 
 they would reach the desired spot. Such are the most simple 
 deductions we can make respecting the meaning of these lines. 
 
 c She would present him with mandrakes : they would by this 
 time be in perfection, ann and QWin, I conjecture to be 
 names of the same thing, or rather the same name, as appears 
 from Jeremiah, xxiv. 1. In which passage we find the word, 
 there translated baskets, written both n^n and own. Whether 
 these mandrakes were flowers, or plants, or fruit, has been long a 
 subject of dispute, " Nullam aliam," says Simon, " vocem textus 
 S. Hebr. tot explicationibus divexatam videas." The Septuagint 
 speaks of them as fruit, ^Xa ^etva^ocyo^av. Gen. xxx. 14. And it 
 is highly probable, that a particular kind of melon, which has been 
 noticed in the eastern parts of the world, is intended by the term. 
 It is called chamama, or breast of a woman, because it is in that 
 shape : which is the very meaning of the Hebrew root. It is 
 described as very wholesome, and of a very 'pleasant scent: so 
 much so, indeed, as even to be carried in the hand by way of 
 nosegay. — See Fragments to Cahnet. 
 
 4 " And over our doors." Such is the literal rendering of the 
 Hebrew, and it is easy to conceive an allusion to some repository, 
 or closet, for preserving fruit, the situation of which was usually 
 as here described. The vineyard, it appears, to which the affec 
 tionate spouse is desiring her husband to retire with her, was her 
 peculiar charge. And in the portraiture of a virtuous woman, 
 which Solomon has given us in the last chapter of the Book of 
 Proverbs, it is noticed as part of her industrious cares: " She 
 considereth a field and buyeth it : with the fruit of her hands she 
 planteth a vineyard." 
 
 M 2 
 
164 canticles; or, 
 
 that thou wert as my brother e , 
 Sucking the breasts of my mother ! 
 
 1 would find thee in the street, 
 
 I would kiss thee, and no one would despise me : 
 
 I would lead thee about, 
 
 I would bring thee to the house of my mother : 
 
 Thou shouldst accustom me to give thee spiced wines, 
 
 With the juice of pomegranates. 
 
 His left ' arm 1 was under my head, 
 
 His right did enfold me. 
 
 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, 
 
 — Why should you stir — 
 
 Why should you raise up my beloved, till he please ? 
 
 ' e " O that thou wert as my brother I" The spouse expresses in 
 this endearing Language her ardent desire to have more of her 
 husband's company. She feels herself, in public life, kept at too 
 great a distance from him ; his important avocations call him 
 where she cannot be with him ; or, she sees him among visitors 
 and strangers, where a sense of propriety imposes upon her a 
 painful restraint. — Her means too of performing services really 
 ■needful, or of supplying gratifications to her lord, are most inade- 
 quate to her wishes. Consulting only her own affection, she could 
 wish to be his constant attendant: she could wish the circum- 
 stances were such, that it might become the perpetual object of 
 her care to administer to his wants and comforts. " O that he 
 were," is the fond language of her passion, " a little infant brother 
 — a child, that she could be always following and leading about, 
 and might have continually with her. How pleased should she 
 be to amuse him, and to gratify his wonted requests, with spiced 
 wines, and sweet juices of fruits !" 
 
 The conclusion, with some small variation, is similar to that of 
 the third Idyl. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 165 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE ELEVENTH 
 IDYL. 
 
 The wish for retirement, so often felt by the truly 
 religious, especially after being long harassed with 
 the cares and importunities of a public situation, 
 so destructive of holy meditation, is beautifully 
 shadowed in this parable. The bride is persuading 
 her beloved husband to retire from the tumultuous 
 city, that she may enjoy, without interruption, the 
 society she so much coveted in the remote scene 
 of rural felicity which she describes. 
 
 " Come, my beloved, we will go to the country, 
 we will abide all night in the villages ; we will go 
 early in the morning into the vineyards," &c. Were 
 it the will of God, and could it be rendered com- 
 patible with his duties and engagements in life, 
 the spiritual Christian could form no scheme of 
 happiness more adapted to his taste, than in some 
 calm and peaceful retreat, far from the noisy con- 
 tests of the world, undisturbed by its cares and 
 trifles, and known only to mankind as the occasional 
 messenger of peace or love, to spend the remainder 
 of his days in prayer, in meditation, in the cultiva- 
 tion of religious knowledge, and in those exercises 
 of devotion, which promote the communion of the 
 soul with god«. 
 
 * " Nihil magis in votis habeo, quam ut procul omni disputa- 
 tione, in placido otio, secretaque solitudine, piis precibus, devotis 
 nicditationibus, humili sacratissimarum litciarum nostraium scru- 
 
166 canticles; or, 
 
 Such is often the pious wish of the Christian : and 
 it is possible, indeed, particular trials and tempta- 
 tions, with the vexatious contradictions of sinners, 
 may extort from him the perhaps somewhat too 
 impatient exclamation of the Psalmist, " Oh, that I 
 had wings like a dove ! for then would I fly away, 
 and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander afar off, 
 and remain in the wilderness. I would hasten my 
 escape from the windy storm and tempestV But 
 the Lord knoweth how to deliver them that are 
 tempted. His time is best. Nor will he finally 
 leave unsatisfied those who seek peace and righte- 
 ousness, who " seek meekness." 
 
 A scheme of retirement from the world is not 
 unusually indeed, at a certain time of life, projected 
 by the irreligious. They too propose to leave the 
 scenes of business or ambition, that they may 
 soothe their declining years with that peace which 
 the world has failed to afford them. But ah, how 
 unsuccessful the attempt ! How difficult to embel- 
 lish solitude so as to please the gay, or to find, in 
 retirement, a substitute for the worldly mind which 
 is tired of the world, or too late discovers the delu- 
 sion of its flattering promises ! 
 
 It is commonly found, in fact, that the tone of 
 mind which could accommodate itself to harmless 
 
 tinio, et arcanis cum Deo colloquiis, obscurus cajteroquin, et vix 
 vicinis notus, nisi quantum pietas jubet, ad ultimum usque spiritum 
 vacare liceat." — Witsius Mi c. vol. i. p. 6*37. 
 b Ps. lv. 6, 7, 8. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 167 
 
 and innocent pleasures, and find content in ob- 
 scurity, has been irrecoverably lost. — The employ- 
 ments of youth, so pleasing in the recollection, may 
 be resumed ; but who can restore its innocence and 
 simplicity ? 
 
 The Christian, however, retires from the world 
 in circumstances more favourable to happiness : not 
 in disgust nor disappointment, but " knowing in 
 himself that he has in heaven a better and an en- 
 during substance." He wishes for leisure to con- 
 template the fair inheritance. He seeks to purify 
 himself, that he may see God. Like the ancient 
 Patriarchs, he has seen the promises afar off, and 
 has been persuaded of them, and embraced them, 
 and has confessed that he is a stranger and a pil- 
 grim on earth. The prospect of his being taken to 
 that heavenly country becomes every day more 
 near : he would prepare to remove ; he would re- 
 tire, as it were, to the utmost borders of the world, 
 that he may be nearer God, and ready to go to him 
 when he shall call — 
 
 ' ' Walk thoughtful on the silent solemn shore 
 Of that vast ocean, he must sail so soon." 
 
 " We will see if the vine flourish ; the blossom 
 will be opened ; the pomegranates will have bud- 
 ded," &c. Doubtless the place and circumstance 
 of that religious retirement, of which we are inter- 
 preting the parable, are not essential ; since in the 
 artificer's garret, or even in the prisoner's dungeon, 
 peace of mind may be possessed, and the joys of the 
 
168 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 Holy Ghost vouchsafed ; and there the Saviour 
 may be entertained " with fruits new and old 6 ," all 
 the stores of the humble and sanctified heart, in 
 which he delights. Nor can the most beautiful 
 retreat, which nature affords, in itself give joy or 
 peace. 
 
 But yet, in the view of the retired Christian, the 
 beauties of nature have a real and a peculiar value. 
 If it were permitted to choose, one would not be 
 confined, where " the works of men shut out the 
 works of God." 
 
 The beauties of nature fail to satisfy indeed, as 
 might be expected, when the mind itself is unhappy ; 
 when it is conscious of guilt, or ruffled with malignant 
 passions ; when it is distracted with cares, or secretly 
 pining for earthly vanities, or earthly grandeur. But 
 when a sense of God's mercy through Christ has 
 been obtained by faith, and peace, and charity, in- 
 stilled from heaven, have allayed the restless fer- 
 ment of the human breast ; when the believer can 
 cast all his cares upon that gracious God whose 
 providence careth for him, and by the cross of his 
 Saviour is become crucified to the world, and the 
 world to him, in these circumstances the mind can 
 again be pleased and satisfied with the scenes and 
 simple pleasures of nature. Every object, and each 
 revolving season, are found to interest and delight, 
 and appear invested with peculiar beauties. They 
 
 c Heb. xi. 13. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 169 
 
 are all contemplated as the possessions of a Friend ; 
 as the works and operations of his own hands, 
 whom unseen we love, and who himself does not 
 disdain, in the holy fellowship of his Spirit, to 
 manifest his presence in the rural retreat. 
 
 Yes ! with this knowledge of Christ, " I am my 
 beloved's, and his desire is towards me" to con- 
 template the beauties of nature is happiness enough. 
 In the language of Milton's Eve, we can then address 
 our great Author and Disposer, and find indeed a 
 Paradise regained ! — 
 
 ' ' With thee conversing I forget all time ; 
 All seasons and their change, all please alike. 
 Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet, 
 With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the sun, 
 When first on this delightful land he spreads 
 His orient beams, on herb, tree, fruit, and flower, 
 Glist'ring with dew ; fragrant the fertile earth, 
 After soft show'rs ; and sweet the coming on 
 Of grateful evening mild ; then silent night 
 With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon, 
 And these the gems of heav'n, her starry train : 
 But neither breath of morn, when she ascends 
 With charm of earliest birds ; nor rising sun 
 On this delightful land ; nor herb, fruit, flower, 
 Glist'ring with dew ; nor fragrance after showers ; 
 Nor grateful evening mild ; nor silent night, 
 With this her solemn bird ; nor walk by noon, 
 Or glitt'ring star-light, without Thee is sweet." 
 
 Nay more, nature may fail, her beauties be ob- 
 scured, and her wonted blessings withheld ; yet still 
 
170 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 shall the Christian find a refuge and a solace in 
 nature's God ! " Although the fig-tree shall not 
 blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; the 
 labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall 
 yield no meat ; the flock shall be cut off from the 
 fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : yet I 
 will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my 
 salvation V 
 
 " O that thou wert as my brother, sucking the 
 breasts of my mother ! I would find thee in the 
 street ; I would kiss thee, and no one would despise 
 me : I would lead thee about, I would bring thee to 
 the house of my mother. Thou shouldst accustom 
 me to give thee spiced wine, and the juices 
 of pomegranates." We know the affection in 
 the bosom of a faithful wife, which would dic- 
 tate such language to her beloved and honoured 
 husband, more of whose society she coveted, la- 
 menting at the same time the disproportion of the 
 means she possessed to perform any service really 
 needed by him. For this is the idea, and we may 
 address the Christian, " Look unto the heavens, 
 and see ; and behold the clouds which are higher 
 than thou. — If thou be righteous, what givest 
 thou him ? or what receiveth he at thine hand e ?" 
 
 But we have before learned the condescension of 
 the heavenly Bridegroom ! The only question we 
 are to put to ourselves is this — Is there indeed 
 
 d Hab. iii. 17, IS. • Job, xxxv. 5—7. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 171 
 
 such an affection towards his divine person as is 
 here implied ? Is there an ardent wish that we had 
 him more to ourselves, and could serve him more 
 and better ? Do we indeed feel the bustle and the 
 pomp of life to be interruptions of our happiness, 
 when they withdraw our thoughts from his loved 
 image ? Do we feel the presence of those who check 
 our expressions of love to Christ to be, on some 
 occasions at least, a painful restraint? In this 
 case we shall love the retirement proposed in the 
 song, and shall be able to appreciate fully the true 
 enjoyments of solitude. 
 
 But, if we propose to ourselves this " nice and 
 subtile happiness" in communion with Christ in 
 spirit, what good things have we laid up in store 
 to show our affection to the beloved of our souls, 
 and induce him to prolong his visits : what fruit 
 unto holiness ? 
 
 The admonitions of the Apostle Peter will be 
 found most appropriate to the occasion : " Grace 
 and peace be multiplied unto you, through the 
 knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord, according as 
 his divine power has given unto us all things that 
 pertain unto life and godliness, through the know- 
 ledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue : 
 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and 
 precious promises : that by these ye might be 
 made partakers of the divine nature, having es- 
 caped the corruption that is in the world through 
 lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to 
 
172 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 your faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; and to 
 knowledge temperance ; and to temperance pa- 
 tience ; and to patience godliness ; and to godliness 
 brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness 
 charity. For if these things be in you and abound, 
 they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor 
 unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. — For so an entrance shall be administered 
 unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom 
 of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ f." 
 
 * 2 Pet. i. 2, &c. 
 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 
 
 173 
 
 IDYL THE TWELFTH. 
 
 From the fifth Verse of the eighth Chapter to the End. 
 
 In this last Idyl a happy pair is contemplated, and their 
 conversation, as if overheard, is recorded. — First, the bride 
 is reminded of her origin. — She then, on her part, ex- 
 presses her anxiety ever to retain the affections of her 
 husband — she is answered with the strongest assurances of 
 his constant attachment. A conversation follows respecting 
 a younger sister ; and lastly, respecting a garden or estate, 
 which it appears has been assigned to the bride as her 
 residence. 
 
 Such is the plan of this last allegory, if, indeed, we can 
 with propriety call it a plan ; for it has much the appear- 
 ance of a conclusion to the whole preceding series, wherein 
 an opportunity is taken of making several observations 
 having reference to the general subject : at least the ex- 
 terior imagery forms so pellucid and transparent a cover- 
 ing, that it is difficult to account for it, except in imme- 
 diate reference to the interior and remote sense. 
 
 VIRGINS. 
 
 Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, 
 Leaning upon her beloved a ? 
 
 • " Leaning herself upon her beloved ;" or, according to some, 
 " in company with her beloved." — Thus we are introduced, as it 
 were, to the parties, who hold the chief part of the following 
 dialogue. 
 
^- 
 
 174 canticles; or, 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 Beneath this citron-tree I raised thee up b , 
 Here thy mother brought thee forth in sorrows 
 Here, bringing thee forth in sorrow, she bare thee. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 O set me as a seal upon thine heart, ' 
 As a seal upon thine arm d ! 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 e Yea, love is strong as Death, 
 
 b Perhaps, " resuscitated thee." "prmijr. 
 
 c Petita significatione a nom. ban, dolor, a gird, or girding 
 pain. Tormen, particularly of a woman in travail. — Parkhurst. 
 " Schultens sensum concipiendi tuetur." — Simon. " Eku uhvnat ere 
 m pwAg aov." — Septuagint. The case supposed, if I mistake not, 
 is, that this royal bride was once an exposed infant, owing the pre- 
 servation of her existence to the charitable interposition of her 
 future husband ; not only, as was represented in the first idyl, was 
 she a poor oppressed girl, exalted to affluence and royalty by the 
 monarch's partiality, but, when she first became the object of his 
 pity and kindness, she was in a still more deplorable and wretched 
 situation. This same metaphor the reader will find followed at 
 length in the fourteenth chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel. 
 
 d These are the words of the bride. Being reminded of the pity 
 and love shown to her in her helpless infancy by that same boun- 
 tiful hand that now supports her as a bride, she prays that she may 
 ever continue to be the object of her husband's affection. " To 
 place as a seal upon the heart, as a seal upon the arm," are scrip- 
 tural expressions denoting the cherishing of a true affection, with 
 the exhibition of those constant attentions which bespeak a real 
 attachment. " In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts — O Zerub- 
 babel, my servant — I will make thee a signet : for I have chosen 
 thee, saith the Lord of Hosts." — Haggai, ii. 23. " As I live, saith 
 the Lord, though Coniah — were the signet upon my right hand, 
 yet would I pluck thee thence." — Jer. xxxii. 24. 
 
 e The reply of the bridegroom I conceive to commence in this 
 place. The following lines will be found to contain the strongest 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 175 
 
 f Jealousy is stubborn s as Hades'* ; 
 
 assurances of his unchanging love, that his bride could possibly re- 
 ceive from his gracious lips. 
 
 f tOp, Jealousy ; but not in a bad sense, as mixed with sus- 
 picion respecting the faithfulness of the beloved object ; but as ex- 
 pressive of the notion. — How choice the lover is wont to be of the 
 object of his passion ; with what solicitous care he will watch over 
 her : how strenuously he will vindicate her as his own, and what 
 dangers he would brave in her defence, top, tenerrime amavit. 
 q. d. Zelotypia. Flagravit ad causam, jus, et dignitatem alicujus 
 strenue defendendum, et praesertim ejus qui injuria affectus vel 
 misere oppressus est. — Simon. 
 
 s niPp, durus, difficilis. «pp-ntt9 n DJ?> stiff-necked people, often 
 expresses the stubborn and unyielding disposition of the Israelites. 
 The verb is used also of the hardened Pharaoh, obstinately per- 
 sisting in his refusal to let Israel go, ijrrW? njTS nvprrft? \"V1.~ 
 Exod. xiii. 15. 
 
 h btw, to which the epithet nttfp is applied, denotes, not the 
 grave, but the receptacle of departed spirits. This unseen world 
 we may distinguish by the word hades, as the English word hellis 
 become, in common use, appropriated to the place of torment. 
 Whereas blKitf, like 'AJtj? among the Greeks, and like Orcus, or 
 Infernus, among the Latins, applies to the state of departed souls 
 in general. (See Campbell's dissertation on 'A&j? Twva. Also 
 Bp. Horsley's Sermon on the Descent into Hell). 
 
 This notion of stubbornness and inflexibility, as applied to the 
 personifications of the departed state, the " Inexorabilis Orcus," 
 will be familiar to many of my readers. 
 
 — " Manesque addiit regemque tremendum 
 Nesciaque humanis piecibus mansuesceie corda." 
 
 Virgil, Georgic iv. 4()Q« 
 " Non vanas redeat sanguis imagini, 
 Quam virgd semel horrida 
 
 Non lenis precibus fata recludere 
 Nigro com pule rit Mercurius gregi." 
 
 Horatii, Liber 1. Ode xxiv. 
 
 " But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring 
 him back again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to 
 me." — 2 Sam, xii. 23. 
 
176 canticles; or, 
 
 Its flames are as the flames of fire' 
 
 Even the burning fire of Jehovah k ! 
 
 Many waters cannot quench this love, 
 
 Neither can the floods drown it. 
 
 If a man would give all the substance of his house for 
 
 love, 
 He would utterly be despised. 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 We have a sister, she is small, and has no breasts '. 
 
 What shall we do for our sister, 
 
 In the day, when she shall be spoken for ? 
 
 ' C3«hp"i, coals glowing with heat, or flashes of fire. Compare 
 Psalm lxxviii. 4S, with Exod. ix. 23, 24. 
 
 k The burning fire of Jah. A great number of Dr. Kennicott' s 
 Codices read n'Tiarkttr in two words. nanSttr, flamma vehemen- 
 tissima, a rad. Chald. et Syr. zrhv inflammatus arsit, recte derivat 
 Schultens. — (Simon.) Parkhursi derives the word from Vlf, to 
 loose, to dissolve, and 2T\b, a flame of fire. — The dissolving 
 fire. 
 
 From the order of the personified characters, we cannot mis- 
 take, I conceive, its signification. m», bvm, and rwoVitf, cor- 
 respond exactly with 0«k*to?, a$ri;, and ynvvx, or~7u/*w] rov wt/go? : 
 death, hell or hades, and " hell- fire" — " The fire prepared for the 
 devil and his angels," — "That fire which never shall be quenched." 
 The meaning, therefore, of the allusion is, The flame of that love 
 with which my heart burns is unquenchable and eternal, like the 
 flame of that everlasting fire which the Almighty has kindled for 
 tlve punishment of his apostate creatures. 
 
 1 This address appears to be an intercession on behalf of ano- 
 ther — of an acknowledged sister. She is, perhaps, spoken of as 
 defective in form. Her youth could not be the only thing com- 
 plained of, as that would be remedied by the time she was de- 
 manded in marriage. But, in view of this event, there are clearly 
 supposed some personal imperfections. The bride, happy in the 
 assurance of her own acceptance with her husband, implores his 
 advice respecting their common sister. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 177 
 
 BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 111 Since she is a wall, 
 
 We will erect on it a turret of silver : 
 
 And since she is a door, 
 
 We will incase it with a plate of cedar. 
 
 THE YOUNGER SISTER. 
 
 n I am a wall ! 
 
 And breasts shall ' I have ' as towers ! 
 
 Then am I in his eyes 
 
 As one that obtaineth favour. 
 
 ° Solomon has a vineyard in Baal-Hammon : 
 He has let out this vineyard to dressers, 
 
 m " Since she is a wall," &c. These figurative expressions I 
 understand as a gracious declaration on the part of the bride- 
 groom, that in the allegorical sister there is nothing materially de- 
 fective — she is a wall : — she is a door : the silver turret to this 
 wall, the cedar wainscot to this door, may yet be supplied. — It shall 
 be their united care to improve the appearance, and to ornament 
 the person of their sister. 
 
 n " I am a wall, and breasts shall I have as towers," &c. These 
 words, I conceive, are spoken by the younger sister; she is con- 
 soling herself on the gracious acknowledgment, which she hears 
 respecting her real worth. She repeats the promise, and argues 
 that she has therefore obtained favour in the eyes of the bride- 
 groom. 
 
 ° The above lines respecting the vineyard, or cultivated estate, 
 as we might render it, are spoken by the bride. She is supposed 
 to be presented by Solomon with this estate as her residence : but 
 she will consider herself only as a steward : she will industriously 
 contrive that her Lord shall be no loser. She accordingly com- 
 pares the vineyard consigned to her with another vineyard of the 
 same value, in the place mentioned in the text. This vineyard 
 was let on hire ; she notices the price which was stipulated to be 
 paid for it.— She would take care that her grateful return, her 
 
LIS CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 That a man should bring of its fruits 
 1 The value ' of a thousand pieces of silver. 
 A vineyard, which is mine, is before me : 
 The thousand ' shall be reserved' for thee, O Solomon, 
 And two hundred ' shall be given ' to the dressers of the 
 fruit. 
 
 ONE OF THE COMPANIONS p . 
 
 Thou that dwellest in the gardens, 
 
 The companions are listening to thy voice, 
 
 O let me hear it ! 
 
 BRIDE. 
 
 Make haste, my beloved, 
 
 Be like the gazel or the fawn of the deer 
 
 Upon the mountains of spices ! 
 
 INTERPRETATION OF THE LAST IDYL. 
 
 Including the last ten Verses of the eighth Chapter. 
 
 " Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness 
 leaning upon her beloved?" The meaning of this 
 emblem in the figurative language of the Canticles 
 we cannot easily mistake. The soul is blessed with 
 the Saviour's presence, is acknowledged in the 
 character of his spouse. By the exercise of a lively 
 faith she reclines herself upon Christ, her only re- 
 fuge and strength ; supported by his arm, she is 
 
 service of love, should not be less to Solomon than the rent paid 
 by these tenants. Her own servants also she declares should be 
 remunerated for their trouble. 
 
 p One of the dressers just alluded to. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 179 
 
 travelling on in security towards the heavenly man- 
 sions, which are prepared for her reception. 
 
 The bride, as we have noticed, is first reminded 
 of her original state, and of the obligation which 
 she owed to her Lord. Between two earthly lovers 
 there are wont to be reciprocal causes of affection : 
 they meet in some respects on equal terms, if — 
 
 " For contemplation he and valour form'd, 
 For softness she and sweet attractive grace." 
 
 Far different are the circumstances of the union 
 between Christ and the church of his redeemed. 
 When, indeed, that union is completed, she is found 
 possessed of every charm and every grace that can 
 make her the admiration of beholders : " fair as the 
 moon, clear as the sun, dazzling as the bannered 
 hosts." But then this excellence and glory, and 
 whatever is denoted in the figurative language of 
 this book by beauty of person and ornaments of 
 dress — every thing fair and valuable which is found 
 in the spouse of Christ, has been owing entirely to 
 the grace, the free gift of her beloved. 
 
 This was intimated in the imagery of the first 
 Idyl, where we saw one that had been raised from 
 a state of servitude and oppression, led in a bridal 
 procession into the palace of the King of Israel. 
 This pointed out, indeed, in some measure, the ine- 
 quality between the parties, and informed us of 
 what sort the obligation was, which was conferred 
 by the heavenly bridegroom upon his spouse the 
 
 N2 
 
180 canticles; or, 
 
 Church. This consideration is, however, much 
 more forcibly impressed upon us in the present 
 Idyl, by an allusion to the case of an exposed 
 female infant, whom the hand of a charitable bene- 
 factor first rescues from the stroke of death, and 
 then fondly nurtures and educates till she arrives 
 at woman's estate, when he receives her as his 
 bride. 
 
 " Beneath this citron-tree I raised thee up ; here 
 thy mother brought thee forth in sorrow, here bring- 
 ing thee forth in sorrow, she bare thee." If such had 
 been the situation of the supposed bride, and such 
 the commencement of her connexion with her hus- 
 band, she owed, indeed, her all to him. She might 
 be "comely," she might be "perfect in beauty," but 
 it was all " through his comeliness which he had 
 put upon her." In short, no emblem of a greater 
 obligation, imposed by one individual on another, 
 can be easily imagined ; and the reader will find 
 the same comparison, in very minute detail, em- 
 ployed by the prophet Ezekiel, to point out the 
 obligation and ingratitude of the external Jewish 
 church to the God of Israel 3 . 
 
 Strong, however, as is the language of the meta- 
 phor, the case supposed does but faintly shadow 
 the obligations of the espoused soul to Christ. The 
 soul, we may say, is now justified, and sanctified, 
 and adorned with many excellent graces ; so that 
 
 Ch 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 181 
 
 the great Redeemer himself delights in her society, 
 and she is honourable in the sight of all. But what 
 was she once, when he first acknowledged her ; — 
 " By nature a child of wrath, even as others 1 "'— 
 " shapen in iniquity, and conceived in sin c ." 
 " None eye pitied thee to have compassion upon 
 thee ; but thou wast cast out into the open field, to 
 the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast 
 bornV' But if we reflect upon the nature of those 
 spiritual mercies which exalt the helpless sons of 
 men from their native misery to the heirship of 
 eternal glory, how much more costly are the chari- 
 ties of Jesus Christ, which he has bestowed upon 
 his people, than those of this imaginary benefactor, 
 as shown to the exposed infant, whom he afterwards 
 espouses ! 
 
 To preserve his people from the hand of justice, 
 for their wretchedness did not arise from misfor- 
 tune, the gracious Redeemer descends from his 
 heavenly throne, and becomes a man ; and in this 
 his assumed nature, he offers himself a victim in 
 their stead ; " dying the just for the unjust :" — " He 
 who knew no sin being made sin for us, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him." 
 We consequently read, concerning the heavenly 
 Bridegroom, " that he so loved the church that he 
 gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and 
 cleanse it, and present it to himself a glorious 
 
 t- Eph. ii. 3. c Ts. li. 5. * Ezek. xvi. 5. 
 
182 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 church." What manner of love is this ? All human 
 comparison must fail ! 
 
 " O set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal 
 upon thy arm." The reply of the bride contains a 
 prayer, that that love and kindness, of which she 
 has been the object, may be yet continued to her. — 
 As he has condescended to bestow so much upon 
 her to make her what she is, O, may he still ac- 
 count her worth his regards ! — ^since he has been 
 pleased to choose her for his own, let him not now 
 discard her. 
 
 To set her as a seal upon the heart, and as a seal 
 upon the arm, implies, that he should make her the 
 object of his true affection, and of his constant recol- 
 lection and peculiar care and acknowledgment. 
 " Write it upon the table of thine heart 6 ," is a fre- 
 quent phrase in Scripture ; let it be indelibly fixed 
 in your affection and memory. " The sin of Judah 
 is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of 
 a diamond : it is graven upon the table of their 
 hearts." So again, to place as a signet upon the 
 arm, to wear as an ornament in which a person 
 delights, on which he sets a particular value, and 
 which he carries constantly about his person, is a 
 beautiful emblem of that particular attention, and 
 marked attachment, which those who love require 
 to have constantly shown them. " But Zion said, 
 The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has for- 
 
 e Prov. iii. 3. — vii. 3. 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 183 
 
 gotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, 
 that she should not have compassion on the son of 
 her womb ! Yea, they may forget, yet will not I 
 forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the 
 palms of my hands ; thy walls are continually be- 
 fore me f ." 
 
 The expressions and various allusions which are 
 made use of in the sacred writings to denote the 
 strength and unchangeable nature of the love of 
 Christ towards his people, are truly astonishing ! — 
 They are designed, as the Apostle assures us, " to 
 show to the heirs of promise the immutability of the 
 divine counsel," — " that we might have strong con- 
 solation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon 
 the hope set before us." But in no part of the 
 Scriptures, perhaps, is language found more strong 
 upon the subject, than in the reply of the bride- 
 groom to the grateful and affectionate petition which 
 we have just been considering. 
 
 " Yea, love is strong as Death ; jealousy is stub- 
 bom as Hades. Its flames are flames of fire, even 
 the burning fire of Jehovah. Many waters cannot 
 quench this love ; neither can the floods drown it. 
 If a man would give all the substance of his house 
 for love, he would utterly be despised." 
 
 As we have seen, in considering the literal mean- 
 ing of these words, love is represented as a passion, 
 
 f Isa. xlix. 14 ; 15. iff. 
 
184 canticles; or, 
 
 powerful as Death, who conquers all things, whose 
 force nothing can resist. It is, in its jealousy over 
 its object, as stiff, unyielding, as obstinate, and 
 hard to be entreated, as the inexorable Hades. — 
 You might as soon hope to prevail by force, or by 
 entreaty, or by artful policy, to rescue a departed 
 spirit from its prison, or to disquiet the saints in 
 paradise, as to prevail upon a lover to give up, or 
 to neglect, or to cease to watch over the object of 
 his affections ; nay, it burns with a flame eternal 
 as the flames of hell, which shall consume the un- 
 godly — the " fire that never shall be quenched." 
 " Many waters cannot quench this love, the floods 
 cannot drown it." — The most costly offers to induce 
 it to change its purpose, or to quit the beloved 
 object, would be treated as most despicable. 
 
 The powers of love as a human passion are suffi- 
 ciently known and celebrated, and the language 
 here used, as far as it can be applied to the fleeting 
 concerns of frail mortals, would not be considered 
 as inappropriate. But, in respect of that love 
 wherewith Christ loves his church, the language is 
 all true and correct, without a figure. Who can 
 describe the length and breadth, the depth and 
 height, of this love of Christ ? It is a love which 
 passes all understanding ! What has it done for its 
 objects ! With what pledges is its continuance se- 
 cured ! The incarnation, the passion, the cross of 
 Jesus, will evince its strength. The immutable 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 185 
 
 promise, and the oath of God, who cannot lie, 
 vouch its continuance, and that for ever ! 
 
 Such indeed are the provisions and stipulations 
 of that everlasting covenant, by the ratification of 
 which the God of Grace is wont to dispel the fears 
 of the believer, and to raise his hopes to heaven. — 
 The " mercies " are so " sure," that a sense of his 
 own unworthiness and imperfection, the conscious- 
 ness of his weakness and frailty in the face of so 
 many dangers, need not hinder his rejoicing boast. 
 For he is allowed and instructed to reason, that if, 
 when he was a sinner, Christ died for him, much 
 more being now justified by bis blood, shall he 
 be saved from wrath through him. And that 
 if, " when he was an enemy to God, he was 
 reconciled to him by the death of his Son, much 
 more being reconciled, shall he be saved by his 
 life 5 ." 
 
 The bride in the parable, assured of the un- 
 changeable affection of her husband, becomes an 
 intercessor for another ; " We have a sister, she is 
 small, and has no breasts ; what shall we do for 
 our sister in the day that she shall be spoken for ?" 
 
 Many have thought of the Gentile church as 
 answering to this emblem : but with what propriety 
 I cannot see. A Gentile church was not at this 
 time in existence : when it did exist, and Gentile 
 
 s Rom. v. 9, 10. 
 
186 CANTICLES ; OR, 
 
 converts and Gentile societies could be contrasted 
 with converts and societies gathered from among 
 the Jews, this comparison of the two sisters most 
 certainly did not apply, as characteristic of these 
 two divisions of the church. I conceive, therefore, 
 that we are to explain the emblem, more generally, 
 respecting those who are weak in the faith, and 
 who, though they must be acknowledged to be real 
 Christians, are defective in knowledge and ex- 
 perience: are not come, to use the Apostle's ex- 
 pression, " to the full stature of a man in Christ 
 Jesus." — There is evidence sufficient, we are sup- 
 posing, to evince that they are regenerated by the 
 Spirit of God ; yet the flesh, with its principles, so 
 far prevails, that they cannot be denominated " spi- 
 ritual," but " carnal, babes in Christ." 
 
 Now such characters, and the full-grown, the en- 
 lightened, and established Christian, are always 
 seen together in every church and Christian so- 
 ciety ; and it is, without doubt, the duty of the 
 strong to pray for the weak: and, in fact, the 
 spiritual welfare of their weaker brethren is an 
 object of continual solicitude with the more spiri- 
 tual believers — an object often, in their happy 
 moments, made the particular matter of prayer be- 
 fore God. 
 
 Such then I conclude to be the meaning of this 
 part of the allegory ; and it might be expedient to 
 add, such a representation at the close of these 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 187 
 
 divine songs, which in many parts celebrate an 
 experience which those that are weak in the faith 
 cannot reach at present. 
 
 The answer of the heavenly Bridegroom, we 
 notice, is most favourable. " Since she is a wall, 
 we will build on it a turret of silver : since she is a 
 door, we will incase it with a plate of cedar." This 
 is as much as to say, There are the essentials of the 
 Christian character, and God in his good time will 
 supply every deficiency. 
 
 " I am a wall, and breasts shall I have as towers ! 
 Then am I in his eyes as one that has obtained 
 favour." Thus the weak and tempted Christian is 
 represented as encouraging himself from the kind 
 and considerate declarations of his meek and lowly 
 Master. He cannot enjoy the comfortable frames, 
 and that full assurance of hope, which some Chris- 
 tians possess ; yet is he enabled, by self-examina- 
 tion, to prove, according to the word of God, his 
 sincerity and the reality of his faith : nor are there 
 wanting in Scripture some kind assurances of the 
 divine acceptance which he can apply to himself. — 
 " Who is among you that feareth the Lord, and 
 obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in 
 darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the 
 name of the Lord, and stay upon his God h ." 
 
 " King Solomon has a vineyard in Baal- Ham- 
 mon: he has let out this vineyard to dressers, that 
 
 ,l Isa. li. lo. 
 
188 canticles; or, 
 
 a man should bring of its fruits the value of a 
 thousand pieces of silver. A vineyard which is 
 mine is before me ; the thousand shall be reserved 
 for thee, O Solomon, and two hundred shall be given 
 to the dressers of the fruit." 
 
 The meaning, as we have conjectured, is this: 
 The faithful spouse, contemplating the vineyard, 
 the garden, or estate, which her husband had given 
 her, compares it to another of the same size or 
 value. She recollects the annualrent, which those 
 who hired this vineyard paid to the king. The 
 vineyard, generously bestowed upon her, shall 
 not be less productive to her husband, under the 
 management of his affectionate wife, than this 
 which was let to strangers for so large a considera- 
 tion. 
 
 The spiritual meaning, I conceive, has reference 
 to the principle of Christian obedience, as con- 
 trasted with the obedience and service demanded 
 by the original law of man. This latter was the 
 obedience and service of an hireling : " Do this, 
 and thou shalt live." The stipulated services were 
 to be performed on peril of disinheritance. Not so 
 under the Gospel dispensation. Eternal life, and 
 every privilege, is the gift of God, bestowed 
 freely without money, and without price. It is 
 the gift of his love: " By grace ye are saved." 
 But is the Christian relieved from all obligation 
 to obedience and service ? Far from it. Obli- 
 gations the most sacred, the most forcible and 
 
SONG OF SOLOMON. 189 
 
 effective, are laid upon him, the obligations of love — 
 of love, not the uncertain operation of human grati- 
 tude, but of love as shed abroad in the heart by the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 Will a father derive less benefit, it may be asked, 
 from the son that loves him and serves him, than 
 from the labours of the hired servant ? Will the 
 provident care of a faithful and affectionate wife, in 
 the management of household affairs, be less pro- 
 fitable to her husband than the bought services and 
 inspection of a stranger ? 
 
 In short, so certain is the operation of faith and 
 love in producing obedience and good works, that 
 our divine Master has stated it, as a matter of fact, 
 to his disciples, " Unless your righteousness shall 
 exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees" — the strenuous advocates, as was supposed, 
 for the greatest strictness of morals — " ye shall in 
 no case enter into the kingdom of heaven/' 
 
 " Talk they of morals ? O thou bleeding love ! 
 Thou maker of new morals to mankind ! 
 The grand morality is love of thee." 
 
 Upon the question, of what services are to be 
 performed ; the requisition of " the Law of Works," 
 and of " the Law of Faith," is, essentially the same 
 — briefly summed up in these two commandments : 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and thy neighbour as thyself." 
 
 Such was formerly the stipulated hire for holding 
 the vineyard: and such is the obedience which 
 
190 canticles; or, 
 
 every believer in Christ is called upon, faithfully, 
 to perform to God. The terms are not specified in 
 any covenant, or copy of agreement ; but this same 
 law is written upon the fleshly tables of the heart — 
 " Faith worketh by love." The grace of God, which 
 bringeth salvation, teaches us, that, denying ungod- 
 liness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
 and righteously, and godly, in this present world, 
 looking for that blessed hope and the glorious ap- 
 pearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus 
 Christ 1 ." — " Christ has purified to himself a people 
 zealous of good works k ." — " For ye are his work- 
 manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works 1 ." 
 
 Obedience is therefore a certain criterion of cha- 
 racter. " He that doeth not righteousness, is not of 
 God, neither he that loveth not his brother m ." 
 
 The remaining circumstance, which is mentioned 
 in the parable, that the value of two hundred pieces 
 of silver is to be given to the dressers of the vine- 
 yard, can be intended, I conceive, to indicate 
 nothing else, but that one of the first considerations 
 with the church should be, to make a decent pro- 
 vision for her ministers. For so has Christ or- 
 dained, that as they which waited at the altar were 
 partakers with the altar, in like manner they that 
 preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel n . 
 
 We come now to the conclusion of these heavenly 
 
 *Tit.ii. 11, 12. 13. k Tit . ii. 14. lEph. ii. 10. 
 ■ 1 John, iii. 10. n l Cor. ix. 13, 14. 
 
SONG OP SOLOMON. 191 
 
 songs. " Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the 
 companions listen to thy voice ; O let me hear it," 
 This address is, I think, most probably, not in- 
 tended for the bridegroom, but for one of these 
 companions, the labourers in the vineyard attending 
 upon and ministering unto the faithful — " the 
 labourers together with God." They would hear 
 the voice of the Spouse of Christ, as dwelling in 
 the vineyards committed to their charge. To hear 
 a language among their people bespeaking the pre- 
 sence of the bride of Christ, is, doubtless, the summit 
 of the earthly felicity of his faithful ministers. 
 
 And what is the characteristic language of the 
 espoused of Christ ? It is that which we have so 
 often considered in these Canticles — " Make haste, 
 my beloved ; be like the gazel, or the fawn of the 
 deer upon the mountains of spices." — So finish these 
 divine poems. The bride is still in the enclosed 
 garden, waiting the appointed return of her beloved. 
 " For we are saved by," or in, "hope: but hope 
 that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, 
 why does he yet hope for ? But if we hope for 
 that we see not, then do we with patience wait for 
 it ." The first-fruits, the earnest of the spirit of 
 adoption, is now the portion of believers in Christ, 
 and seals them to the day of redemption ; but the 
 full manifestation of this adoption, according to the 
 figurative language of this book, the consumma- 
 
 Rom. viii. 24, 
 
 
192 canticles; or, song op solomon. 
 
 tion of the soul's nuptials with her heavenly Bride- 
 grooom, is still the object of wish and earnest 
 expectation. 
 
 As closes therefore this portion of the word of 
 God, so closes the sacred volume itself. — " He 
 which testifies these things, saith, Surely I come 
 quickly. Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus!" 
 Amen. 
 
 END OF THE NEW TRANSLATION OF 
 THE CANTICLES. 
 
AN 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NAME AND CHARACTER 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REDEEMER. 
 
 o 
 
AN ESSAY, 
 
 OUR blessed Saviour was, from the earliest ages 
 of the world, promised to mankind in the character 
 of their Redeemer ; in allusion to this appellation, 
 we find the term Redemption used in Scripture in 
 reference to various parts of his interposition in 
 human affairs, and indeed, in some passages, as 
 comprehending the whole work of our salvation. 
 
 It is the object of the present attempt — to inquire 
 into the signification of the title of Redeemer; — 
 and to trace, in the sacred writings, in what manner 
 our gracious Lord has fulfilled the several parts of 
 the character which that name implies. 
 
 I. The notion of Repurchasing, as referred to in 
 the term Redeemer, agreeably with its Latin de- 
 rivation, from redimo, to ransom, to buy off: the 
 notion also of a recovery of one taken captive, by 
 the payment of a ransom, which is expressly im- 
 plied in the Greek word aroy^r^aia-ig, to which 
 
 o 2 
 
196 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 our term Redemption answers in the translation of 
 the New Testament, will be familiar to most of 
 my readers. 
 
 This view of Redemption will indeed be found 
 to comprehend one very principal act, which a 
 Redeemer would, in certain cases, be called upon 
 to perform ; and which our great Redeemer has, in 
 fact, accomplished for us. 
 
 But, in order to a full view and comprehension of 
 the name and character in question, and to show 
 how the term Redemption applies to other parts of 
 the Saviour's work, besides the ransoming of his 
 people, it is necessary that we recall to our recol- 
 lection the circumstances and prevailing customs 
 of those remote ages, in which the office of a Re- 
 deemer originated, and where it is actually found to 
 have been one of the most common and important 
 relations of life, in which one man could stand to 
 another. For, in our own times, though we shall 
 find some remains of the functions of this ancient 
 character, yet we have certainly no prototype which 
 can afford, in the present state of civilized society, a 
 full illustration of those duties which the Son of God 
 undertook to discharge for us, when he assumed 
 the style and title of our Redeemer. 
 
 We should remember, therefore, that, in the cir- 
 cumstances of the primitive ages of the world, the 
 arts and influence of government were very imper- 
 fect and unoperative. Mankind, subsisting in their 
 separate families or clans, widely dispersed from 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 197 
 
 each other, scarcely acknowledged any other tie, or 
 public obligation, but that of kindred; nor pos- 
 sessed commonly any other resource for the redress 
 of their grievances. The chief security, therefore, 
 which they had for their lives and properties, was 
 to stand by each other in the hour of danger, to 
 vindicate each other's rights, and to inflict with their 
 own hands that justice on the offending party, to 
 execute which belongs, in better times, to the pecu- 
 liar functions of the magistrate. 
 
 We find accordingly, that, in the histories of all 
 very ancient nations, and indeed of all rude and 
 uncivilized people down to this present time, the 
 feuds arising from these family attachments, in pro- 
 secution especially of the sacred right of revenge 
 for a murdered or injured kinsman, are among the 
 most important of their transactions ; and the occa- 
 sions often of the most bloody conflicts. 
 
 Now the person on whom this duty immediately 
 devolved, of vindicating the rights of an injured rela- 
 tive, and who was generally the person nearest re- 
 lated to him, of sufficient spirit and prowess to take 
 his part, was denominated his ^j — the term in the 
 Old testament which we render by Redeemer. It 
 belonged to this person, as the representative of 
 the injured party, to require the compensation of 
 his wrongs, to effect his deliverance out of captivity, 
 or, if it were necessary, to revenge his blood upon 
 his murderer. 
 
 It was from the last of these awful duties, which 
 
 --? 
 
198 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 in those ages too often called forth the exertions of 
 the Redeemer, that some of the most eminent scho- 
 lars suppose him to have taken his name of bm % as 
 signifying " one polluted, defiled with blood, an 
 avenger of blood, because he was considered as 
 polluted by the blood of his relation, and rendered 
 infamous until it was revenged." 
 
 The origin of these notions, from whence the 
 ancient Redeemers obtained their title, may perhaps 
 be discovered in Scripture ; where indeed we find 
 the title sometimes written at length, Din" 1 ?^ — 
 the avenger of bloods, or the bloody Redeemer. 
 The injunction of God to Noah was, " And surely 
 your blood of your lives will I require ; at the hand 
 of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of 
 man ; at the hand of every man's brother will I 
 require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's 
 blood, by man shall his blood be shed : for in the 
 image of God made he man b ." But before the 
 union or increase of families into nations, and the 
 appointment of the magistrate, with sufficient au- 
 thority, as " God's minister" — " a revenger to exe- 
 cute wrath upon him that doeth evil c ," it is evident, 
 
 a "?«a polluit, contaminavit, Jer. xxxix. 3. Esr. ii. 62. Thren. 
 iv. 14. uncle btti assumta significatione passiva pollutus, inguina- 
 tus sanguine, vindex sanguinis, quod sanguine cognati pollutus et 
 infamis haberetur, donee ulcisceretur. Hinc. 2. Goelis jure usus 
 est vindicavit, redimit, liberavit, speciatim jure cognationis (sic 
 notioncs in hse rad. obvise conjungi possunt ex conjectura, v. 1. 
 D. Michaelis suppl.)- — Simonis Lex. Heb. 
 
 b Gen. ix. 5, 6. c Rom. xiii. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 199 
 
 that the enforcing of this primeval law must, of 
 necessity, have depended upon the relations and 
 friends of the murdered person. If indeed the ex- 
 pression in the former verse, " At the hand of 
 every man's brother will I require the life of man," 
 is not to be understood as, an express direction 
 from the Almighty, that the brother, or kinsman, 
 must exact the rights of vengeance. For, however 
 the malignant passions of the friends and relatives 
 of the injured party might prompt them to carry 
 this vengeance to those excesses of cruelty so fre- 
 quently recorded in history, yet the right itself, as 
 touching the person of the murderer, was sacred 
 and indispensable. 
 
 Hence it is obvious to suppose, that those whose 
 duty it was to exercise the part of redeemers, in 
 these sad cases, would be considered as disgraced 
 and dishonoured till justice had been obtained. 
 This notion, on an occasion not materially different, 
 is indeed plainly recognised in the law of Moses. 
 " For blood it deflleth the land : and the land can- 
 not be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, 
 but by the blood of him that shed it d ." 
 
 And whatever be the origin and meaning of the 
 term btto, Redeemer, this representative of the de- 
 ceased, his nearest relation, is evidently acknow- 
 ledged by the laws of many nations as the proper 
 person who ought, of natural right, to demand satis- 
 faction in the circumstances above considered. 
 
 d Num. xxxv. 33. 
 
200 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 The institution of the Cities of Refuge among 
 the Jews was plainly devised to restrain, in particu- 
 lar cases, the exercise of this right in the ' Re- 
 deemer,' or * avenger of blood.' And the institu- 
 tion evinces, beyond all contradiction, what the pre- 
 vailing usage was in those days : and, at the same 
 time, that it protects the unfortunate manslayer from 
 the vengeance of the Redeemer, the law establishes 
 his right in respect of the murderers. 
 
 In the reign of David we find, that the Redeemer 
 was still accustomed to prosecute his rights. This 
 appears from the feigned story of the woman of 
 Tekoah. " Her whole family," she says, " has 
 risen against her, saying, Deliver him that smote 
 his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his 
 brother, whom he slew." She prays for the inter- 
 position of the king's authority, " not to suffer the 
 revengers of blood to destroy any more, lest they 
 destroy her sonV 
 
 " Among the ancient Greeks," Professor Goguet 
 observes, " they had no public officer charged by the 
 state to look after murderers. The relations of the 
 deceased alone had the right to pursue revenge, 
 Homer shows this clearly (Iliad i. 9. v. 628, &c). 
 We may add to the testimony of this great poet, 
 that of Pausanias, who speaks in many places of 
 this ancient usage (1. 5. c. 1. p. 376. 1. 8. c. 34. 
 p. 669.) : a usage that appears to have always sub- 
 
 e 'I Sam. xiv. 7— -1 1. comp. Gen. xxvii. 4, 5. 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 201 
 
 sisted in Greece (see Plato de Leg. i. 9. p. 930, 
 931, and 933.; Demosth. in Aristocrat, p. 736.; 
 Pullux. i. 8. c. 10. segm. 118 f .)" 
 
 In our own laws, these ancient rights of the 
 Redeemer are also plainly recognised, and in one 
 remarkable instance — the prosecution by way of 
 appeal in criminal cases — are allowed to this day, 
 or have but very recently been rendered obsolete. 
 Of this mode of prosecution, the following interest- 
 ing account is extracted from Blackstone's Com- 
 mentaries 3 : — " An appeal, when spoken of as a 
 criminal prosecution, denotes an accusation by a 
 private subject against another, for some heinous 
 crime ; demanding punishment on account of the 
 particular injury suffered, rather than for the offence 
 against the public." — " This private process, for 
 the punishment of public crimes, had probably its 
 origin in those times when a private pecuniary 
 satisfaction, called a weregild, was constantly paid 
 to the party injured, or his relations, to expiate 
 enormous offences. This was a custom derived to 
 us, in common with other northern nations, from 
 our ancestors, the ancient Germans : among whom, 
 according to Tacitus, ' Luitur homicidium certo ar- 
 mentorum ac pecorum numero : recipitque satis- 
 factionem uni versa domus.' 
 
 " In the same manner, by the Irish Brehon law, 
 in case of murder, the Brehon judge was used to 
 
 f Goguet's Origin of Laws, &c. v. 2. c. 1. art. S. 
 8 Book iv. ch. 23. 
 
202 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 compound between the murderer and the friends of 
 the deceased who prosecuted him, by causing the 
 malefactor to give unto them, or to the child or 
 wife of him that was slain, a recompense which they 
 called an eriach. And thus we find in our Saxon 
 laws (particularly those of King Athelstan) the se- 
 veral weregilds for homicide established in pro- 
 gressive order, from the death of the ceorl, or 
 peasant, up to that of the king himself. And in the 
 laws of King Henry I. we have an account of what 
 other offences were then redeemable by weregild, 
 and what were not so. As, therefore, during the con- 
 tinuance of this custom, a process was certainly 
 given for recovering the weregild by the party to 
 whom it was due, it seems that, when these offences 
 by degrees grew no longer redeemable, the private 
 process was still continued, in order to ensure the 
 infliction of punishment upon the offender, though 
 the party injured was allowed no pecuniary compen- 
 sation of the offence. 
 
 " The only offence against one's relation, for 
 which an appeal can be brought, is that of killing 
 him, by either murder or manslaughter. But this 
 cannot be brought by every relation : but only by 
 the wife for the death of her husband, or by the 
 heir male for the death of his ancestor ; which 
 heirship was also confined by an ordinance of King 
 Henry I. to the four nearest degrees of blood. 
 
 " If the appellee be found guilty, he shall suffer 
 the same judgment as if he had been convicted by 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 203 
 
 indictment : but with this remarkable difference — 
 that, on an indictment which is at the suit of the 
 king, the king may pardon and remit the execution : 
 on an appeal, which is at the suit of a private sub- 
 ject, to make an atonement of the private wrong, 
 the king can no more pardon it than he can remit 
 the damages recovered on an action of battery. In 
 like manner as, while the weregild continued to be 
 paid as a fine for homicide, it could not be remitted 
 by the king's authority. And the ancient usage 
 was, so late as Henry the Fourth's time, that all the 
 relations of the slain should drag the appellee to the 
 place of execution ; a custom founded upon that 
 savage spirit of family resentment, which prevailed 
 universally through Europe after the irruption of 
 the northern nations, and is particularly attended 
 to in their several codes of law ; and which pre- 
 vails even now among the wild and untutored inha- 
 bitants of America: as if the finger of nature had 
 pointed it out to mankind in their rude and unculti- 
 vated state 11 ." 
 
 h " To restrain these private wars between great families, which 
 disturbed the public tranquillity, and prevented the regular course 
 of justice, many laws were made, particularly by King Edmund, 
 who reigned from A. D. £)40, to A. D. 9^6\ By one of these laws 
 it is declared, that a murderer shall alone be obnoxious to the re- 
 sentment of the relations of him whom he had murdered, and not 
 his whole family, as formerly." — (Henry's History of Great 
 Britain, book ii. c. 7-) 
 
 " In Turkey, murder is never prosecuted by the officers of the 
 government. It is the business of the next relations, and them 
 only, to revenge the slaughter of their kinsmen : and if they rather 
 
204 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 The last observation of the learned Judge is re- 
 markable. And we have seen that " The finger of 
 nature," which pointed out this practice, was no 
 other than the primeval law of God respecting the 
 punishment of murder, which tradition has so won- 
 
 choose (as they generally do) to compound the matter for money, 
 nothing more is said about it." — (Lady M. W. Montague, lett. 42.) 
 
 " Among the Circassians, all the relatives of the murderers are 
 considered as guilty. This customary infatuation to avenge the 
 blood of relations, generates most of the feuds, and occasions great 
 bloodshed among all the tribes of Caucasus; for unless pardon be 
 purchased, or obtained by intermarriage between the two families, 
 the principle of revenge is propagated to all succeding generations. 
 — If the thirst of vengeance is quenched by a price paid to the 
 family of the deceased, this tribute is called Thlil-Uasa, or the 
 ■price of blood : but neither princes nor usdens accept of such a 
 compensation, as it is an established law among them to demand 
 blood for blood." — (Pallas's Travels, vol. i. p. 405.) 
 
 " The interest of the common safety has, for ages, established a 
 law among them," the Arabians, " which decrees that the blood 
 of every man who is slain must be avenged by that of his mur- 
 derer. This vengeance is called tar, or retaliation ; and the right 
 of exacting it devolves on the nearest of kin to the deceased. So 
 nice are the Arabs on this point of honour, that if any one neglects 
 to seek his retaliation, he is disgraced for ever. He therefore 
 watches every opportunity of revenge ; if his enemy perishes from 
 any other cause, still he is not satisfied, and his vengeance is di- 
 rected against the nearest relation. These animosities are trans- 
 mitted, as an inheritance, from father to children, and never cease 
 but by the extinction of one of the families, unless they agree to 
 sacrifice the criminal, or -purchase the blood for a stated price, in 
 money or in flocks. Without this satisfaction, there is neither 
 peace, nor truce, nor alliance, between them ; nor, sometimes, 
 even between whole tribes. There is blood bctiveen us, say they, 
 on every occasion; and this expression is an insurmountable 
 barrier." — (Volney's Travels in Egypt and Syria, vol. i. j age 3 6j, 
 third edition.) 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 205 
 
 derfully preserved in almost all nations of the earth. 
 But to return. 
 
 A Redeemer, then, according to the usages of 
 ancient times, was a near relation, called upon, by- 
 some disastrous event, to stand forth as the repre- 
 sentative of his deceased or incapacitated kinsman. 
 From the hand of his Redeemer the captive ex- 
 pected the ransom price, which was to restore him 
 to liberty. To his Redeemer he looked for those 
 powerful exertions which were necessary to effect 
 his deliverance by force of arms. To the Redeemer, 
 lastly, it belonged to avenge his blood upon his 
 murderer. 
 
 For we are to remark, that all these acts, as per- 
 formed by this relative on behalf of his kinsman, 
 would, in the Hebrew language, be denominated 
 r\b$), Redemption. But that the same actions 
 performed by another person, a stranger in blood, 
 could not properly be distinguished by this term, 
 except indeed in a figurative sense, in allusion to 
 this bitt ; and this figurative sense is extremely 
 rare in the Holy Scriptures 1 . For when the term is 
 
 » Thus in some of the duties assigned to the Redeemers by the 
 laws of Moses, respecting the ransoming of persons or estates : if a 
 person had no relation to redeem for him, it is said he might do 
 it for himself, and the action bears the same name (Lev. xxv. 25, 
 &c. &c.) It is used also in this more general sense in the last 
 chapter of Leviticus, for a man's recovery of the property which he 
 had consecrated to GoJ. And if any other instances can be 
 pointed out, they are certainly so few, that they can by no means 
 render questionable the proper and most frequent meaning of nVxa 
 
206 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 used of the interposition of God in the concerns of 
 mortals, it will be found generally to have a refe- 
 rence, more or less direct, to the incarnation of the 
 Son of God, by which gracious act he becomes, in 
 fact, our kinsman, and obtains the right of redemp- 
 tion in behalf of his brethren. 
 
 II. Having now pursued our inquiries to a suffi- 
 cient length respecting the meaning of the term Re- 
 deemer, we proceed to trace, in the sacred writings, 
 in what manner, our gracious Lord has fulfilled the 
 several parts of the character which that name im- 
 plies. 
 
 From what has been said, it will appear, that 
 when Christ is promised, or spoken of, in the cha- 
 racter of the Redeemer of his people, we are to in- 
 clude, in the signification of that title, together with 
 the more common notion of a Rcmsomer, that of a 
 Deliverer, and an Avenger, of an injured brother. 
 
 And, as we shall be able to show, all these seve- 
 ral parts of this character does the blessed Jesus 
 sustain, in regard of his acknowledged friends and 
 
 — The redemption, the deliverance, or the vengeance, which is 
 accomplished by a kinsman, is his right of blood. 
 
 It should be noticed, however, that there is another term in the 
 Hebrew language expressing the idea of redemption, rns, with its 
 derivatives. It is the common word, indeed, for redeeming, 
 whether that redemption be effected by a bxi, — a kinsman, Re- 
 deemer — or not; or whether by price, or by power. We there- 
 fore, as might be expected, in some places meet with the terms as 
 synonymous. But they are not equivalent, since ms does not ex- 
 press the act of a relation exclusively, nor does it include the 
 notion of vengeance, 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 207 
 
 relatives — bearing in mind that we contemplate the 
 incarnate God, in his assumed nature, as " the 
 first-born among many brethren." For thus he is 
 become their Redeemer in right of blood, and is 
 found ready, as their need shall require, to dis- 
 charge the several duties of a Redeemer towards 
 them. 
 
 First, He is their Ransomer. Many, indeed, are 
 the passages of Scripture that assert this funda- 
 mental doctrine of the Christian faith — that, con- 
 sidered as the prisoners of divine justice, appre- 
 hended, and about to receive the just recompense 
 of their evil deeds, Christ has redeemed or bought 
 off, his people, by the payment of a ransom for 
 them. 
 
 I select a passage from St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans, as sufficient to illustrate this important 
 point. Explaining the method of a sinner's justi- 
 fication in the sight of God, the Apostle asserts, that 
 he is "justified freely by his grace through the 
 redemption which is in Jesus Christ." This justifi- 
 cation, as received by the creature from the hand of 
 his God, is free and gratuitous ; yet still, in regard 
 to what has been transacted between the Father 
 and the Son, it has been obtained by a redemption. 
 
 So the Apostle explains this " redemption which 
 is in Jesus Christ" — " whom God has set forth to 
 be a propitiation through faith in his blood to de. 
 clare his righteousness." In the setting forth or 
 appointment of Christ to be an f*a(wj§iov, therefore, 
 
208 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 is this redemption accomplished. 'Ikaa-r^m sig- 
 nifies, literally, propitiatory. It is by some ex- 
 plained of the mercy-seat in the Jewish taber- 
 nacle : but by our translators, more justly, of the 
 propitiatory victim itself ; at least, of the propitia- 
 tion effected by its vicarious sacrifice. And from 
 this slaughtered victim, the master-type, so to call 
 it, I conceive the mercy-seat itself obtained its 
 epithet of propitiatory, mSQ, and not from the 
 i rcumstance merely of its forming a covering for 
 the ark of the covenant. Indeed, in the passage 
 before us, the meaning of propitiatory seems neces- 
 sarily restricted to the victim ; for in the following 
 clause we read of the blood of what is called a 
 propitiatory, " In his blood to declare his righte- 
 ousness 1 "." 
 
 What was spoken of, therefore, in the former 
 verse, under the notion of a ransom price paid for 
 the liberation of a captive or prisoner, the proper 
 meaning of a^roxurgaxr/^, is here represented as a 
 sacrificed victim ; which, by means of its unde- 
 served and vicarious sufferings — according to a 
 notion so carefully inculcated in the ancient rites of 
 religion—rendered the Deity propitious to the real 
 offender. 
 
 It was obvious, indeed, in the case before us, 
 that the ransom price could be no other than an 
 atonement offered to divine Justice, which, in 
 
 k See the manner of pointing this passage in Griesbach's Greek 
 Testament. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 209 
 
 sparing the guilty, and much more in justifying the 
 ungodly, must necessarily have been violated ; and 
 something widely differing from silver and gold 
 was requisite to this end. 
 
 Now it is worthy of remark, that the same word 
 which supplies the term mSO-, propitiatory, is 
 equally used for the ransoming of a prisoner out of 
 captivity, as for the atonement made by the priest 
 upon the altar ; and, what will appear, to some of 
 my readers, still more extraordinary, the same 
 word is used for a bribe given to an unjust judge to 
 induce him to screen the guilty from deserved 
 punishment. 
 
 The meaning of this word "ISD, which applies in 
 common to these three cases, is that of covering ; as 
 in our own language we speak of covering a loss, 
 or damage, when something equivalent is supplied 
 to make good the deficiency which had been cre- 
 ated. In the case of the captive, the price paid for 
 his ransom, or as a commutation for his crimes, 
 might, by an easy figure, be supposed to cover the 
 loss, which the conqueror, or aggrieved party sus- 
 tained in the personal services of his prisoner: or, 
 it was what his adversary deemed an equivalent 
 for his forfeited life. So, when the term is applied 
 to the sacrifice offered to the Almighty, the same idea 
 is evident ; only in this case that which covers the 
 offence, instead of being the payment of a sum 
 of money, is the substitution of an innocent vic- 
 tim to suffer, in the place and stead of the guilty. 
 
210 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 Lastly, in regard to the unjust action of the venal 
 judge, we perceive the same notion in the effects 
 of the proffered bribe. It covers the offender and 
 the defects of his cause ; it is, in the eyes of the 
 wicked magistrate, an equivalent for the violation 
 of justice. " Of whose hands," says Samuel, " have 
 I received a bribe, to blind mine eyes therewith 1 ." 
 
 The second application of this idea, as we have 
 already seen, bears the strictest affinity of the 
 three, to the manner in which our gracious Re- 
 deemer delivers us from the wrath to come. It 
 was in truth a practice, purposely invented, to pre- 
 figure and represent the mode in which the pro- 
 mised Messiah should ransom his people from the 
 punishment of their transgressions. 
 
 The notion of a vicarious sacrifice must in itself 
 be acknowledged to be the most extravagant and un- 
 likely means of procuring the pardon of sin, that could 
 have entered into the mind of man — to suppose that 
 the sufferings and slaughter of any innocent animal 
 could render the just God propitious to the real 
 offender, while he beheld him besprinkled with its 
 blood, or eating its mangled limbs, or when he per- 
 ceived the savour of its roasting fat ascending up to 
 heaven ! And yet this very notion has prevailed 
 in all ages and nations ; and for some great 
 purpose or other was inculcated by Revelation 
 itself. 
 
 1 U3— 1 Sam. xii. 3- 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 211 
 
 Abel offered his acceptable offering from the 
 firstlings of his flock. It was the grateful smell of 
 a burning sacrifice, which is represented as in- 
 ducing the Almighty to promise Noah that he would 
 not again punish the wickedness of mankind by a 
 general deluge. 
 
 The Patriarchs worshipped with sacrifice. 
 
 When the Gentiles had lost the knowledge of the 
 true God, and adored in his stead their abominable 
 idols, still they almost universally retained the 
 notion, that the anger of their gods was to be ap- 
 peased by bloody sacrifice. Nay, playing the fool 
 in their imaginations m , and supposing the more ex- 
 cellent the victim the more acceptable the sacrifice, 
 they not unfrequently immolated human beings, 
 and sometimes even their own children, in their 
 horrid rites. 
 
 Among the Jews, whose religious institutions 
 and ceremonies were appointed and ordered, in 
 their minutest circumstances, by immediate Re- 
 velation, we still find the expiatory sacrifice to be 
 the leading and most essential object in their ex- 
 ternal and public worship. From all these facts we 
 argue, that the sacrificing of animals, as a religious 
 ceremony, was a divine appointment, destined to 
 prefigure to fallen man the mode of his redemption 
 through a crucified Saviour. 
 
 We may easily conceive, that it would soon have 
 been understood among mankind, that a isd, a 
 
 m 'Efj.ciTcctaQnffoii/ evtsk ^ta^ynr/Aoij. Rom. i. 21. 
 
 P2 
 
212 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 covering, might be found to pacify the rage of a 
 conqueror, to induce him to spare the life of his 
 captive, and to restore him to his friends — his re- 
 deemers. It would also too often have been found 
 among the administrators of justice, that a n3D 
 might be brought by those who could afford it, to 
 screen the offender from punishment. But unless 
 God himself had taught it, it is inconceivable that 
 man would ever have extended the notion of a ")BD 
 in relation to the justification of his soul in the pre- 
 sence of God. What could be offered to the just 
 Judge of all the earth ? Where could an equiva- 
 lent be found to make a commutation, or afford a 
 ransom? It must surely have been felt by all, that, 
 to use the language of the Psalmist, " none of them 
 could redeem his brother, nor give to God a ran- 
 som for him — nED, his covering. — For the redemp- 
 tion of their souls is precious and it ceaseth for 
 ever n ' 
 
 And yet the institution of sacrifice, as we have 
 seen, did certainly convey this notion, and man- 
 kind were taught to look forward to something of 
 the sort, as the means of their deliverance from the 
 displeasure of the Almighty. And moreover, by 
 this religious rite, the worshippers of God were 
 plainly instructed, that the 122 to be paid for them 
 would be the substitution of an innocent being to 
 suffer, in the place and stead of the guilty. 
 
 n Ps. xlix. 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 213 
 
 But where could such a victim be found ? Carnal 
 and gross indeed must have been the mind that 
 could suppose it saw, in any of the appointed offer- 
 ings of those days, an equivalent for the ransom of 
 the soul — that could suppose it " possible for the 
 blood of bulls and goats to take away sin." It was 
 a question of difficult solution indeed : " Where- 
 with shall I come before the Lord, or bow myself 
 before the high God ? Shall I come before him 
 with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 
 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, 
 or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I 
 give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of 
 my body for the sin of my soul°?" 
 
 But the mystery which kings and prophets de- 
 sired to see, then began to be unfolded, when the 
 great forerunner of the Messiah, looking upon Jesus, 
 exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
 away the sin of the world p ." In the sacrifice there- 
 fore of the Lord Jesus Christ — dying " the just 
 for the unjust q" — " He who knew no sin being 
 made sin for us, that we might be made the righte- 
 ousness of God in him 1 ," we contemplate that 
 which the Almighty Sovereign considers as an 
 equivalent for the forfeited lives of his rebellious 
 creatures. There is in this oblation a price which 
 forms a "133 — a covering, not to blind the eyes of 
 
 Micah, vi. 6. p John. * 1 Pet. iii. IS 
 
 r 2 Cor. v. 21. 
 
214 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 an unrighteous judge while the course of justice is 
 perverted, but which affords a consideration, which 
 the most holy God esteems to be perfectly satis- 
 factory in behalf of the claims of violated justice ; 
 so that, in strictest equity, he may now proceed to 
 clear the guilty — nay, to justify the wicked. — " In 
 the blood or sufferings of Christ, God's righteous- 
 ness is manifested, that he is just, and the justifier 
 of him that believeth on Jesus." 
 
 Thus we are informed, in what manner the great 
 Redeemer has ransomed his people — they are 
 bought with a price, not of silver and gold, but 
 with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb slain 
 in sacrifice 8 . " He himself has borne our sins in 
 his own body upon the tree*." — " His blood 
 cleanseth from all sin V — " By his own blood he 
 entered in once into the holy place, having ob- 
 tained eternal redemption for us w ." 
 
 Secondly, Christ is the Deliverer of his people 
 from the hand of their enemies and oppressors. 
 This, as we have seen, is one part of the character 
 of a btto — a Redeemer. This notion of redemption 
 must be familiar to every reader of Scripture— a 
 redemption not by price or ransom, but by the op- 
 posing cf force to force. 
 
 It was in the character of their blto, Redeemer, 
 that the God of Israel is represented as delivering 
 
 s 1 Pet. i. 19. * 1 Pet. ii. 24. u 1 John, i. 7- 
 
 w Hcb. ix. 12. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 215 
 
 his people from the tyranny of Pharaoh, and from 
 their Egyptian bondage. " And I will redeem you 
 1 — wbiM— with a stretched-out arm, and with great 
 judgments V The deliverance of the Jews from 
 Babylon by the victories of Cyrus, and many of 
 the temporal deliverances of this nation, are also 
 described under the notion of r6tf3 — the redemp- 
 tion, which a kinsman has accomplished for his 
 oppressed relative. " The high God was their 
 Redeemer." 
 
 The allusion indeed is figurative, if you respect 
 the Jewish nation alone — " Israel after the flesh." 
 But we are taught to consider all these transactions 
 as appointed types and allegories, to illustrate the 
 various parts of that salvation, which the incar- 
 nate Saviour, the woman's seed, and therefore, 
 strictly speaking, our kinsman and bm, should ac- 
 complish for his church — " the true Israel of God." 
 
 In this capacity, then, he not only brings the 
 price of our ransom, but appears as " the Captain 
 of our Salvation," that he may redeem his people 
 out of the hand of their enemies. And, agreeably 
 with this notion, St. Paul in one place translates 
 ^JO, ' 'O puofxsvog, the Deliverer, the Rescuer y . 
 
 Now we are informed by the word of God, that 
 a powerful enemy has led captive the fallen sons of 
 Adam. He that seduced our first parents is desig- 
 nated as " the Spirit that now worketh in the 
 
 *Exod. vi. 6. yRom. xi. 26. 
 
216 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 children of disobedience." — " He is the God of this 
 world," and the impenitent are " led captive by him 
 at his will." With this ' prince of darkness/ and with 
 his ' principalities and powers' the combat must be 
 maintained, in order to our escape from spiritual 
 bondage. " Shall the prey be taken from the 
 mighty, or the lawful captive [or rather, the captive 
 of the terrible 2 ] delivered? But thus saith the 
 Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be 
 taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be 
 delivered ; for I will contend with him that con- 
 tendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. 
 And I will feed them that oppress thee with their 
 own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their own 
 blood, as with sweet wine ; and all flesh shall know 
 that I the Lord am thy Saviour, and thy Redeemer, 
 the mighty one of Jacob V 
 
 In this passage we notice, that a combination of 
 the wicked is described as, on the part of Satan, 
 ready to oppose the deliverance of the redeemed 
 of the Lord. And the whole history of Christ's 
 church militant here on earth may serve to illus- 
 trate this point. 
 
 And there is yet, besides, another enemy, who, 
 according to the scriptural representation, is ar- 
 rayed against us, namely, Sin — sin, considered as 
 a powerful principle in human nature, which unless 
 combated by a stronger arm than that of man would 
 
 ^ Bishop Lowth. a Isai. xlix. 3 last. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 217 
 
 still prevail to bind, as often as released, and drag 
 back again into captivity the ransomed prisoners of 
 the Lord. 
 
 But here also we experience ' the mighty hand' 
 and ' out- stretched arm' of our great Redeemer. 
 " He will subdue our iniquities 15 ." — " Sin. shall 
 not have dominion over you ." — " The Lord knows 
 how to succour them that are tempted." — " There 
 shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall 
 turn away ungodliness from Jacob. For this is 
 my covenant unto them, when I shall take away 
 their sins." 
 
 The Christian, as is beautifully represented in 
 our baptismal service, is enlisted under the ban- 
 ner of the cross, to fight against sin, the world, and 
 the devil. And the great Captain of our Salvation, 
 it will be found, has opened a way for his ransomed 
 to pass in safety ; we follow him to victory and a 
 crown. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he 
 has visited and redeemed his people, and has 
 raised up a mighty salvation for us in the house of 
 his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his 
 holy prophets, which have been since the world 
 began ; that we should be saved from our enemies 
 and from the hand of them that hate us." — " That 
 we being delivered out of the hands of our ene- 
 mies, might serve him without fear, in holiness 
 and righteousness before him all the days of our 
 life.'" 
 
 b Micah, v vii. 19. c Rom. vi, 14. 
 
218 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 Does Satan then oppose? Contend he may, 
 prevail he cannot ! " The God of peace shall 
 bruise Satan under your feet shortly." Does the 
 world distress ? "In the world ye shall have tri- 
 bulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome 
 the world." — " Greater is He that is in you, than 
 he that is in the world." 
 
 Is the Christian, through the law of sin that 
 works in his members, bound and dragged captive ; 
 and, for very wretchedness, does he cry out for his 
 deliverer? He shall, with Paul, " thank God 
 through Jesus Christ his Lord d ." — " Let Israel 
 hope in the Lord : for with the Lord there is mercy, 
 and with him is plenteous redemption ; and he shall 
 redeem Israel from all his iniquities' 5 ." 
 
 Lastly, we are to consider the Redeemer in his 
 peculiar character as the Avenger of the blood of a 
 murdered kinsman. And in this view the sacred 
 Scriptures frequently lead us to consider the re- 
 demption, which our Almighty Saviour accomplishes 
 for his people. 
 
 It is true indeed that the enemies of the children 
 of God cannot prevail to kill their souls ; to separate 
 them from the love of Christ ; or to pluck them out 
 of his heavenly Father's hands : but, against their 
 bodies, and in all their temporal concerns and 
 interests in this present life, their enemies, the 
 
 d Rom. vii. e Ps. cxxx. 7, S. 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 219 
 
 Lord so permitting, may prevail ; and their ruin, in 
 the eyes of men, be complete. " They shall fall by 
 the sword," as we read in the word of prophecy, 
 " and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many 
 days — even to the time of the end f ." 
 
 But by whatever hand these violences shall have 
 been offered, vengeance is sure : " for their Re- 
 deemer is strom /" He heard the voice of the blood 
 of the righteous Abel, which the earth had drunk 
 from the murderer's hand ; and it appears, not- 
 withstanding the Christian's prayers for their ene- 
 mies, — for they desire not the evil day, — yet in 
 the ears of the Lord of Hosts, their injuries cry 
 aloud for vengeance. For it is said, " Shall not 
 God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night 
 unto him, though he bear long with them ? I tell you, 
 that he will avenge them speedily g ." 
 
 Nay, even the disembodied spirits of God's per- 
 secuted people, are represented, as making the 
 same demand on their Judge and Avenger. " I 
 saw under the altar the souls of them that were 
 slain for the word of God, and for the testimony 
 which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, 
 saying, How long, O Lord God, holy and true, 
 dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them 
 that dwell on the earth 11 ? " And, accordingly, that 
 great and final catastrophe, which we expect at the 
 return of Christ into this world, " when he shall 
 
 f Dan. xi. 33. s Luke, xviii. 7, 8. h Rev. vi. 9, 10. 
 
220 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 punish the hosts of the high ones, which are on 
 high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth, is 
 called the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the 
 year of recompense for the controversy of ZionV' 
 
 The prophecy contained in the sixty-third chapter 
 of Isaiah is most remarkable, and affords a striking 
 representation of the Saviour, in the character of the 
 Redeemer, or Avenger of blood. " Who is this 
 that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from 
 Bozrah ? This, that is glorious in his apparel, 
 travelling in the greatness of his strength ? I that 
 speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Where- 
 fore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments 
 like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? I have 
 trodden the wine-press alone (and of the people 
 there was none with me) : for I will tread them in 
 mine anger, and trample them in my fury ; and their 
 blood shall be sprinkled upon my ^garments, and 
 I will stain all my raiments. For the day of ven- 
 geance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed 
 is comeV' 
 
 1 Isai. xxxiv. S. 
 
 k The transaction and dialogue in this passage seems to have 
 been a visionary representation, which the Prophet saw. From 
 Edom and Bozrah, the residence of the most troublesome enemies 
 of the Jewish people in that day, and which therefore are used as 
 typical of the abode of the adversaries of the church, wherever 
 that abode may be, when the prophecy shall receive its fulfilment 
 — the Prophet sees one advancing in great state and majesty, like 
 a conqueror returning in triumph, (nj7¥, reclinato capite incedens 
 ut victor triumphans.) In answer to the Prophet's inquiry, the 
 character in the vision announces himself, " I that speak in 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 221 
 
 We find also in some parts of Scripture that the 
 Lord is even represented as sanctifying himself in 
 the enemies of his people when he avenges their 
 cause, as though, after the notion entertained of the 
 redeemers of old, something of pollution or dis- 
 honour might seem to attach to his great name, till 
 this vengeance had been executed \ Ah ! how ex- 
 tensive may be the meaning of that prayer, which 
 our divine Master has put into our mouths, " Hal- 
 lowed be thy name !" 
 
 Again, not only when the people of God fall 
 
 righteousness, mighty to save " — I that am faithful to my promise, 
 and am able to perform what I have undertaken. The vision in 
 the nineteenth of Revelations exhibits the same character, and I 
 conceive foretels the same event. " And I saw heaven opened, and 
 behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called 
 Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make 
 war *." 
 
 The glaring colours of the victor's garments had at first struck 
 the Prophet's attention (j7l»n, acutus, acris colore, i. e., rubicundus, 
 puniceusf). But on his nearer approach, they assumed the ap- 
 penrance of the clothes of one that had been treading the wine-fat. 
 And so in the parallel passage in the Revelation, he is said to " be 
 clothed in a garment dipped in blood." The Prophet asks the 
 meaning of this appearance. He is answered, that he has trod the 
 wine-press ; treading the wine-press being an emblem of a great 
 slaughter executed upon the enemy. " He treadeth the wine- 
 press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." (Rev. xix. 
 15.) The stains which the Prophet sees are explained, moreover, 
 to be the juice — the ' life's blood' of his enemies. And the Re- 
 deemer states the occasion, " And I have polluted (Tbitlti) all my 
 garments, for the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year 
 of my redeemed (i^lto) was come." 
 
 1 Ezek. xxxviii. 16. 32. 
 
 * Ver. 11. t Bochart in Simon. 
 
222 AN ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 victims to the rage of persecutors, is the honour of 
 their Redeemer appealed to, but even when they 
 meet with death in the common course of nature. 
 Death itself is considered as an enemy that has 
 violated the rights of the Redeemer's family, and 
 has ' intermeddled to his destruction.' " From the 
 hand of death will I redeem them. O Death, I 
 will be thy plagues ; O Hades, I will be thy de- 
 struction. Repentance shall be hid from mine 
 eyes m ." — « The last enemy that shall be destroyed 
 is death"." 
 
 It seems to have been with this view of redemp- 
 tion, that the afflicted Job comforted himself, in 
 what he conceived dying circumstances, while he 
 contemplated the wretched and disgusting state of 
 his diseased body. " Smitten with sore boils from 
 the sole of his foot unto his crown:" — " his flesh 
 clothed with worms, and clods of dust ; his skin 
 broken, and become loathsome ;" yet could he say, 
 " I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall 
 stand at the latter day upon the earth ° : and though, 
 after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my 
 
 m Hos. xiii. 14. n l Cor. xv. 
 
 Or, " he shall stand upon, or arise over, the dust." — Dust 
 being put for the state of the dead as it respects the body. " Dust 
 thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." — " Now shall I sleep 
 in the dust." (Job, vii. 21.) " Many that sleep in the dust shall 
 awake." (Dan. xii. 2.) " Thy dead men shall live, together with 
 my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell 
 in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
 cast out the dead." (Isa. xxvi. 19.) 
 
CHARACTER OF THE REDEEMER. 223 
 
 flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, 
 and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though 
 my reins be consumed within me." And St. Paul, 
 agreeably with this notion, calls the resurrection of 
 the body, or its deliverance from mortality, the 
 redemption of the body. 
 
 What a comfortable and encouraging reflection 
 is this to the believer in Christ, contemplating, as 
 each sooner or later must, the gradual victory of 
 death over his perishable frame : and that too, per- 
 haps, by some painful and loathsome disease. — 
 Daily he perceives its progress : all palliatives fail : 
 he is pronounced incurable ; or the disorder admits 
 of no remedy. The helpless victim must submit. 
 But One lives above, who will fully avenge his 
 cause on this last enemy, and make him more than 
 conqueror — " I know that my Redeemer liveth!" 
 
 Even in the conflict he shall not " see death," or 
 meet the eye of the victor over his mortal part. 
 Angels shall convey his soul to the resting-place of 
 the spirits of the just — " He is not found, for God 
 has translated him." O Death, where is thy sting? 
 O Hades, where is thy victory ? His soul shall 
 abide with Christ in mansions fitted for its resi- 
 dence, in great, though still unfinished happiness, 
 till the Almighty Redeemer shall stand over the 
 dust, and then shall that " which was sown in cor- 
 ruption be raised in incorruption ; that which was 
 sown in dishonour, shall be raised in glory ; that 
 which was sown in weakness, raised in power ; 
 
224 ESSAY ON THE NAME AND 
 
 that which was sown a natural body, shall be 
 raised a spiritual body." 
 
 And, may the Giver of all grace grant that, both 
 in viewing our own dissolution, and in performing 
 the last office of earthly friendship towards our 
 departed friends, we may be able to join, in faith, 
 the prayer of our church, " beseeching God, that it 
 may please him, of his gracious goodness, shortly to 
 accomplish the number of his elect, and to hasten 
 his kingdom ; that we, with all those that are de- 
 parted in the true faith of his holy name, may have 
 our perfect consummation of bliss, both in body and 
 soul, in his eternal and everlasting glory, through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 
 
 To conclude — In view of all these, so great and 
 needful benefits, to be expected from the Lord 
 Jesus Chiist, in the character of our Redeemer, 
 how important the inquiry ! Who may claim kin- 
 dred with the Son of God 1 The answer is not dif- 
 ficult — " As many as received him, to them gave 
 he power to become the sons of God, even to them 
 that believe on his name, which were born not of 
 blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of 
 man, but of GodV And faith in God is ever 
 stated to be the means by which man receives in 
 personal application the benefits of Christ's re- 
 demption. He is " set forth to be a propitiation 
 through faith.''' And this is declared to be " the 
 
 p John, i. 12. 
 
CHARACTER OP THE REDEEMER. 225 
 
 victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.' ; 
 — " If we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our 
 Lord from the dead, we are assured that we shall 
 be saved. For he was delivered for our offences, 
 and raised again for our justification V' 
 
 Again, we read, " For it became Him, for whom 
 are all things, and by whom are all things, in 
 bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Cap- 
 tain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 
 For both he that sanctifieth, and they that are 
 
 Sanctified, are all of one ; for whieh rause he is not 
 ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will de- 
 clare thy name unto my brethren ; in the midst of 
 the church will I sing praise unto thee. And 
 again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Be- 
 hold I and the children, which God has given me. 
 Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of 
 flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the 
 sameV— " He took on him the seed of Abraham 8 " 
 — " And" saith another scripture, " if ye believe 
 in Christ, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs 
 according to the promise." 
 
 Let it be remembered then, that in one family 
 alone—in the family of Abraham, can kindred be 
 claimed with the Great Redeemer: and that the 
 manifest admission into this family, as we have 
 seen, is by faith alone. 
 
 But let not the nature of true faith be mistaken— 
 
 « Rom, iv. 24, 25. * Heb. ii, 10, &c. • Gal. iii. 29, 
 
 Q 
 
226 ESSAY ON THE REDEEMER. 
 
 " The faith, which overcometh the world, consists 
 not in the involuntary assent of the mind to his- 
 torical evidence, nor in its assent, perhaps still 
 more involuntary, to the conclusions of arguments 
 from facts proved and admitted. All this know- 
 ledge and all this understanding the devils possess, 
 yet have not faith; and believing without faith 
 they tremble. Faith is not merely a speculative, but 
 a practical acknowledgment of Jesus as the Christ 
 — an effort or motion of the mind towards God, 
 
 when the sinner, convinced of ein, accepts with 
 
 thankfulness the proferred terms of pardon ; and, in 
 humble confidence, applying individually to self 
 the benefit of the general atonement, in the ele- 
 vated language of a venerabk father of the church, 
 drinks of the stream which flows from the Re- 
 deemer's wounded side. The effect is, that, in a 
 little, he is filled with that perfect love of God 
 which casteth out fear — he cleaves to God with the 
 entire affection of the soul ; and, from this active 
 lively faith, overcoming the world, subduing carnal 
 self, all these good works do necessarily spring, 
 which God has before ordained that we should walk 
 in them 1 ." 
 
 1 Bishop Horsley's Sermons, vol. i. p. 192. 
 THE END. 
 
 London :— Printed by W. Clowes, Northumberland Court. 
 
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