Song of Solomon 2 commentary

Believers are beautiful, as clothed in the righteousness of Christ; and fragrant, as adorned with the graces of his Spirit; and they thrive under the refreshing beams of the Sun of righteousness. The lily is a very noble plant in the East; it grows to a considerable height, but has a weak stem. The church is weak in herself, yet is strong in Him that supports her. The wicked, the daughters of this world, who have no love to Christ, are as thorns, worthless and useless, noxious and hurtful. Corruptions are thorns in the flesh; but the lily now among thorns, shall be transplanted into that paradise where there is no brier or thorn. The world is a barren tree to the soul; but Christ is a fruitful one. And when poor souls are parched with convictions of sin, with the terrors of the law, or the troubles of this world, weary and heavy laden, they may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it. Believers have tasted that the Lord Jesus is gracious; his fruits are all the precious privileges of the new covenant, purchased by his blood, and communicated by his Spirit; promises are sweet to a believer, and precepts also. Pardons are sweet, and peace of conscience sweet. If our mouths are out of taste for the pleasures of sin, Divine consolations will be sweet to us. Christ brings the soul to seek and to find comforts through his ordinances, which are as a banqueting-house where his saints feast with him. The love of Christ, manifested by his death, and by his word, is the banner he displays, and believers resort to it. How much better is it with the soul when sick from love to Christ, than when surfeited with the love of this world! And though Christ seemed to have withdrawn, yet he was even then a very present help. All his saints are in his hand, which tenderly holds their aching heads. Finding Christ thus nigh to her, the soul is in great care that her communion with him is not interrupted. We easily grieve the Spirit by wrong tempers. Let those who have comfort, fear sinning it away.

The church pleases herself with thoughts of further communion with Christ. None besides can speak to the heart. She sees him come. This may be applied to the prospect the Old Testament saints had of Christ's coming in the flesh. He comes as pleased with his own undertaking. He comes speedily. Even when Christ seems to forsake, it is but for a moment; he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness. The saints of old saw him, appearing through the sacrifices and ceremonial institutions. We see him through a glass darkly, as he manifests himself through the lattices. Christ invites the new convert to arise from sloth and despondency, and to leave sin and worldly vanities, for union and communion with him. The winter may mean years passed in ignorance and sin, unfruitful and miserable, or storms and tempests that accompanied his conviction of guilt and danger. Even the unripe fruits of holiness are pleasant unto Him whose grace has produced them. All these encouraging tokens and evidences of Divine favour, are motives to the soul to follow Christ more fully. Arise then, and come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ. This blessed change is owing wholly to the approaches and influences of the Sun of righteousness.

The church is Christ's dove; she returns to him, as her Noah. Christ is the Rock, in whom alone she can think herself safe, and find herself easy, as a dove in the hole of a rock, when struck at by the birds of prey. Christ calls her to come boldly to the throne of grace, having a great High Priest there, to tell what her request is. Speak freely, fear not a slight or a repulse. The voice of prayer is sweet and acceptable to God; those who are sanctified have the best comeliness. The first risings of sinful thoughts and desires, the beginnings of trifling pursuits which waste the time, trifling visits, small departures from truth, whatever would admit some conformity to the world; all these, and many more, are little foxes which must be removed. This is a charge to believers to mortify their sinful appetites and passions, which are as little foxes, that destroy their graces and comforts, and crush good beginnings. Whatever we find a hinderance to us in that which is good, we must put away. He feedeth among the lilies; this shows Christ's gracious presence among believers. He is kind to all his people. It becomes them to believe this, when under desertion and absence, and so to ward off temptations. The shadows of the Jewish dispensation were dispelled by the dawning of the gospel day. And a day of comfort will come after a night of desertion. Come over the mountains of Bether, "the mountains that divide," looking forward to that day of light and love. Christ will come over every separating mountain to take us home to himself.

CHAPTER 2

So 2:1-17.

1. rose--if applied to Jesus Christ, it, with the white lily (lowly, 2Co 8:9), answers to "white and ruddy" (So 5:10). But it is rather the meadow-saffron: the Hebrew means radically a plant with a pungent bulb, inapplicable to the rose. So Syriac. It is of a white and violet color [Maurer, Gesenius, and Weiss]. The bride thus speaks of herself as lowly though lovely, in contrast with the lordly "apple" or citron tree, the bridegroom (So 2:3); so the "lily" is applied to her (So 2:2),

Sharon--(Is 35:1, 2). In North Palestine, between Mount Tabor and Lake Tiberias (1Ch 5:16). Septuagint and Vulgate translate it, "a plain"; though they err in this, the Hebrew Bible not elsewhere favoring it, yet the parallelism to valleys shows that, in the proper name Sharon, there is here a tacit reference to its meaning of lowliness. Beauty, delicacy, and lowliness, are to be in her, as they were in Him (Mt 11:29).

2. Jesus Christ to the Bride (Mt 10:16; Joh 15:19; 1Jo 5:19). Thorns, equivalent to the wicked (2Sa 23:6; Psa 57:4).

daughters--of men, not of God; not "the virgins." "If thou art the lily of Jesus Christ, take heed lest by impatience, rash judgments, and pride, thou thyself become a thorn" [Luther].

3. Her reply. apple--generic including the golden citron, pomegranate, and orange apple (Pr 25:11). He combines the shadow and fragrance of the citron with the sweetness of the orange and pomegranate fruit. The foliage is perpetual; throughout the year a succession of blossoms, fruit, and perfume (Jas 1:17).

among the sons--parallel to "among the daughters" (So 2:2). He alone is ever fruitful among the fruitless wild trees (Psa 89:6; He 1:9).

I sat ... with ... delight--literally, "I eagerly desired and sat" (Psa 94:19; Mr 6:31; Ep 2:6; 1Pe 1:8).

shadow--(Psa 121:5; Is 4:6; 25:4; 32:2). Jesus Christ interposes the shadow of His cross between the blazing rays of justice and us sinners.

fruit--Faith plucks it (Pr 3:18). Man lost the tree of life (Ge 3:22, 23). Jesus Christ regained it for him; he eats it partly now (Psa 119:103; Joh 6:55, 57; 1Pe 2:3); fully hereafter (Re 2:7; 22:2, 14); not earned by the sweat of his brow, or by his righteousness (Ro 10:1-21). Contrast the worldling's fruit (De 32:32; Lu 15:16).

4. Historically fulfilled in the joy of Simeon and Anna in the temple, over the infant Saviour (Lu 2:25-38), and that of Mary, too (compare Lu 1:53); typified (Ex 24:9-11). Spiritually, the bride or beloved is led (So 2:4) first into the King's chambers, thence is drawn after Him in answer to her prayer; is next received on a grassy couch under a cedar kiosk; and at last in a "banqueting hall," such as, Josephus says, Solomon had in his palace, "wherein all the vessels were of gold" (Antiquities, 8:5,2). The transition is from holy retirement to public ordinances, church worship, and the Lord's Supper (Psa 36:8). The bride, as the queen of Sheba, is given "all her desire" (1Ki 10:13; Psa 63:5; Ep 3:8, 16-21; Php 4:19); type of the heavenly feast hereafter (Is 25:6, 9).

his banner ... love--After having rescued us from the enemy, our victorious captain (He 2:10) seats us at the banquet under a banner inscribed with His name, "love" (1Jo 4:8). His love conquered us to Himself; this banner rallies round us the forces of Omnipotence, as our protection; it marks to what country we belong, heaven, the abode of love, and in what we most glory, the cross of Jesus Christ, through which we triumph (Ro 8:37; 1Co 15:57; Re 3:21). Compare with "over me," "underneath are the everlasting arms" (De 33:27).

5. flagons--Maurer prefers translating, "dried raisin cakes"; from the Hebrew root "fire," namely, dried by heat. But the "house of wine" (So 2:4, Margin) favors "flagons"; the "new wine" of the kingdom, the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

apples--from the tree (So 2:3), so sweet to her, the promises of God.

sick of love--the highest degree of sensible enjoyment that can be attained here. It may be at an early or late stage of experience. Paul (2Co 12:7). In the last sickness of J. Welch, he was overheard saying, "Lord, hold thine hand, it is enough; thy servant is a clay vessel, and can hold no more" [Fleming, Fulfilling of the Scriptures]. In most cases this intensity of joy is reserved for the heavenly banquet. Historically, Israel had it, when the Lord's glory filled the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple, so that the priests could not stand to minister: so in the Christian Church on Pentecost. The bride addresses Christ mainly, though in her rapture she uses the plural, "Stay (ye) me," speaking generally. So far from asking the withdrawal of the manifestations which had overpowered her, she asks for more: so "fainteth for" (Psa 84:2): also Peter, on the mount of transfiguration (Lu 9:33), "Let us make ... not knowing what he said."

6. The "stay" she prayed for (So 2:5) is granted (De 33:12, 27; Psa 37:24; Is 41:16). None can pluck from that embrace (Joh 10:28-30). His hand keeps us from falling (Mt 14:30, 31); to it we may commit ourselves (Psa 31:5).

left hand--the left is the inferior hand, by which the Lord less signally manifests His love, than by the right; the secret hand of ordinary providence, as distinguished from that of manifested grace (the "right"). They really go together, though sometimes they seem divided; here both are felt at once. Theodoret takes the left hand, equivalent to judgment and wrath; the right, equivalent to honor and love. The hand of justice no longer is lifted to smite, but is under the head of the believer to support (Is 42:21); the hand of Jesus Christ pierced by justice for our sin supports us. The charge not to disturb the beloved occurs thrice: but the sentiment here, "His left hand," &c., nowhere else fully; which accords with the intensity of joy (So 2:5) found nowhere else; in So 8:3, it is only conditional, "should embrace," not "doth."

7. by the roes--not an oath but a solemn charge, to act as cautiously as the hunter would with the wild roes, which are proverbially timorous; he must advance with breathless circumspection, if he is to take them; so he who would not lose Jesus Christ and His Spirit, which is easily grieved and withdrawn, must be tender of conscience and watchful (Eze 16:43; Ep 4:30; 5:15; 1Th 5:19). In Margin, title of Psa 22:1, Jesus Christ is called the "Hind of the morning," hunted to death by the dogs (compare So 2:8, 9, where He is represented as bounding on the hills, Psa 18:33). Here He is resting, but with a repose easily broken (Zep 3:17). It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank.

my love--in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself (So 3:5; 8:7), where, as here, the context requires it to be applied to Him, not her. She too is "love" (So 7:6), for His love calls forth her love. Presumption in the convert is as grieving to the Spirit as despair. The lovingness and pleasantness of the hind and roe (Pr 5:19) is included in this image of Jesus Christ.

Canticle II.--(So 2:8-3:5)--John the Baptist's Ministry.

8. voice--an exclamation of joyful surprise, evidently after a long silence. The restlessness of sin and fickleness in her had disturbed His rest with her, which she had professed not to wish disturbed "till He should please." He left her, but in sovereign grace unexpectedly heralds His return. She awakes, and at once recognizes His voice (1Sa 3:9, 10; Joh 10:4); her sleep is not so sinfully deep as in So 5:2.

leaping--bounding, as the roe does, over the roughest obstacles (2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8); as the father of the prodigal "had compassion and ran" (Lu 15:20).

upon the hills--as the sunbeams glancing from hill to hill. So Margin, title of Jesus Christ (Psa 22:1), "Hind of the morning" (type of His resurrection). Historically, the coming of the kingdom of heaven (the gospel dispensation), announced by John Baptist, is meant; it primarily is the garden or vineyard; the bride is called so in a secondary sense. "The voice" of Jesus Christ is indirect, through "the friend of the bridegroom" (Joh 3:29), John the Baptist. Personally, He is silent during John's ministration, who awoke the long slumbering Church with the cry. "Every hill shall be made low," in the spirit of Elias, on the "rent mountains" (1Ki 19:11; compare Is 52:7). Jesus Christ is implied as coming with intense desire (Lu 22:15; He 10:7), disregarding the mountain hindrances raised by man's sin.

9. he standeth--after having bounded over the intervening space like a roe. He often stands near when our unbelief hides Him from us (Ge 28:16; Re 3:14-20). His usual way; long promised and expected; sudden at last: so, in visiting the second temple (Mal 3:1); so at Pentecost (Ac 2:1, 2); so in visiting an individual soul, Zaccheus (Lu 19:5, 6; Joh 3:8); and so, at the second coming (Mt 24:48, 50; 2Pe 3:4, 10). So it shall be at His second coming (1Th 5:2, 3).

wall--over the cope of which He is first seen; next, He looks through (not forth; for He is outside) at the windows, glancing suddenly and stealthily (not as English Version, "showing Himself") through the lattice. The prophecies, types, &c., were lattice glimpses of Him to the Old Testament Church, in spite of the wall of separation which sin had raised (Joh 8:56); clearer glimpses were given by John Baptist, but not unclouded (Joh 1:26). The legal wall of partition was not to be removed until His death (Ep 2:14, 15; He 10:20). Even now, He is only seen by faith, through the windows of His Word and the lattice of ordinances and sacraments (Lu 24:35; Joh 14:21); not full vision (1Co 13:12); an incentive to our looking for His second coming (Is 33:17; Tit 2:13).

10-11. Loving reassurance given by Jesus Christ to the bride, lest she should think that He had ceased to love her, on account of her unfaithfulness, which had occasioned His temporary withdrawal. He allures her to brighter than worldly joys (Mi 2:10). Not only does the saint wish to depart to be with Him, but He still more desires to have the saint with Him above (Joh 17:24). Historically, the vineyard or garden of the King, here first introduced, is "the kingdom of heaven preached" by John the Baptist, before whom "the law and the prophets were" (Lu 16:16).

12. flowers--tokens of anger past, and of grace come. "The summoned bride is welcome," say some fathers, "to weave from them garlands of beauty, wherewith she may adorn herself to meet the King." Historically, the flowers, &c., only give promise; the fruit is not ripe yet; suitable to the preaching of John the Baptist, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand"; not yet fully come.

the time of ... singing--the rejoicing at the advent of Jesus Christ. Gregory Nyssenus refers the voice of the turtledove to John the Baptist. It with the olive branch announced to Noah that "the rain was over and gone" (Ge 8:11). So John the Baptist, spiritually. Its plaintive "voice" answers to his preaching of repentance (Jr 8:6, 7). Vulgate and Septuagint translate, "The time of pruning," namely, spring (Joh 15:2). The mention of the "turtle's" cooing better accords with our text. The turtledove is migratory (Jr 8:7), and "comes" early in May; emblem of love, and so of the Holy Ghost. Love, too, shall be the keynote of the "new song" hereafter (Is 35:10; Re 1:5; 14:3; 19:6). In the individual believer now, joy and love are here set forth in their earlier manifestations (Mr 4:28).

13. putteth forth--rather, "ripens," literally, "makes red" [Maurer]. The unripe figs, which grow in winter, begin to ripen in early spring, and in June are fully matured [Weiss].

vines with the tender grape--rather, "the vines in flower," literally, "a flower," in apposition with "vines" [Maurer]. The vine flowers were so sweet that they were often put, when dried, into new wine to give it flavor. Applicable to the first manifestations of Jesus Christ, "the true Vine," both to the Church and to individuals; as to Nathanael under the fig tree (Joh 1:48).

Arise, &c.--His call, described by the bride, ends as it began (So 2:10); it is a consistent whole; "love" from first to last (Is 52:1, 2; 2Co 6:17, 18). "Come," in the close of Re 22:17, as at His earlier manifestation (Mt 11:28).

14. dove--here expressing endearment (Psa 74:19). Doves are noted for constant attachment; emblems, also, in their soft, plaintive note, of softened penitents (Is 59:11; Eze 7:16); other points of likeness are their beauty; "their wings covered with silver and gold" (Psa 68:13), typifying the change in the converted; the dove-like spirit, breathed into the saint by the Holy Ghost, whose emblem is the dove; the messages of peace from God to sinful men, as Noah's dove, with the olive branch (Ge 8:11), intimated that the flood of wrath was past; timidity, fleeing with fear from sin and self to the cleft Rock of Ages (Is 26:4, Margin; Ho 11:11); gregarious, flocking together to the kingdom of Jesus Christ (Is 60:8); harmless simplicity (Mt 10:16).

clefts--the refuge of doves from storm and heat (Jr 48:28; see Jr 49:16). Gesenius translates the Hebrew from a different root, "the refuges." But see, for "clefts," Ex 33:18-23. It is only when we are in Christ Jesus that our "voice is sweet (in prayer, So 4:3, 11; Mt 10:20; Ga 4:6, because it is His voice in us; also in speaking of Him, Mal 3:16); and our countenance comely" (Ex 34:29; Psa 27:5; 71:3; Is 33:16; 2Co 3:18).

stairs--(Eze 38:20, Margin), a steep rock, broken into stairs or terraces. It is in "secret places" and rugged scenes that Jesus Christ woos the soul from the world to Himself (Mi 2:10; 7:14). So Jacob amid the stones of Beth-el (Ge 28:11-19); Moses at Horeb (Ex 3:1-22); so Elijah (1Ki 19:9-13); Jesus Christ with the three disciples on a "high mountain apart," at the transfiguration (Mt 17:1); John in Patmos (Re 1:9). "Of the eight beatitudes, five have an afflicted condition for their subject. As long as the waters are on the earth, we dwell in the ark; but when the land is dry, the dove itself will be tempted to wander" [Jeremy Taylor]. Jesus Christ does not invite her to leave the rock, but in it (Himself), yet in holy freedom to lay aside the timorous spirit, look up boldly as accepted in Him, pray, praise, and confess Him (in contrast to her shrinking from being looked at, So 1:6), (Ep 6:19; He 13:15; 1Jo 4:18); still, though trembling, the voice and countenance of the soul in Jesus Christ are pleasant to Him. The Church found no cleft in the Sinaitic legal rock, though good in itself, wherein to hide; but in Jesus Christ stricken by God for us, as the rock smitten by Moses (Nu 20:11), there is a hiding-place (Is 32:2). She praised His "voice" (So 2:8, 10); it is thus that her voice also, though tremulous, is "sweet" to Him here.

15. Transition to the vineyard, often formed in "stairs" (So 2:14), or terraces, in which, amidst the vine leaves, foxes hid.

foxes--generic term, including jackals. They eat only grapes, not the vine flowers; but they need to be driven out in time before the grape is ripe. She had failed in watchfulness before (So 1:6); now when converted, she is the more jealous of subtle sins (Psa 139:23). In spiritual winter certain evils are frozen up, as well as good; in the spring of revivals these start up unperceived, crafty, false teachers, spiritual pride, uncharitableness, &c. (Psa 19:12; Mt 13:26; Lu 8:14; 2Ti 2:17; He 12:15). "Little" sins are parents of the greatest (Ec 10:1; 1Co 5:6). Historically, John the Baptist spared not the fox-like Herod (Lu 13:32), who gave vine-like promise of fruit at first (Mr 6:20), at the cost of his life; nor the viper-Sadducees, &c.; nor the varied subtle forms of sin (Lu 3:7-14).

16. mine ... his--rather, "is for me ... for Him" (Ho 3:3), where, as here, there is the assurance of indissoluble union, in spite of temporary absence. So 2:17, entreating Him to return, shows that He has gone, perhaps through her want of guarding against the "little sins" (So 2:15). The order of the clauses is reversed in So 6:3, when she is riper in faith: there she rests more on her being His; here, on His being hers; and no doubt her sense of love to Him is a pledge that she is His (Joh 14:21, 23; 1Co 8:3); this is her consolation in His withdrawal now.

I am his--by creation (Psa 100:3), by redemption (Joh 17:10; Ro 14:8; 1Co 6:19).

feedeth--as a "roe," or gazelle (So 2:17); instinct is sure to lead him back to his feeding ground, where the lilies abound. So Jesus Christ, though now withdrawn, the bride feels sure will return to His favorite resting-place (So 7:10; Psa 132:14). So hereafter (Re 21:3). Psa 45:1, title, terms his lovely bride's "lilies" [Hengstenberg] pure and white, though among thorns (So 2:2).

17. Night--is the image of the present world (Ro 13:12). "Behold men as if dwelling in subterranean cavern" [Plato, Republic, 7.1].

Until--that is, "Before that," &c.

break--rather, "breathe"; referring to the refreshing breeze of dawn in the East; or to the air of life, which distinguishes morning from the death-like stillness of night. Maurer takes this verse of the approach of night, when the breeze arises after the heat of day (compare Ge 3:8, Margin, with Ge 18:1), and the "shadows" are lost in night (Psa 102:11); thus our life will be the day; death, the night (Joh 9:4). The English Version better accords with (So 3:1). "By night" (Ro 13:12).

turn--to me.

Bether--Mountains of Bithron, separated from the rest of Israel by the Jordan (2Sa 2:29), not far from Bethabara, where John baptized and Jesus was first manifested. Rather, as Margin, "of divisions," and Septuagint, mountains intersected with deep gaps, hard to pass over, separating the bride and Jesus Christ. In So 8:14 the mountains are of spices, on which the roe feeds, not of separation; for at His first coming He had to overpass the gulf made by sin between Him and us (Zec 4:6, 7); in His second, He will only have to come down from the fragrant hill above to take home His prepared bride. Historically, in the ministry of John the Baptist, Christ's call to the bride was not, as later (So 4:8), "Come with me," but "Come away," namely, to meet Me (So 2:2, 10, 13). Sitting in darkness (Mt 4:16), she "waited" and "looked" eagerly for Him, the "great light" (Lu 1:79; 2:25, 38); at His rising, the shadows of the law (Col 2:16, 17; He 10:1) were to "flee away." So we wait for the second coming, when means of grace, so precious now, shall be superseded by the Sun of righteousness (1Co 13:10, 12; Re 21:22, 23). The Word is our light until then (2Pe 1:19).

I am the rose of Sharon - Sharon was a very fruitful place, where David's cattle were fed, 1Chr 27:29. It is mentioned as a place of excellence, Isa 35:2, and as a place of flocks, Isa 65:10, Perhaps it would be better, with almost all the versions, to translate, "I am the rose of the field." The bridegroom had just before called her fair; she with a becoming modesty, represents her beauty as nothing extraordinary, and compares herself to a common flower of the field. This, in the warmth of his affection, he denies, insisting that she as much surpasses all other maidens as the flower of the lily does the bramble, Sol 2:2.

As the apple tree - The bride returns the compliment, and says, As the apple or citron tree is among the trees of the wood, so is the bridegroom among all other men.

I sat down under his shadow - I am become his spouse, and my union with him makes me indescribably happy.

He brought me to the banqueting house - Literally, the house of wine. The ancients preserved their wine, not in barrels or dark cellars under ground, as we do, but in large pitchers, ranged against the wall in some upper apartment in the house, the place where they kept their most precious effects. We have a proof of this in Homer: - Ως φαν· ὁ δ' ὑψοραφον θαλομον κατεβησατο πατρος Ευρυν, ὁθι νητος χρυσος και χαλκος εκειτο, Εσθης τ' εν χηλοισιν, ἁλις τ' ευωδες ελαιον. Εν δε πιθοι οινοιο παλαιου ἡδυποτοιο Εστασαν, ακρητον θειον ποτον εντος εχοντες, Ἑξειης ποτε τοιχον αρηροτες· ειποτ' Οδυσσευς Οικαδε νοστησειε, και αλγεα πολλα μογησας. Κληΐσται δ' επεσαν σανιδες πυκινως αραρυιαι, Δικλιδες· εν δε γυνη ταμιη νυκτας τε και ημαρ Εσχ', κ. τ. λ.. Od. lib. ii., ver. 337.

Meantime the lofty rooms the prince surveys,

Where lay the treasures of th' Ithacian race.

Here, ruddy brass and gold refulgent blazed;

There, polished chests embroider'd gestures graced.

Here, pots of oil breathed forth a rich perfume;

There, jars of wine in rows adorn'd the dome. (Pure flavorous wine, by gods in bounty given,

And worthy to exalt the feasts of heaven).

Untouch'd they stood, till, his long labors o'er,

The great Ulysses reach'd his native shore.

A double strength of bars secured the gates;

Fast by the door wise Euryclea waits, etc.

Pope.

Stay me with flagons - I believe the original words mean some kind of cordials with which we are unacquainted. The versions in general understand some kind of ointment or perfumes by the first term. I suppose the good man was perfectly sincere who took this for his text, and, after having repeated, Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples, for I am sick of love sat down, perfectly overwhelmed with his own feelings, and was not able to proceed! But while we admit such a person's sincerity, who can help questioning his judgment?

I charge you - by the roes - This was probably some rustic mode of adjuration. The verses themselves require little comment. With this verse the first night of the first day is supposed to end.

Behold, he cometh leaping - This appears to be highly characteristic of the gambols of the shepherds, and points out the ecstasy with which those who were enamoured ran to their mates. It is supposed that the second day's eclogue begins at this verse. The author of what was then called A New Translation of Solomon's Song, observes,

1. The bride relates how the bridegroom, attended by his companions, had come under her window, and called upon her to come forth and enjoy the beauties of the spring, Sol 2:9-11, etc.

2. She then returns to her narration, Sol 3:1. The bridegroom did not come according to her wishes. Night came on; she did not find him in her bed; she went out to seek him; found him, and brought him to her mother's pavilion, Sol 3:4; and then, as before, conjures the virgins not to disturb his repose, Sol 3:5.

He standeth behind our wall - This may refer to the wall by which the house was surrounded, the space between which and the house constituted the court. He was seen first behind the wall, and then in the court; and lastly came to the window of his bride's chamber.

The winter is past - Mr. Harmer has made some good collections on this part, from Drs. Shaw and Russet, which I shall transcrilbe. One part of the winter is distinguished from the rest of it by the people of the East, on account of the severity of the cold. At Aleppo it lasts about forty days, and is called by the natives maurbanie. I would propose it to the consideration of the learned, whether the word here used, and translated winter, may not be understood to mean what the Aleppines express by the term maurbanie. It occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament; and another word is used for the rainy part of the year in general. If this thought be admitted, it will greatly illustrate the words of the bridegroom: Lo, the winter is past; the rain is over, and gone. For then the last clause will not be explanatory of the first, and signify that the moist part of the year was entirely past; with which, Dr. Russel assures us, all pleasantness withdraws at Aleppo; but the words will import: "The maurbanie is past and over; the weather is become agreeably warm; the rain too is just ceased, and consequently hath left us the prospect of several days of serenity and undisturbed pleasantness."

The weather of Judea was in this respect, I presume, like that at Algiers; where, after two or three days of rain, there is usually, according to Dr. Shaw, "a week, a fortnight, or more, of fair and good weather. Of such a sort of cessation of rain alone, the bridegroom, methinks, is here to be understood; not of the absolute termination of the rainy season, and the summer droughts being come on. And if so, what can the time that is past mean but the maurbanie? Indeed, Dr. Russel, in giving us an account of the excursions of the English merchants at Aleppo, has undesignedly furnished us with a good comment on this and the two following verses. These gentlemen, it seems, dine abroad under a tent, in spring and autumn on Saturdays, and often on Wednesdays. They do the same during the good weather in winter; but they live at the gardens in April, and part of May. In the heat of the summer they dine at the gardens, as once or twice a week they dine under a tent in autumn and spring." The cold weather is not supposed by Solomon to have been long over, since it is distinctly mentioned; and the Aleppines make these incursions very early; the narcissus flowers during the whole of the maurbanie; the hyacinths and violets at least before it is quite over. The appearing of flowers, then, doth not mean the appearing of the first and earliest flowers, but must rather be understood of the earth's being covered with them; which at Aleppo is not till after the middle of February, a small crane's bill appearing on the banks of the river there about the middle of February, quickly after which comes a profusion of flowers. The nightingales, too, which are there in abundance, not only afford much pleasure by their songs in the gardens, but are also kept tame in the houses, and let out at a small rate to divert such as choose it in the city; so that no entertainments are made in the spring without a concert of these birds. No wonder, then, that Solomon makes the bridegroom speak of the singing of birds; and it teaches us what these birds are, which are expressly distinguished from turtle doves.

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs - The fig tree in Judea bears double crops; the first of which is ripe in spring. But the tree, as I have elsewhere observed, bears figs all the year through, in the climes congenial to it. That is, the fig tree has always ripe or unripe fruit on it. I never saw a healthy tree naked. But in the beginning of spring they grow fast, and become turgid.

The vines with the tender grape - The versions understand this of the flowers of the vine. These were formerly put into the new wine (2 lbs. to every cask) to give it a fine flavour.

My dove - in the clefts of the rock - He compares his bride hiding herself in her secret chambers and closets to a dove in the clefts of the rock.

Take us the foxes - That these were ruinous to vines all authors allow. They love the vine, and they are eaten in autumn in some countries, according to Galen, when they are very fat with eating the grapes. They abounded in Judea; and did most damage when the clusters were young and tender. It is likely that these are the words of the bridegroom to his companions, just as he was entering the apartment of his spouse. "Take care of the vineyard: set the traps for the foxes, which are spoiling the vines; and destroy their young as far as possible."

My beloved is mine - The words of the bride on his entering: "I am thy own; thou art wholly mine."

He feedeth among the lilies - The odor with which he is surrounded is as fine as if he passed the night among the sweetest scented flowers.

Until the day break - Literally, until the day breathe; until the first dawn, which is usually accompanied with the most refreshing breezes.

The shadows flee away - Referring to the evening or setting of the sun, at which all shadows vanish.

The mountains of Bether - Translated also mountains of division, supposed to mean the mountains of Beth-horon.

There was a place called Bithron, 2Sam 2:29, on the other side of Jordan; and as the name signifies Partition, it might have had its name from the circumstance of its being divided or separated from Judea by the river Jordan.

With this chapter the second night is supposed to end.

I - These are the words of the bridegroom. He compares himself to the rose and lilly, for fragrancy and beauty. Sharon, was a very fruitful place, and famous for roses.

1 I Am the rose of Sharon, and the lilly of the valleys .

These are the words either 1. Of the Spouse, continuing her discourse. Or rather 2. Of the Bridegroom, drawing forth the Churches Affections to him. He compares himself to the Rose and Lilly, for fragrancy and beauty. Nor is it in the least degree indecent, that Christ should thus commend himself, partly because his excellency is so transcendently great, that he is free from all suspicion of Vanity and Self-flattery; and partly because it is suitable to the stile of such Writings, and to the present design of recommending himself to the affections of his Spouse. He mentions the Rose of Sharon, which was a very fruitful place, as is evident from 1 Chron. 27. 29. Isa. 33. 9. & 65. 10. and famous for Roses, as may seem probable from Isa. 35. 1, 2. or, as others translate it, the Rose of the field, which may note that Christ is not only pleasant and beautiful, but free and communicative, offering himself to all that come to him. The Lilly is a beautiful and glorious Creature, Mat. 6. 29. especially to one who beholds it through a magnifying Glass. He saith, the Lilly of the valleys, because they grew and flourished best in such low and waterish Grounds.

2 As the lilly among the thorns , so is my love among the daughters .

Compared with Thorns, which it unspeakably exceeds in Glory and Beauty.

So far, and much more, doth my Church or People, excel all other Assemblies or People. The title of Daughter is oft given to whole Nations; whence we read of the Daughter of Babylon, and of Egypt, and of Edom, &c. Isa. 47. 1. Ier. 46. 11. Lam. 4. 21. These are Christs words, to which the Spouse makes the following Reply. And it is observable here, that as Christ is here represented as a Shepherd, and the Spouse as a Country Virgin, so the similitudes here used are agreeable to that estate.

3 As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood , so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

Whose fruit is very pleasant and wholsom.

Which are either barren, or bear ungrateful and worthless fruit.

Being weary and heavy laden with manifold sins and troubles, inward and outward, I confidently reposed my self under his Protection (which is commonly signified by a shadow, as Isa. 4. 6. & 25 4. &c.) and by him was defended from the scorching heat of Gods Wrath, and from the Curse of his fiery Law, and from the mischief or hurt of all sorts of distresses.

The benefits which I received by him, the clear, and full, and certain knowledge of Gods Will, and the way of Salvation, Adoption, and Remission of Sins, Faith, and Repentance, and all manner of Grace, and Assurance of Glory. Thus he was to me both a Sun, and a Shield, as is said, Psal. 84. 11.

Marginal references: Heb. Idelighted and sat down, &c.; Heb. palat.

4 He brought me to the banqueting house , and his banner over me was love .

Heb. House of wine, or, by a common Synecdoche, of feasting. By which he understands the places in which, or the means and instruments by which Believers receive the Graces and Blessings of Christ, to wit, the holy Scriptures, Ministers, & publick Assemblies, & all Christs Institutions.

Or, to, or towards me, by the lifting up or displaying whereof I was invited and encouraged to come in to him, and to list my self under him, as Soldiers are by the lifting up of a Banner or Ensign, of which see Isa. 11. 10. & 49. 22.

The Love of Christ crucified, which, like a Banner, is displaid in the Gospel, whereby sinners are drawn and engaged to come to Christ, see Io[illegible: 1+ letters]. 3. 14. & 12. 32. 2 Cor. 5. 14. The Motto or Device of Christs Banner was not like those of other great Generals, a Lion, or Leopard, or Eagle, but Love, by which alone Christ made all his Conquests.

Marginal references: Heb. house of wine.

5 Stay me with flagons , comfort me with apples ; for I am sick of love .

Or, Support me, keep me from sinking or [illegible: 1+ letters]ainting. The Spouse speaks this to her Bride-maids, the daughters of Ierusalem, as it is expressed v. 7. or to the servants or Friends of the Bridegroom there waiting, and to the Bridegroom himself; as a person ready to faint cries to any or all that are near to him, or her, for help.

With Wine, which is a good cordial, Ps. 104. 15. Pro. 31. 6, 7. and which was there present, v. 4. Flagons are here, and 1 Chr. 16. 3. put for Flagons of Wine, as it is fully expressed, Hos. 3. 1. or for the Wine contained in them, as the Cup is put for Wine, Luk. 22. 20. by a common Metonymy.

With odoriferous Apples, such as Pomgranates, or the like, the smell whereof was grateful and useful to persons ready to faint. By these Metaphors understand the application of the Promises, and the comfortable and quickening influences of the Spirit.

Either 1. With transports of joy, which somtimes causes a fainting of the Spirits, as Gen. 45. 26. 1 Kin. 10. 5. Or 2. With grief for his departure from her, of which we read, Ch. 3. 1, 2. or for fear of it. Or rather 3. With ardent desire of a stricter Union, and clearer discoveries of his Love, and perfect and uninterrupted Communion with him in Glory. That sickness is somtimes the effect of Love hath been oft observed by Physicians.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 span]

6 His left hand is under my head , and his right hand doth embrace me.

As a pillow for me to rest upon. No sooner did I cry out for help, but he was at hand to succour me, and did manifest his tender Care and dear Love to me.

Marginal references: Ch. 8. 3.; Or, was.; Or, did.

7 I charge you , O ye daughters of Ierusalem , by the roes, and by the hinds of the field , that ye stir not up, nor awake my love , till he please .

This verse is spoken either 1. By the Bridegroom, who having reposed the sick Church in his Arms, chargeth them not to disturb her, till she please, as the last clause, in this case, must be rendred. Or rather 2. By the Bride, as may be gathered, 1. From the connexion; because both the foregoing and following words are hers. 2. Because it was more decent for the Bride than for the Bridegroom to give this charge to the Bride-maids, the daughters of Ierusalem; and therefore in all places in this Book, where they are mentioned, the person speaking to them is the Bride, and not the Bridegroom, and particularly Ch. 3. 5. & 8. 4. where this verse is repeated, and is consessedly and evidently spoken by the Spouse.

My Bride-maids, Friends, and Members, over whom I have Authority.

Either 1. By the kindness you have to those pretty and amiable Creatures, as you would not injure nor disturb them, nor drive them away, but please your selves with the sight of them, as Shepherds and Country-Damosels commonly do. Or 2. By the Example of those Creatures, which are pleasant, and loving in their carriage towards one another.

Which have their usual abode in the fields.

That you do not disturb nor offend him by your miscarriages, but permit him and me to enjoy a quiet repose. Do nothing to grieve him, or molest me.

My dearly beloved, called Love Emphatically, to express her great passion for him. So Love is used, Cant. 7. 6. and in other Authors.

i. e. Never, as this word, until, in such like Phrases, is commonly used, as Gen. 28. 15. 2 Sam. 6. 23. Isa. 22. 14. For neither can sin ever please him, nor can the Church bear it, that Christ should ever be offended, or that her sweet Fellowship with him should be interrupted.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].; Ch. 3. 5. & 8. 4.

8 The voice of my beloved ! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills .

Methinks I hear his voice. The Spouse being now refreshed and revived with Christs presence, awakes out of sleep, and breaks forth into this joyful Exclamation. Christs voice is nothing else but the word of Grace revealed outwardly in the Gospel, or the Evangelical passages of the old Testament, and inwardly to the heart of the Spouse by the Spirit of God.

Either 1. He is coming, or will shortly come into the World; which Solomon and the rest of the Old-Testament Prophets, and Saints, did earnestly desire and confidently expect. Or 2. He is coming to me for my support and comfort.

He saith, leaping and skipping, to note that Christ came readily, and swiftly, with great desire and pleasure; and he adds, upon the Mountains and Hills, either with respect to Mount Zion or Ierusalem, in and from which Christ first discovered himself: or to signifie Christs fixed resolution to come, in spight of all discouragements and difficulties which stood in his way: or to shew that his coming was manifest and visible to the Eye of her Faith. Or in this Phrase he may have a respect to the Roes and Harts here following.

9 My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart : behold he standeth behind our walk , he looketh forth at the window , shewing himself through the lattess.

Either 1. In loveliness. Or rather 2. In swiftness, by comparing this verse with the former. The swiftness of roes is noted 2 Sam. 2. 18. 1 Chr. 12. 8. He is coming to me with all speed and will not tarry a moment beyond the appointed and proper season.

And whilest he doth for wise and just reasons forbear to come, he is not far from us. Though he be not yet come into the door of our House, yet he stands behind the wall of our House, and is always at hand, to give me that succour and comfort which I do or may need and desire. Both this and the following Phrases seem to note the obscure and imper[illegible: 1+ letters]ct manner and degree of Christs manifesting himself to his People, either 1. Under the Law in comparison of his discover[illegible: 1+ letters]es in the Gospel. Or 2. In this Life, in comparison of what he will do in the future Life.

From his high and heavenly palace towards me, to watch over me and refresh me with the prospect of his favour.

This Phrase and that, through the lattess, intimate that the Church doth indeed see Christ, but, as through a glass, darkly, as is said even of Gospel-Revelations, 1 Cor. 13. 12. and was much more true of legal Administrations.

Marginal references: Ver. 7.; Or, [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].

10 My beloved spake , and said unto me, Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away .

Invited and called me outwardly by his Word, and inwardly by his Spirit.

Shake off sloth and security, and disentangle thy self more fully from all the snares of this World, and of thy own Lusts, that thou maist be more ready to come to me, and more fit for my embraces.

Unto me, and with me, follow me fully, serve me more perfectly, labour for a nearer Union, and more satisfying communion with me.

11 For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over, and gone.

Which made the ways in some sort unpassable, and so might seem to hinder or allright thee from coming to me. This winter, and the following rain, may be understood either 1. Of worldly Tribulations, which he intimates to be past and gone, to wit so far that they shall not destroy nor hurt the Church, but on the contrary do her much good, both by multiplying her Members, and increasing her Graces, and promoting her Eternal Happiness. Or rather 2. Of spiritual Troubles arising in the Minds and Consciences of sinners, from a deep sense of the guilt of sin, the Justice and Wrath of God, the Sentence and Curse of the Law; all which made them afraid to come unto God, and desirous, if possible, to run away from him. But, saith Christ, I have removed this great impediment, God is ready to be reconciled, and therefore cast off all discouragements and excuses, and come unto me.

12 The flowers appear on the earth , the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land .

This and the following clauses are here alledged as evidences of the Spring time, which, in the mystical and principal sense, seems to signifie the day of Grace, or the glad tidings of Salvation proposed to [illegible: 1+ letters]nners in the time of the Law, by Types, and Shadows, and Promises, but much more clearly and fully in the Gospel, and all the discoveries and communications of Gods Grace to Mankind in holy Ordinances, in the Gifts, and Graces, and Comfor[illegible: 1+ letters]s of the Holy Spirit, vouchsafed unto, and appearing in Believers, as Buds and Blossoms do in the Spring time.

When Birds sing most [illegible: 1+ letters]reely and sweetly, as they do in the Spring. Or, as the ancient Translators render it, of cutting or cropping, not Trees, which agrees not with that season, but the flowers last mentioned, for Nos[illegible: 1+ letters]gays, or other uses.

Which changeth its place according to the season, as is observed, Ier 8. 7. and by all other Writers, who affirm that it disappears in Winter, and appears in the Spring, as some others Birds also do; but this seems particularly to be mentioned, because it doth not only give notice of the Spring, but also doth aptly represent the Spirit of God, which even the Chaldee Paraphrast understands by this Turtle, which appeared in the shape of a Dove, and which worketh a Dove-like Meekness, and Chastity, and Faithfulness, in Believers.

In Immanuels Land, as Canaan is called, Isa. 8. 8. in the Church.

13 The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs , and the vines, with the tender grape, give a good smell . Arise my love, my fair one, and come away .

Which it shooteth forth as soon as it doth Leaves, in the Spring-time, Mat. 24. 32.

Which, though not strong, is pleasant and grateful, and given by it in the progress of the Spring.

These words are here repeated, to shew both the Churches infirmity, and indisposition, which needs so many Calls and Arguments to press so necessary and advantageous a Duty; and Christs tender compassion to her weakness, and servent desire of converse with her.

14 O my dove , that art in the clefts of the rock , in the secret places of the stairs , let me see thy countenance , let me hear thy voice ; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely .

So the Church is called, partly for her Dove-like Temper and Disposition, because she is chaste, and mild, and harmless, &c. and partly for her Dove-like Condition, because she is weak, and exposed to Persecution, and given to Mourning, as Doves are, Isa. 38. 14. & 59. 11. Ezek. 7. 16. and subject to many Fears, and therefore forced to hide her self in Rocks, as it follows.

Where she hid her self, either 1. For fear of her Enemies, whom to avoid she puts her self into the Protection of the Almighty. Or 2. Out of Modesty, and an humble sense of her own De[illegible: 1+ letters]rmities, and Infirmities, which makes her endeavour to hid[illegible: 1+ letters] her self even from her Beloved, as ashamed to appear in his pr[illegible: 1+ letters]ence, [illegible: 1 word] is frequently the case of Gods People especially after [illegible: 1 word] into [illegible: 1 word]. And this sense seems to be [illegible: 1+ letters]avoured by the following words, in which Christ relieveth her against such discourag[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1+ letters]ughts.

In the holes of craggy and broken Rocks, which [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1+ letters]airs. So the same thing is [illegible: 1 word] repeated in other words.

[illegible: 1+ letters]e not afraid nor ashamed to appear before me, come boldly into my presence and acquaint thy self with me.

Thy Prayers and Praises.

Thy Person and Services are accepted by me, and are amiable in my [illegible: 1+ letters]ight.

Marginal references: Ezek. 38. 20.; Ch. 8. 13.

15 Take us the foxes , the little foxes , that spoil the vines : for our vines have tender grapes .

The Bridegroom gives this charge to his Bridemen or Friends, whose Office it is to attend upon him, and to observe in Commands. By whom he understands those Magistrates and [illegible: 1 word] to whom, under Christ, the custo[illegible: 1+ letters]y of the Vineyards, to wit, the Churches, principally belong. These he commands to take the Foxes, i. e. to restrain them from doing this mischief.

Heb. for us, i. e. at our instance, and for our common good, as this spoiling of the Vines was injurious and grievous to them both.

The disturbers of the Vineyard, or the Church, Seducers or [illegible: 1+ letters]alse Teachers, who are fitly compared to Foxes here, and Ezek. 13. 4. partly to distinguish them from great Tyrants and Persecutors, who are compared to wild Boars, or other wild Beasts, Psal. 80. 13. as to Lions, 2 Tim. 4. 17. and partly for their fox-like qualities and actions, because they are very crafty and deceitful, 2 Cor. 11. 13, 14. Eph. 4. 14. and very mischievous also, Ezek. 34. 2, 3. 2 Tim. 2. 17. Tit. 1 10, 11. 2 Pet. 2. 2. He mentions Foxes, because these abounded in that Country, as is [illegible: 1+ letters]anifest from Iudg. 1[illegible: 1+ letters]. 4. Psal. 63. 10. Lam. 5. 18. &c. but under [illegible: 1 word] he comprehends all noxious Creatures, upon the [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

This he adds, not as if the great Foxes were excused or ex[illegible: 1+ letters]mpted, but for more abundant caution to teach the Church to pre[illegible: 1+ letters] Errours and Heresies in the beginnings of them, before they spread, and grow strong and incurable.

Which Foxes do ma[illegible: 1+ letters]y [illegible: 1+ letters]ays, as those who write of them have observed, by g[illegible: 1+ letters]awing and brea[illegible: 1+ letters]ng the little Branches, and Leaves, and the Bark, by [illegible: 1+ letters]igging holes in the Vineyards, and so spoiling the Roots, by eating the Grapes, and other ways.

Which give us hopes of a good Vintage, and which are easily spoiled, if great care be not used to prevent it.

Marginal references: Ezek. [illegible: 1+ letters]34. Luk. 13. 3[illegible: 1+ letters].

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his : he feedeth among the lillies .

These are the words of the Bride, who having come to him upon his gracious Invitation, now maketh her boast of him, and of that intimate Union and Communion which was between them.

Either 1. He feedeth his flock in sweet and lovely Pastures, where there is not only Herbage to feed them, but Lillies to delight them. Or rather 2. He feedeth himself, i. e. he abideth and refresheth himself amongst his faithful People, which are compared to Lillies, above v. 2. and Hos. 14. 5. as Christ also is here, v. 1.

Marginal references: Ch 6. 3. & 7. 1[illegible: 1+ letters].

17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away : turn my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether .

Until the morning of that great and blessed day of the general Resurrection and Judgment, when all the shadows, not only of Ignorance, and Sin, and Calamity, but even of all Ordinances, and outward Administrations, shall cease, and make way for the immediate enjoyment of my Beloved. And this clause may be joined, either 1. With the foregoing words, and so the sense is, Christ doth and will abide with his Church as long as this Life and World lasts; which agrees with Christs Promise of being with his Church to the end of the World, Mat. 28. 20. But neither that nor this place imply that Christ will then forsake his People, but only secures Gods People against that which was the chief, if not only, matter of their fear, to wit, lest Christ should leave them, and cast them off in this Life, which if he did not, they were assured that hereafter they should be ever with the Lord, 1 Thes. 4. 17. For it is well known, and hath been oft observed already, that the word, until, doth not always exclude the time to come. Or 2. With the following words, Turn thou my B[illegible: 1+ letters]ved until the day break, &c.

Return to me. For although Christ had come to her, and she had gladly received and embraced him, yet he was gone again, as is here implied, and evidently appears from the next following verse. Which sudden change is very agreeable both to the nature and method of such dramatical Writings, & amatorious Transactions, and to the state of Gods People in this world, where they are subject to frequent changes, and vicissitudes of Christs withdrawing from them, and returning to them again.

In swiftness, make hast to help me, for I am ready to faint.

A place in the Land of Promise, possibly the same called Bithron, 2 Sam. 2. 29. where it seems those Creatures were in great abundance, or where they were commonly hunted, and so being pursued, they made all possible haste to escape.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]. 6.; [illegible: 1 span]; Ch. [illegible: 1+ letters]. [illegible: 1 word].; Or [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word].

Sol 2:1

What Shulamith now further says confirms what had just been said. City and palace with their splendour please her not; forest and field she delights in; she is a tender flower that has grown up in the quietness of rural life. 1 I am a meadow-flower of Sharon,    A lily of the valleys.

We do not render: “the wild-flower,” “the lily,” ... for she seeks to represent herself not as the one, but only as one of this class; the definiteness by means of the article sometimes belongs exclusively to the second number of the genit. word-chain. מלאך ה may equally (vid., at Sol 1:11, Hitz. on Psa 113:9, and my Comm. on Gen 9:20) mean “an angel” or “the angel of Jahve;” and בת ישׂ “a virgin,” or “the virgin of Israel” (the personification of the people). For hhǎvatstsělěth (perhaps from hhivtsēl, a denom. quadril. from bětsěl, to form bulbs or bulbous knolls) the Syr. Pesh. (Isa 35:1) uses chamsaljotho, the meadow-saffron, colchicum autumnale; it is the flesh-coloured flower with leafless stem, which, when the grass is mown, decks in thousands the fields of warmer regions. They call it filius ante patrem, because the blossoms appear before the leaves and the seed-capsules, which develope themselves at the close of winter under the ground. Shulamith compares herself to such a simple and common flower, and that to one in Sharon, i.e., in the region known by that name. Sharon is per aphaer. derived from ישׁרון. The most celebrated plain of this name is that situated on the Mediterranean coast between Joppa and Caesarea; but there is also a trans-Jordanic Sharon, 1Ch 5:16; and according to Eusebius and Jerome, there is also another district of this name between Tabor and the Lake of Tiberias,Vid., Lagarde, Onomastica, p. 296; cf. Neubauer, Géographic du Talm. p. 47. which is the one here intended, because Shulamith is a Galilean: she calls herself a flower from the neighbourhood of Nazareth. Aquila translates: “A rosebud of Sharon;” but שׁושׁנּה (designedly here the fem. form of the name, which is also the name of a woman) does not mean the Rose which was brought at a later period from Armenia and Persia, as it appears,Vid., Ewald, Jahrbuch, IV p. 71; cf. Wüstemann, Die Rose, etc., 1854. and cultivated in the East (India) and West (Palestine, Egypt, Europe). It is nowhere mentioned in the canonical Scriptures, but is first found in Sir. 24:14; 39:13; 50:8; Wisd. 2:8; and Est 1:6, lxx. Since all the rosaceae are five-leaved, and all the liliaceae are six-leaved, one might suppose, with Aben Ezra, that the name sosan (susan) is connected with the numeral שׁשׁ, and points to the number of leaves, especially since one is wont to represent to himself the Eastern lilies as red. But they are not only red, or rather violet, but also white: the Moorish-Spanish azucena denotes the white lily.Vid., Fleischer, Sitzungs-Berichten d. Sächs. Gesell. d. Wissensch. 1868, p. 305. Among the rich flora on the descent of the Hauran range, Wetstein saw (Reisebericht, p. 148) a dark-violet magnificent lily (susan) as large as his fist. We note here Rückert’s “Bright lily! The flowers worship God in the garden: thou art the priest of the house.”

The root-word will thus, however, be the same as that of שׁשׁ, byssus, and שׁישׁ, white marble. The comparison reminds us of Hos 14:5, “I shall be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily.” העמקים are deep valleys lying between mountains. She thinks humbly of herself; for before the greatness of the king she appears diminutive, and before the comeliness of the king her own beauty disappears - but he takes up her comparison of herself, and gives it a notable turn.

Sol 2:2 2 As a lily among thorns,    So is my love among the daughters.

By החוחים are not meant the thorns of the plant itself, for the lily has no thorns, and the thorns of the rose are, moreover, called kotsim, and not hhohhim;An Aramaic proverb: “from thorns sprouts the rose” (i.e., bad fathers have often pious children), in Heb. is קוץ מוציא שׁושׁן; vid., Jalkut Samuel, §134. besides, ben (among) contradicts that idea, since the thorns are on the plant itself, and it is not among them - thus the hhohhim are not the thorns of the flower-stem, but the thorn-plants that are around. חוח designates the thorn-bush, e.g., in the allegorical answer of King Josiah to Amaziah, 2Ki 14:9. Simplicity, innocence, gentleness, are the characteristics in which Shulamith surpasses all בּנות, i.e., all women (vid., Sol 6:9), as the lily of the valley surpasses the thorn-bushes around it. “Although thorns surround her, yet can he see her; he sees her quiet life, he finds her beautiful.” But continuing this reciprocal rivalry in the praise of mutual love, she says:

Sol 2:3 3a As an apple-tree among the trees of the wood,      So is my beloved among the sons.

The apple-tree, the name of which, תּפּוּח, is formed from נפח, and denominates it from its fragrant flower and fruit, is as the king among fruit trees, in Shulamith’s view. יער (from יער, to be rough, rugged, uneven) is the wilderness and the forest, where are also found trees bearing fruit, which, however, is for the most part sour and unpalatable. But the apple-tree unites delicious fruit along with a grateful shade; and just such a noble tree is the object of her love. 3 b Under his shadow it delighted me to sit down;      And his fruit is sweet to my taste.

In concupivi et consedi the principal verb completes itself by the co-ordinating of a verb instead of an adv. or inf. as Isa 42:21; Est 8:7; Ewald, §285. However, concupivi et consedi is yet more than concupivi considere, for thereby she not only says that she found delight in sitting down, but at the same time also in sitting down in the shadow of this tree. The Piel חמּד, occurring only here, expresses the intensity of the wish and longing. The shadow is a figure of protection afforded, and the fruit a figure of enjoyment obtained. The taste is denoted by חך = חנך, from חנך, to chew, or also imbuere; and that which is sweet is called מתוק, from the smacking connected with an agreeable relish. The usus loq. has neglected this image, true to nature, of physical circumstances in words, especially where, as here, they are transferred to the experience of the soul-life. The taste becomes then a figure of the soul’s power of perception (αἰσθητικόν); a man’s fruit are his words and works, in which his inward nature expresses itself; and this fruit is sweet to those on whom that in which the peculiar nature of the man reveals itself makes a happy, pleasing impression. But not only does the person of the king afford to Shulamith so great delight, he entertains her also with what can and must give her enjoyment.

Sol 2:4 4 He has brought me into the wine-house,    And his banner over me is love.

After we have seen the ladies of the palace at the feast, in which wine is presented, and after Solomon, till now absent, has entered the banqueting-chamber (Arab. meglis), by היּין בּית we are not to understand the vineyard, which would be called bēth hǎggephānim or bēth hā'ǎnāvim, as in Act 1:12, Pesh. the Mount of Olives, bēth zaite.In Heb. יין does not denote the vine as a plant, as the Aethiop. wain, whence asada wain, wine-court = vineyard, which Ewald compares; Dillmann, however, ineptly cites “vine-arbour,” and South-Germ. “kamerte” = vinea camerata; in Heb. היין בּית is the house in which wine is drunk.

He has introduced her to the place where he royally entertains his friends. Well knowing that she, the poor and sunburnt maiden, does not properly belong to such a place, and would rather escape away from it, he relieves her from her fear and bashfulness, for he covers her with his fear-inspiring, awful, and thus surely protecting, banner; and this banner, which he waves over her, and under which she is well concealed, is “love.” דּגל (from דּגל, to cover) is the name of the covering of the shaft or standard, i.e., pannus, the piece of cloth fastened to a shaft. Like a pennon, the love of the king hovers over her; and so powerful, so surpassing, is the delight of this love which pervades and transports her, that she cries out:

Sol 2:5 5 Support me with grape-cakes,    Refresh me with apples:    For I am sick with love.

She makes use of the intensive form as one in a high degree in need of the reanimating of her almost sinking life: סמּך is the intens. of סמך, to prop up, support, or, as here, to under-prop, uphold; and ripeed, the intens. of רפד (R. רף), to raise up from beneath (vid., at Pro 7:16), to furnish firm ground and support. The apple is the Greek attribute of Aphrodite, and is the symbol of love; but here it is only a means of refreshing; and if thoughts of love are connected with the apple-tree (Sol 2:3; Sol 8:5), that is explained from Shulamith’s rural home. Böttcher understands quinces; Epstein, citrons; but these must needs have been more closely denoted, as at Pro 25:11, by some addition to the expression. אשׁישׁות (from אשׁשׁ, to establish, make firm) are (cf. Isa 16:7; Hos 3:1) grapes pressed together like cakes; different from צמּוּקים, dried grapes (cf. דּבלה), fig-cakes (Arab. dabbûle, a mass pressed together), and πλακοῦς, placenta, from the pressed-out form. A cake is among the gifts (2Sa 6:19) which David distributed to the people on the occasion of the bringing up of the ark; date-cakes, e.g., at the monastery at Sinai, are to the present day gifts for the refreshment of travellers. If Shulamith’s cry was to be understood literally, one might, with Noack, doubt the correctness of the text; for “love-sickness, even in the age of passion and sentimentality, was not to be cured with roses and apples.” But (1) sentimentality, i.e., susceptibility, does not belong merely to the Romantic, but also to Antiquity, especially in the Orient, as e.g., is shown by the symptoms of sympathy with which the prophets were affected when uttering their threatenings of judgment; let one read such outbreaks of sorrow as Isa 21:3, which, if one is disposed to scorn, may be derided as hysterical fits. Moreover, the Indian, Persian, and Arabic erotic (vid., e.g., the Romance Siret 'Antar) is as sentimental as the German has at any time been. (2) The subject of the passage here is not the curing of love-sickness, but bodily refreshment: the cry of Shulamith, that she may be made capable of bearing the deep agitation of her physical life, which is the consequence, not of her love-sickness, but of her love-happiness. (3) The cry is not addressed (although this is grammatically possible, since סמּכוּני is, according to rule, = סמּכנה אתי) to the daughters of Jerusalem, who would in that case have been named, but to some other person; and this points to its being taken not in a literal sense. (4) It presupposes that one came to the help of Shulamith, sick and reduced to weakness, with grapes and apple-scent to revive her fainting spirit. The call of Shulamith thus means: hasten to me with that which will revive and refresh me, for I am sick with love. This love-sickness has also been experienced in the spiritual sphere. St. Ephrem was once so overcome by such a joy that he cried out: “Lord, withdraw Thine hand a little, for my heart is too weak to receive so great joy.” And J. R. Hedinger († 1704) was on his deathbed overpowered with such a stream of heavenly delight that he cried: “Oh, how good is the Lord! Oh, how sweet is Thy love, my Jesus! Oh, what a sweetness! I am not worthy of it, my Lord! Let me alone; let me alone!” As the spiritual joy of love, so may also the spiritual longing of love consume the body (cf. Job 19:27; Psa 63:2; Psa 84:3); there have been men who have actually sunk under a longing desire after the Lord and eternity. It is the state of love-ecstasy in which Shulamith calls for refreshment, because she is afraid of sinking. The contrast between her, the poor and unworthy, and the king, who appears to her as an ideal of beauty and majesty, who raises her up to himself, was such as to threaten her life. Unlooked for, extraordinary fortune, has already killed many. Fear, producing lameness and even death, is a phenomenon common in the Orient.“Ro‛b (רעב, thus in Damascus), or ra‛b (thus in the Hauran and among the Beduins), is a state of the soul which with us is found only in a lower degree, but which among the Arabians is psychologically noteworthy. The wahm, i.e., the idea of the greatness and irresistibility of a danger or a misfortune, overpowers the Arabian; all power of body and of soul suddenly so departs from him, that he falls down helpless and defenceless. Thus, on the 8th July 1860, in a few hours, about 6000 Christian men were put to death in Damascus, without one lifting his hand in defence, or uttering one word of supplication. That the ro‛b kills in Arabia, European and native physicians have assured me; and I myself can confirm the fact. Since it frequently produces a stiffening of the limbs, with chronic lameness, every kind of paralysis is called ro‛b, and every paralytic mar‛ûb. It is treated medically by applying the 'terror-cup' (tâset er-ro‛b), covered over with sentences engraved on it, and hung round with twenty bells; and since, among the Arabians, the influence of the psychical on the physical is stronger and more immediate than with us, the sympathetic cure may have there sometimes positive results.” - Wetstein.

If Pharaoh’s daughter, if the Queen of Sheba, finds herself in the presence of Solomon, the feeling of social equality prevents all alarm. But Shulamith is dazzled by the splendour, and disconcerted; and it happens to her in type as it happened to the seer of Patmos, who, in presence of the ascended Lord, fell at His feet as one dead, Rev 1:17. If beauty is combined with dignity, it has always, for gentle and not perverted natures, something that awakens veneration and tremor; but if the power of love be superadded, then it has, as a consequence, that combination of awe and inward delight, the psychological appearance of which Sappho, in the four strophes which begin with “Φαίνεταί μοι κῆνος ἴσος θεοῖσιν ἔμμεν ὡνήρ,” has described in a manner so true to nature. We may thus, without carrying back modern sentimentality into antiquity, suppose that Shulamith sank down in a paroxysm caused by the rivalry between the words of love and of praise, and thus thanking him, - for Solomon supports and bears her up, - she exclaims:

Sol 2:6 6 His left hand is under my head,    And his right hand doth embrace me.

With his left hand he supports her head that had fallen backwards, and with his right he embraces her [herzet], as Luther rightly renders it (as he also renders the name Habakkuk by “der Herzer” = the embracer); for חבּק signifies properly to enfold, to embrace; but then generally, to embrace lovingly, to fondle, of that gentle stroking with the hand elsewhere denoted by חלּה, mulcere. The situation here is like that at Gen 29:13; Gen 48:10; where, connected with the dat., it is meant of loving arms stretched out to embrace. If this sympathetic, gentle embracing exercises a soothing influence on her, overcome by the power of her emotions; so love mutually kindled now celebrates the first hour of delighted enjoyment, and the happy Shulamith calls to those who are witnesses of her joy:

Sol 2:7 7 I adjure you, ye daughters of Jerusalem,    By the gazelles or the hinds of the field,    That ye arouse not and disturb not love    Till she pleases.

It is permitted to the Israelites to swear, נשׁבּע, only by God (Gen 21:23); but to adjure, השׁבּיע, by that which is not God, is also admissible, although this example before us is perhaps the only direct one in Scripture. צבי (= צבי, dialect. טבי), fem. צביה (Aram. טביתא, Act 9:36), plur. tsebaim or tsebajim, fem. tsabaōth (according with the pl. of צבא), softened from tsebajōth, is the name for the gazelle, from the elegance of its form and movements. אילות is the connecting form of איּלות, whose consonantal Yod in the Assyr. and Syr. is softened to the diphthong ailuv, ailaa; the gen. “of the field,” as not distinguishing but describing, belongs to both of the animals, therefore also the first is without the article. או (after the etymon corresponding to the Lat. vel) proceeds, leaving out of view the repetition of this so-called Slumber-Song (Sol 3:5; cf. Sol 8:4, as also Sol 2:9), from the endeavour to give to the adjuration the greatest impression; the expression is varied, for the representations flit from image to image, and the one, wherever possible, is surpassed by the other (vid., at Pro 30:31).

Under this verse Hengst. remarks: “The bride would not adjure by the hinds, much more would she adjure by the stage.” He supposes that Solomon is here the speaker; but a more worthless proof for this could not be thought of. On the contrary, the adjuration by the gazelles, etc., shows that the speaker here is one whose home is the field and wood; thus also not the poet (Hitz.) nor the queen-mother (Böttch.), neither of whom is ever introduced as speaking. The adjuration is that love should not be disturbed, and therefore it is by the animals that are most lovely and free, which roam through the fields. Zöckler, with whom in this one point Grätz agrees, finds here, after the example of Böttch. and Hitz., the earnest warning against wantonly exciting love in themselves (cf. Lat. irritamenta veneris, irritata voluptas) till God Himself awakens it, and heart finds itself in sympathy with heart. But the circumstances in which Shulamith is placed ill accord with such a general moralizing. The adjuration is repeated, Sol 3:5; Sol 8:4, and wherever Shulamith finds herself near her beloved, as she is here in his arms. What lies nearer, then, than that she should guard against a disturbance of this love-ecstasy, which is like a slumber penetrated by delightful dreams? Instead of אתכם, תּעירוּ, and תּעוררוּ, should be more exactly the words אתכן, תּעררנה, and תּעוררנה; but the gram. distinction of the genera is in Heb. not perfectly developed. We meet also with the very same synallage generis, without this adjuration formula, at Sol 5:8; Sol 7:1; Sol 4:2; Sol 6:8, etc.; it is also elsewhere frequent; but in the Song it perhaps belongs to the foil of the vulgar given to the highly poetic. Thus also in the vulgar Arab. the fem. forms jaḳtulna, taḳtulna, corresponding to תּקטלנה, are fallen out of use. With העיר, expergefacere, there is connected the idea of an interruption of sleep; with עורר, excitare, the idea, which goes further, of arousing out of sleep, placing in the full activity of awakened life.The distinction between these words is well explained by Lewisohn in his Investigationes Linguae (Wilna, 1840), p. 21: “The מעיר את־הישׁן is satisfied that the sleeper wakes, and it is left to him fully to overcome the influence of sleep; the מעורר, however, arouses him at once from sleepiness, and awakes him to such a degree that he is secured against falling asleep again.”

The one adjuration is, that love should not be awakened out of its sweet dream; the other, that it should not be disturbed from its being absorbed in itself. The Pasek between מעירו and the word following has, as at Lev 10:6, the design of keeping the two Vavs distinct, that in reading they might not run together; it is the Pasek which, as Ben Asher says, serves “to secure to a letter its independence against the similar one standing next it.” האהמה is not abstr. pro concreto, but love itself in its giving and receiving. Thus closes the second scene of the first act: Shulamith lies like one helpless in the arms of Solomon; but in him to expire is her life; to have lost herself in him, and in him to find herself again, is her happiness.

Sol 2:8 8 Hark, my beloved! lo, there he comes!    Springs over the mountains,    Bounds over the hills.

The word קול, in the expression דּודי קול, is to be understood of the call of the approaching lover (Böttch.), or only of the sound of his footsteps (Hitz.); it is an interjectional clause (sound of my beloved!), in which kōl becomes an interjection almost the same as our “horch” “hear!”. Vid., under Gen 4:10. זה after הנּה sharpens it, as the demonst. ce in ecce = en ce. בּא is though of as partic., as is evident from the accenting of the fem. בּאה, e.g., Jer 10:22. דּלּג is the usual word for springing; the parallel קפץ (קפּץ), Aram. קפץ, קפז, signifies properly contrahere (cogn. קמץ, whence Kametz, the drawing together of the mouth, more accurately, of the muscles of the lips), particularly to draw the body together, to prepare it for a spring. In the same manner, at the present day, both in the city and in the Beduin Arab. kamaz, for which also famaz, is used of the springing of a gazelle, which consists in a tossing up of the legs stretched out perpendicularly. 'Antar says similarly, as Shulamith here of the swift-footed schêbûb (D. M. Zeitung, xxii. 362); wahu jegmiz gamazât el-gazâl, it leaps away with the springing of a gazelle.

Sol 2:9 9 My beloved is like a gazelle,    Or a young one of the harts.    Lo, there he stands behind our wall!    He looks through the windows,    Glances through the lattices.

The figure used in Sol 2:8 is continued in Sol 2:9. צבי is the gazelle, which is thus designated after its Arab. name ghazāl, which has reached us probably through the Moorish-Spanish gazela (distinct from “ghasele,” after the Pers. ghazal, love-poem). עפר is the young hart, like the Arab. ghufar (ghafar), the young chamois, probably from the covering of young hair; whence also the young lion may be called כּפיר. Regarding the effect of או passing from one figure to another, vid., under Sol 2:7. The meaning would be plainer were Sol 2:9 joined to Sol 2:8, for the figures illustrate quick-footed speed (2Sa 2:18; 1Ch 12:8; cf. Psa 18:34 with Hab 3:19 and Isa 35:6). In Sol 2:9 he comes with the speed of the gazelle, and his eyes seek for the unforgotten one. כּתל (from כּתל, compingere, condensare; whence, e.g., Arab. mukattal, pressed together, rounded, ramassé; vid., regarding R. כת at Psa 87:6), Aram. כּוּתל (Jos 2:15; Targ. word for קיר), is meant of the wall of the house itself, not of the wall surrounding it. Shulamith is within, in the house: her beloved, standing behind the wall, stands without, before the house (Tympe: ad latus aversum parietis, viz., out from it), and looks through the windows, - at one time through this one, at another through that one, - that he might see her and feast his eyes on her. We have here two verbs from the fulness of Heb. synon. for one idea of seeing. השׁגּיח, from שׁגח, occurring only three times in the O.T., refers, in respect of the roots ש, שך, שק, to the idea of piercing or splitting (whence also שׁגּע, to be furious, properly pierced, percitum esse; cf. oestrus, sting of a gadfly = madness, Arab. transferred to hardiness = madness), and means fixing by reflexion and meditation; wherefore השׁגּחח in post-bibl. Heb. is the name for Divine Providence. הציץ, elsewhere to twinkle and to bloom, appears only here in the sense of seeing, and that of the quick darting forward of the glance of the eye, as blick glance and blitz lightning (blic) are one word; “he saw,” says Goethe in Werther, “the glance of the powder” (Weigand).In this sense: to look sharply toward, is הציץ (Talm.) - for Grätz alone a proof that the Song is of very recent date; but this word belongs, like סמדר, to the old Heb. still preserved in the Talm.

The plurs. fenestrae and transennae are to be understood also as synechdoche totius pro parte, which is the same as the plur. of categ.; but with equal correctness we conceive of him as changing his standing place. חלּון is the window, as an opening in the wall, from חלל, perforare. חרכּים we combine most certainly (vid., Pro 12:27) with (Arab.) khark, fissura, so that the idea presents itself of the window broken through the wall, or as itself broken through; for the window in the country there consists for the most part of a pierced wooden frame of a transparent nature, - not (as one would erroneously conclude, from the most significant name of a window שׂבכה, now schubbâke, from שׂבך, to twist, to lattice, to close after the manner of our Venetian blinds) of rods or boards laid crosswise. הציץ accords with the looking out through the pierced places of such a window, for the glances of his eye are like the penetrating rays of light.

Sol 2:10

When now Shulamith continues: 10 a My beloved answered and said to me,        Arise, my love, my fair one, and go forth! the words show that this first scene is not immediately dramatic, but only mediately; for Shulamith speaks in monologue, though in a dramatic manner narrating an event which occurred between the commencement of their love-relation and her home-bringing.Grätz misinterprets this in order by the supplement of similar ones to make the whole poem a chain of narrative which Shulamith declaims to the daughters of Jerusalem. Thereby it certainly ceases to be dramatic, but so much more tedious does it become by these interposed expressions, “I said,” “he said,” “the sons of my mother said.”

She does not relate it as a dream, and thus it is not one. Solomon again once more passes, perhaps on a hunting expedition into the northern mountains after the winter with its rains, which made them inaccessible, is over; and after long waiting, Shulamith at length again sees him, and he invites her to enjoy with him the spring season. ענה signifies, like ἀποκρίνεσθαι, not always to answer to the words of another, but also to speak on the occasion of a person appearing before one; it is different from ענה, the same in sound, which signifies to sing, properly to sing through the nose, and has the root-meaning of replying (of the same root as ענן, clouds, as that which meets us when we look up toward the heavens); but taking speech in hand in consequence of an impression received is equivalent to an answer. With קוּמי he calls upon her to raise herself from her stupor, and with ולכי־לך, French va-t-en, to follow him.

Sol 2:11-13 11 For, lo! the winter is past,      The rain is over, is gone. 12 The flowers appear in the land;      The time of song has come,      And the voice of the turtle makes itself heard in our land. 13 The fig-tree spices her green figs,      And the vines stand in bloom, they diffuse fragrance; -      Rise up, my love, my fair one, and go forth!

The winter is called סתו, perhaps from a verb סתה (of the same root as סתר, סתם, without any example, since סוּת, Gen 49:11, is certainly not derived from a verb סוּת), to conceal, to veil, as the time of being overcast with clouds, for in the East winter is the rainy season; (Arab.) shataā is also used in the sense of rain itself (vid., D. M. Zeitsch. xx. 618); and in the present day in Jerusalem, in the language of the people, no other name is used for rain but shataā (not metar). The word סתיו, which the Kerı̂ substitutes, only means that one must not read סתו, but סתו, with long a; in the same way עניו, humble, from ענה, to be bowed down, and שׂליו, a quail, from שׂלה, to be fat, are formed and written. Rain is here, however, especially mentioned: it is called gěshěm, from gāshǎm, to be thick, massy (cf. revīvīm, of density). With עבר, to pass by, there is interchanged חלף, which, like (Arab.) khalaf, means properly to press on, and then generally to move to another place, and thus to remove from the place hitherto occupied. In לו הלך, with the dat. ethicus, which throws back the action on the subject, the winter rain is thought of as a person who has passed by. נצּן, with the noun-ending ân, is the same as ניסן, and signifies the flower, as the latter the flower-month, floréal; in the use of the word, נצּן is related to נץ and נצּה, probably as little flower is to flower. In hǎzzāmīr the idea of the song of birds (Arab. gharad) appears, and this is not to be given up. The lxx, Aquila, Symm., Targ., Jerome, and the Venet. translate tempus putationis: the time of the pruning of vines, which indeed corresponds to the usus loq. (cf. זמר, to prune the vine, and מזמרה, a pruning-knife), and to similar names, such as אסיף ingathering of fruit, but supplies no reason for her being invited out into the open fields, and is on this account improbable, because the poet further on speaks for the first time of vines. זמר (זמּר) is an onomatopoeia, which for the most part denotes song and music; why should זמיר thus not be able to denote singing, like זמרה, - but not, at least not in this passage, the singing of men (Hengst.), for they are not silent in winter; but the singing of birds, which is truly a sign of the spring, and as a characteristic feature, is addedIt is true that besides in this passage zāmǎr, of the singing of birds, is not demonstrable, the Arab. zamar is only used of the shrill cry of the ostrich, and particularly the female ostrich. to this lovely picture of spring? Thus there is also suitably added the mention of the turtle-dove, which is a bird of passage (vid., Jer 8:7), and therefore a messenger of spring. נשׁמע is 3rd pret.: it makes itself heard.

The description of spring is finished by a reference to the fig-tree and the vine, the standing attributes of a prosperous and peaceful homestead, 1Ki 5:5; 2Ki 18:31. פּג (from פּנג, and thus named, not from their hardness, but their delicacy) are the little fruits of the fig-tree which now, when the harvest-rains are over, and the spring commences with the equinox of Nisan, already begin to assume a red colour; the verb חנט does not mean “to grow into a bulb,” as Böttch. imagines; it has only the two meanings, condire (condiri, post-bibl. syn. of בּשׁל) and rubescere. From its colour, wheat has the name חטּה = חנטה; and here also the idea of colour has the preference, for becoming fragrant does not occur in spring-in the history of the cursing of the fig-tree at the time of the Passover, Mark (Mar 11:13) says, “for the time of figs was not yet.” In fig-trees, by this time the green of the fruit-formation changes its colour, and the vines are סמדר, blossom, i.e., are in a state of bloom (lxx κυπρίζουσαι; cf. Sol 7:13, κυπρισμός) - it is a clause such as Exo 9:31, and to which “they diffuse fragrance” (Sol 2:13) is parallel. This word סמדר is usually regarded as a compound word, consisting of סם, scent, and סמדר, brightness = blossom (vid., Gesen. Thes.); it is undeniable that there are such compound formations, e.g., שׁלאנן, from שׁלה and שׁאן; חלּמישׁ, from (Arab.) ḥams, to be hard, and hals, to be dark-brown.In like manner as (Arab.) karbsh, corrugare, is formed of karb, to string, and karsh, to wrinkle, combined; and another extension of karsh is kurnash, wrinkles, and mukarnash, wrinkled. “One day,” said Wetstein to me, “I asked an Arab the origin of the word karnasa, to wrinkle, and he replied that it was derived from a sheep’s stomach that had lain over night, i.e., the stomach of a slaughtered sheep that had lain over night, by which its smooth surface shrinks together and becomes wrinkled. In fact, we say of a wrinkled countenance that it is mathal alkarash albayt.” With right Wetstein gathers from this curious fact how difficult it is to ascertain by purely etymological considerations the view which guided the Semites in this or that designation. Samdor is also a strange word; on the one side it is connected with sadr, of the veiling of the eyes, as the effect of terror; and on the other with samd, of stretching oneself straight out. E. Meier takes סמדר as the name of the vine-blossom, as changed from סמסר, bristling. Just as unlikely as that סמד is cogn. to חמד, Jesurun, p. 221.

But the traditional reading סמדר (not סמדר) is unfavourable to this view; the middle ā accordingly, as in צלצל, presents itself as an ante-tone vowel (Ewald, §154 a), and the stem-word appears as a quadril. which may be the expansion of סדּר, to range, put in order in the sense of placing asunder, unfolding. Symm. renders the word by οἰνάνθη, and the Talm. idiom shows that not only the green five-leaved blossoms of the vine were so named, but also the fruit-buds and the first shoots of the grapes. Here, as the words “they diffuse fragrance” (as at 7:14 of the mandrakes) show, the vine-blossom is meant which fills the vineyard with an incomparably delicate fragrance. At the close of the invitation to enjoy the spring, the call “Rise up,” etc., with which it began, is repeated. The Chethı̂b לכי, if not an error in writing, justly set aside by the Kerı̂, is to be read לכי (cf. Syr. bechi, in thee, levotechi, to thee, but with occult i) - a North Palestinism for לך, like 2Ki 4:2, where the Kerı̂ has substituted the usual form (vid., under Ps 103 introd.) for this very dialectic form, which is there undoubtedly original.

Sol 2:14

Solomon further relates how he drew her to himself out of her retirement:

My dove in the clefts of the rock,

In the hiding-place of the cliff;

Let me see thy countenance,

Let me hear thy voice!

For thy voice is sweet and thy countenance comely. “Dove” (for which Castellio, columbula, like vulticulum, voculam) is a name of endearment which Shulamith shares with the church of God, Psa 74:19; cf. Psa 56:1; Hos 7:11. The wood-pigeon builds its nest in the clefts of the rocks and other steep rocky places, Jer 48:28.Wetstein’s Reisebericht, p. 182: “If the Syrian wood-pigeon does not find a pigeon-tower, περιστερεῶνα, it builds its nest in the hollows of rocky precipices, or in the walls of deep and wide fountains.” See also his Nord-arabien, p. 58: “A number of scarcely accessible mountains in Arabia are called alkunnat, a rock-nest.”

That Shulamith is thus here named, shows that, far removed from intercourse with the world, her home was among the mountains. חגוי, from חגו, or also חגוּ, requires a verb הגה = (Arab.) khajja, findere. (סל, as a Himyar. lexicographer defines it, is a cleft into the mountains after the nature of a defile; with צוּר, only the ideas of inaccessibility and remoteness are connected; with סלע, those of a secure hiding-place, and, indeed, a convenient, pleasant residence. מדרגה is the stairs; here the rocky stairs, as the two chalk-cliffs on the Rügen, which sink perpendicularly to the sea, are called “Stubbenkammer,” a corruption of the Slavonic Stupnhkamen, i.e., the Stair-Rock. “Let me see,” said he, as he called upon her with enticing words, “thy countenance;” and adds this as a reason, “for thy countenance is lovely.” The word מראיך, thus pointed, is sing.; the Jod Otians is the third root letter of ראי, retained only for the sake of the eye. It is incorrect to conclude from ashrēch, in Ecc 10:17, that the ech may be also the plur. suff., which it can as little be as êhu in Pro 29:18; in both cases the sing. ěshěr has substituted itself for ashrē. But, inversely, mǎraīch cannot be sing.; for the sing. is simply marēch. Also mǎrāv, Job 41:1, is not sing.: the sing. is marēhu, Job 4:16; Sol 5:15. On the other hand, the determination of such forms as מראינוּ, מראיהם, is difficult: these forms may be sing. as well as plur. In the passage before us, מראים is just such a non-numer. plur. as פנים. But while panīm is an extensive plur., as Böttcher calls it: the countenance, in its extension and the totality of its parts, - marīm, like marōth, vision, a stately term, Exo 40:2 (vid., Deitrich’s Abhand. p. 19), is an amplificative plur.: the countenance, on the side of its fulness of beauty and its overpowering impression.

Sol 2:15-16

There now follows a cantiuncula. Shulamith comes forward, and, singing, salutes her beloved. Their love shall celebrate a new spring. Thus she wishes everything removed, or rendered harmless, that would disturb the peace of this love: 15 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes,      The spoilers of the vineyards;      For our vineyards are in bloom! 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his;      Who feeds his flock among the lilies.

If the king is now, on this visit of the beloved, engaged in hunting, the call: “Catch us,” etc., if it is directed at all to any definite persons, is addressed to those who follow him. But this is a vine-dresser’s ditty, in accord with Shulamith’s experience as the keeper of a vineyard, which, in a figure, aims at her love-relation. The vineyards, beautiful with fragrant blossom, point to her covenant of love; and the foxes, the little foxes, which might destroy these united vineyards, point to all the great and little enemies and adverse circumstances which threaten to gnaw and destroy love in the blossom, ere it has reached the ripeness of full enjoyment. שׁעלים comprehends both foxes and jackals, which “destroy or injure the vineyards; because, by their holes and passages which they form in the ground, loosening the soil, so that the growth and prosperity of the vine suffers injury” (Hitzig). This word is from שׁעל (R. של), to go down, or into the depth. The little foxes are perhaps the jackals, which are called tǎnnīm, from their extended form, and in height are seldom more than fifteen inches. The word “jackal” has nothing to do with שׁוּעל, but is the Persian-Turkish shaghal, which comes from the Sanscr. crgâla, the howler (R. krag, like kap-âla, the skull; R. kap, to be arched). Moreover, the mention of the foxes naturally follows 14 a, for they are at home among rocky ravines. Hitzig supposes Shulamith to address the foxes: hold for us = wait, ye rascals! But אחז, Aram. אחד, does not signify to wait, but to seize or lay hold of (synon. לכד, Jdg 15:4), as the lion its prey, Isa 5:29. And the plur. of address is explained from its being made to the king’s retinue, or to all who could and would give help. Fox-hunting is still, and has been from old times, a sport of rich landowners; and that the smaller landowners also sought to free themselves from them by means of snares or otherwise, is a matter of course, - they are proverbially as destroyers, Neh. 3:35 [4:3], and therefore a figure of the false prophets, Eze 13:4. מחבּ כּרם are here instead of מחבּלי הכּרם. The articles are generally omitted, because poetry is not fond of the article, where, as here (cf. on the other hand, Sol 1:6), the thoughts and language permit it; and the fivefold îm is an intentional mere verborum sonus. The clause וּכר סמדר is an explanatory one, as appears from the Vav and the subj. preceding, as well as from the want of a finitum. סמדר maintains here also, in pausa, the sharpening of the final syllable, as חץ, Deu 28:42.

The 16th verse is connected with the 15th. Shulamith, in the pentast. song, celebrates her love-relation; for the praise of it extends into Sol 2:15, is continued in Sol 2:16, and not till Sol 2:17 does she address her beloved. Luther translates:

My beloved is mine, and I am his;

He feeds (his flock) among the roses.

He has here also changed the “lilies” of the Vulgate into “roses;” for of the two queens among the flowers, he gave the preference to the popular and common rose; besides, he rightly does not translate הרעה, in the mid. after the pascitur inter lilia of the Vulgate: who feeds himself, i.e., pleases himself; for רעה has this meaning only when the object expressly follows, and it is evident that בּשּׁו cannot possibly be this object, after Gen 37:2, - the object is thus to be supplied. And which? Without doubt, gregem; and if Heiligst., with the advocates of the shepherd-hypothesis, understands this feeding (of the flock) among the lilies, of feeding on a flowery meadow, nothing can be said against it. But at Sol 6:2., where this saying of Shulamith is repeated, she says that her beloved בּגּנּים feeds and gathers lilies. On this the literal interpretation of the qui pascit (gregem) inter lilia is wrecked; for a shepherd, such as the shepherd-hypothesis supposes, were he to feed his flock in a garden, would be nothing better than a thief; such shepherds, also, do not concern themselves with the plucking of flowers, but spend their time in knitting stockings. It is Solomon, the king, of whom Shulamith speaks. She represents him to herself as a shepherd; but in such a manner that, at the same time, she describes his actions in language which rises above ordinary shepherd-life, and, so to speak, idealizes. She, who was herself a shepherdess, knows from her own circle of thought nothing more lovely or more honourable to conceive and to say of him, than that he is a shepherd who feeds among lilies. The locality and the surroundings of his daily work correspond to his nature, which is altogether beauty and love. Lilies, the emblem of unapproachable highness, awe-inspiring purity, lofty elevation above what is common, bloom where the lily-like (king) wanders, whom the Lily names her own. The mystic interpretation and mode of speaking takes “lilies” as the figurative name of holy souls, and a lily-stalk as the symbol of the life of regeneration. Mary, who is celebrated in song as the rosa mystica, is rightly represented in ancient pictures with a lily in her hand on the occasion of the Annunciation; for if the people of God are called by Jewish poets “a people of lilies,” she is, within this lily-community, this communio sanctorum, the lily without a parallel.

Sol 2:17

Shulamith now further relates, in a dramatic, lively manner, what she said to her beloved after she had saluted him in a song: 17 Till the day cools and the shadows flee away,      Turn; make haste, my beloved,      Like a gazelle or a young one of the hinds      On the craggy mountains.

With the perf., עד שׁ (cf. אם עד, Gen 24:33) signifies, till something is done; with the fut., till something will be done. Thus: till the evening comes - and, therefore, before it comes - may he do what she requires of him. Most interpreters explain סב, verte te, with the supplement ad me; according to which Jerome, Castell., and others translate by revertere. But Psa 71:21 does not warrant this rendering; and if Shulamith has her beloved before her, then by סב she can only point him away from herself; the parall. Sol 8:14 has בּרח instead of סב, which consequently means, “turn thyself from here away.” Rather we may suppose, as I explained in 1851, that she holds him in her embrace, as she says, and inseparable from him, will wander with him upon the mountains. But neither that ad me nor this mecum should have been here (cf. on the contrary Sol 8:14) unexpressed. We hold by what is written. Solomon surprises Shulamith, and invites her to enjoy with him the spring-time; not alone, because he is on a hunting expedition, and - as denoted by “catch us” (v. 15) - with a retinue of followers. She knows that the king has not now time to wander at leisure with her; and therefore she asks him to set forward his work for the day, and to make haste on the mountains till “the day cools and the shadows flee.” Then she will expect him back; then in the evening she will spend the time with him as he promised her. The verb פּוּח, with the guttural letter Hheth and the labial Pe, signifies spirare, here of being able to be breathed, i.e., cool, like the expression ha' רוּח, Gen 3:8 (where the guttural Hheth is connected with Resh). The shadows flee away, when they become longer and longer, as if on a flight, when they stretch out (Psa 109:23; Psa 102:12) and gradually disappear. Till that takes place - or, as we say, will be done - he shall hasten with the swiftness of a gazelle on the mountains, and that on the mountains of separation, i.e., the riven mountains, which thus present hindrances, but which he, the “swift as the gazelle” (vid., Sol 2:9), easily overcomes. Rightly, Bochart: montes scissionis, ita dicti propter, ῥωξημούς et χάσματα. Also, Luther’s “Scheideberge” are “mountains with peaks, from one of which to the other one must spring.” We must not here think of Bithron (2Sa 2:29), for that is a mountain ravine on the east of Jordan; nor of Bar-Cochba’s ביתר (Kirschbau, Landau), because this mountain (whether it be sought for to the south of Jerusalem or to be north of Antipatris) ought properly to be named ביתתר (vid., Aruch). It is worthy of observation, that in an Assyrian list of the names of animals, along with ṣbi (gazelle) and apparu (the young of the gazelle or of the hind), the name bitru occurs, perhaps the name of the rupicapra. At the close of the song, the expression “mountain of spices” occurs instead of “mountain of separation,” as here. There no more hindrances to be overcome lie in view, the rock-cliffs have become fragrant flowers. The request here made by Shulamith breathes self-denying humility, patient modesty, inward joy in the joy of her beloved. She will not claim him for herself till he has accomplished his work. But when he associates with her in the evening, as with the Emmaus disciples, she will rejoice if he becomes her guide through the new-born world of spring. The whole scene permits, yea, moves us to think of this, that the Lord already even now visits the church which loves Him, and reveals Himself to her; but that not till the evening of the world is His parousia to be expected.

Christ the Rose of Sharon.

1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. 2 As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

See here, I. What Christ is pleased to compare himself to; and he condescends very much in the comparison. He that is the Son of the Highest, the bright and morning star, calls and owns himself the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys, to express his presence with his people in this world, the easiness of their access to him, and the beauty and sweetness which they find in him, and to teach them to adorn themselves with him, as shepherds and shepherdesses, when they appeared gay, were decked with roses and lilies, garlands and chaplets of flowers. The rose, for beauty and fragrance, is the chief of flowers, and our Saviour prefers the clothing of the lily before that of Solomon in all his glory. Christ is the rose of Sharon, where probably the best roses grew and in most plenty, the rose of the field (so some), denoting that the gospel salvation is a common salvation; it lies open to all; whoever will may come and gather the rose-buds of privileges and comforts that grow in the covenant of grace. He is not a rose locked up in a garden, but all may come and receive benefit by him and comfort in him. He is a lily for whiteness, a lily of the valleys for sweetness, for those which we call so yield a strong perfume. He is a lily of the valleys, or low places, in his humiliation, exposed to injury. Humble souls see most beauty in him. Whatever he is to others, to those that are in the valleys he is a lily. He is the rose, the lily; there is none besides. Whatever excellence is in Christ, it is in him singularly and in the highest degree.

II. What he is pleased to compare his church to, v. 2. 1. She is as a lily; he himself is the lily (v. 1), she is as the lily. The beauty of believers consists in their conformity and resemblance to Jesus Christ. They are his love, and so they are as lilies, for those are made like Christ in whose hearts his love is shed abroad. 2. As a lily among thorns, as a lily compared with thorns. The church of Christ as far excels all other societies as a bed of roses excels a bush of thorns. As a lily compassed with thorns. The wicked, the daughters of this world, such as have no love to Christ, are as thorns, worthless and useless, good for nothing but to stop a gap; nay, they are noxious and hurtful; they came in with sin and are a fruit of the curse; they choke good seed, and hinder good fruit, and their end is to be burned. God's people are as lilies among them, scratched and torn, shaded and obscured, by them; they are dear to Christ, and yet exposed to hardships and troubles in the world; they must expect it, for they are planted among thorns (Ezek. ii. 6), but they are nevertheless dear to him; he does not overlook nor undervalue any of his lilies for their being among thorns, When they are among thorns they must still be as lilies, must maintain their innocency and purity, and, though they are among thorns, must not be turned into thorns, must not render railing for railing, and, if they thus preserve their character, they shall be still owned as conformable to Christ. Grace in the soul is a lily among thorns; corruptions are thorns in the flesh (2 Cor. xii. 7), are as Canaanites to God's Israel (Josh. xxiii. 13); but the lily that is now among thorns shall shortly be transplanted out of this wilderness into that paradise where there is no pricking brier nor grieving thorn, Ezek. xxviii. 24.

The Love of the Church to Christ.

3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. 5 Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. 6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me. 7 I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.

Here, I. The spouse commends her beloved and prefers him before all others: As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, which perhaps does not grow so high, nor spread so wide, as some other trees, yet is useful and serviceable to man, yielding pleasant and profitable fruit, while the other trees are of little use, no, not the cedars themselves, till they are cut down, so is my beloved among the sons, so far does he excel them all,—all the sons of God, the angels (that honour was put upon him which was never designed for them, Heb. i. 4),—all the sons of men; he is fairer than them all, fairer than the choicest of them, Ps. xlv. 2. Name what creature you will, and you will find Christ has the pre-eminence above them all. The world is a barren tree to a soul; Christ is a fruitful one.

II. She remembers the abundant comfort she has had in communion with him: She sat down by him with great delight, as shepherds sometimes repose themselves, sometimes converse with one another, under a tree. A double advantage she found in sitting down so near the Lord Jesus:—1. A refreshing shade: I sat down under his shadow, to be sheltered by him from the scorching heat of the sun, to be cooled, and so to take some rest. Christ is to believers as the shadow of a great tree, nay, of a great rock in a weary land, Isa. xxxii. 2; xxv. 4. When a poor soul is parched with convictions of sin and the terrors of the law, as David (Ps. xxxii. 4), when fatigued with the troubles of this world, as Elijah when he sat down under a juniper tree (1 Kings xix. 4), they find that in Christ, in his name, his graces, his comforts, and his undertaking for poor sinners, which revives them and keeps them from fainting; those that are weary and heavily laden may find rest in Christ. It is not enough to pass by this shadow, but we must sit down under it (here will I dwell, for I have desired it); and we shall find it not like Jonah's gourd, that soon withered, and left him in a heat, both inward and outward, but like the tree of life, the leaves whereof were not only for shelter, but for the healing of the nations. We must sit down under this shadow with delight, must put an entire confidence in the protection of it (as Judges ix. 15), and take an entire complacency in the refreshment of it. But that is not all: 2. Here is pleasing nourishing food. This tree drops its fruits to those that sit down under its shadow, and they are welcome to them, and will find them sweet unto their taste, whatever they are to others. Believers have tasted that the Lord Jesus is gracious (1 Pet. ii. 3); his fruits are all the precious privileges of the new covenant, purchased by his blood and communicated by his Spirit. Promises are sweet to a believer, yea, and precepts too. I delight in the law of God after the inward man. Pardons are sweet, and peace of conscience is sweet, assurances of God's love, joys of the Holy Ghost, the hopes of eternal life, and the present earnests and foretastes of it are sweet, all sweet to those that have their spiritual senses exercised. If our mouths be put out of taste for the pleasure of sin, divine consolations will be sweet to our taste, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

III. She owns herself obliged to Jesus Christ for all the benefit and comfort she had in communion with him (v. 4): "I sat down under the apple-tree, glad to be there, but he admitted me, nay, he pressed me, to a more intimate communion with him: Come in, thou blessed of the Lord, why standest thou without? He brought me to the house of wine, the place where he entertains his special friends, from lower to higher measures and degrees of comfort, from the fruit of the apple tree to the more generous fruit of the vine." To him that values the divine joys he has more shall be given. One of the rabbin by the banqueting-house understands the tabernacle of the congregation, where the interpretation of the law was given; surely we may apply it to Christian assemblies, where the gospel is preached and gospel-ordinances are administered, particularly the Lord's supper, that banquet of wine, especially to the inside of those ordinances, communion with God in them. Observe, 1. How she was introduced: "He brought me, wrought in me an inclination to draw nigh to God, helped me over my discouragements, took me by the hand, guided and led me, and gave me an access with boldness to God as a Father," Eph. ii. 18. We should never have come into the banqueting-house, never have been acquainted with spiritual pleasures, if Christ had not brought us, by opening for us a new and living way and opening in us a new and living fountain. 2. How she was entertained: His banner over me was love; he brought me in with a banner displayed over my head, not as one he triumphed over, but as one he triumphed in, and whom he always caused to triumph with him and in him, 2 Cor. ii. 14. The gospel is compared to a banner or ensign (Isa. xi. 12), and that which is represented in the banner, written in it in letters of gold, letters of blood, is love, love; and this is the entertainment in the banqueting-house. Christ is the captain of our salvation, and he enlists all his soldiers under the banner of love; in that they centre; to that they must continually have an eye, and be animated by it. The love of Christ must constrain them to fight manfully. When a city was taken the conqueror set up his standard in it. "He has conquered me with his love, overcome me with kindness, and that is the banner over me." This she speaks of as what she had formerly had experience of, and she remembers it with delight. Eaten bread must not be forgotten, but remembered with thankfulness to that God who has fed us with manna in this wilderness.

IV. She professes her strong affection and most passionate love to Jesus Christ (v. 5): I am sick of love, overcome, overpowered, by it. David explains this when he says (Ps. cxix. 20), My soul breaks for the longing that it has unto thy judgments, and (v. 81), My soul faints for thy salvation, languishing with care to make it sure and fear of coming short of it. The spouse was now absent perhaps from her beloved, waiting for his return, and cannot bear the grief of distance and delay. Oh how much better it is with the soul when it is sick of love to Christ than when it is surfeited with the love of this world! She cries out for cordials: "Oh stay me with flagons, or ointments, or flowers, any thing that is reviving; comfort me with apples, with the fruits of that apple-tree, Christ (v. 3), with the merit and meditation of Christ and the sense of his love to my soul." Note, Those that are sick of love to Christ shall not want spiritual supports, while they are yet waiting for spiritual comforts.

V. She experiences the power and tenderness of divine grace, relieving her in her present faintings, v. 6. Though he seemed to have withdrawn, yet he was even then a very present help, 1. To sustain the love-sick soul, and to keep it from fainting away: "His left hand is under my head, to bear it up, nay, as a pillow to lay it easy." David experienced God's hand upholding him then when his soul was following hard after God (Ps. lxiii. 8), and Job in a state of desertion yet found that God put strength into him, Job xxiii. 6. All his saints are in his hand, which tenderly holds their aching heads. 2. To encourage the love-sick soul to continue waiting till he returns: "For, in the mean time, his right hand embraces me, and thereby gives me an unquestionable assurance of his love." Believers owe all their strength and comfort to the supporting left hand and embracing right hand of the Lord Jesus.

VI. Finding her beloved thus nigh unto her she is in great care that her communion with him be not interrupted (v. 7): I charge you, O you daughters of Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the mother of us all, charges all her daughters, the church charges all her members, the believing soul charges all its powers and faculties, the spouse charges herself and all about her, not to stir up, or awake, her love until he please, now that he is asleep in her arms, as she was borne up in his, v. 6. She gives them this charge by the roes and the hinds of the field, that is, by every thing that is amiable in their eyes, and dear to them, as the loving hind and the pleasant roe. "My love is to me dearer than those can be to you, and will be disturbed, like them, with a very little noise." Note, 1. Those that experience the sweetness of communion with Christ, and the sensible manifestations of his love, cannot but desire the continuance of these blessed views, these blessed visits. Peter would make tabernacles upon the holy mount, Matt. xvii. 4. 2. Yet Christ will, when he pleases, withdraw those extraordinary communications of himself, for he is a free-agent, and the Spirit, as the wind, blows where and when it listeth, and in his pleasure it becomes us to acquiesce. But, 3. Our care must be that we do nothing to provoke him to withdraw and to hide his face, that we carefully watch over our own hearts and suppress every thought that may grieve his good Spirit. Let those that have comfort be afraid of sinning it away.

Mutual Love of Christ and the Church.

8 The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. 9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice. 10 My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; 13 The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

The church is here pleasing herself exceedingly with the thoughts of her further communion with Christ after she has recovered from her fainting fit.

I. She rejoices in his approach, v. 8. 1. She hears him speak: "It is the voice of my beloved, calling me to tell me he is coming." Like one of his own sheep, she knows his voice before she sees him, and can easily distinguish it from the voice of a stranger (John x. 4, 5), and, like a faithful friend of the bridegroom, she rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, John iii. 29. With what an air of triumph and exultation does she cry out, "It is the voice of my beloved, it can be the voice of no other, for none besides can speak to the heart and make that burn." 2. She sees him come, sees the goings of our God, our King, Ps. xlviii. 24. Behold, he comes. This may very well be applied to the prospect with the Old-Testament saints had of Christ's coming in the flesh. Abraham saw his day at a distance, and was glad. The nearer the time came the clearer discoveries were made of it; and those that waited for the consolation of Israel with an eye of faith saw him come, and triumphed in the sight: Behold, he comes; for they had heard him say (Ps. xl. 7), Lo, I come, to which their faith here affixes its seal: Behold, he comes as he has promised. (1.) He comes cheerfully and with great alacrity; he comes leaping and skipping like a roe and like a young hart (v. 9), as one pleased with his own undertaking, and that had his heart upon it and his delights with the sons of men. When he came to be baptized with the baptism of blood, how was he straitened till it was accomplished! Luke xii. 50. (2.) He comes slighting and surmounting all the difficulties that lay in his way; he comes leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills (so some read it), making nothing of the discouragements he was to break through; the curse of the law, the death of the cross, must be undergone, all the powers of darkness must be grappled with, but, before the resolutions of his love, these great mountains become plains. Whatever opposition is given at any time to the deliverance of God's church, Christ will break through it, will get over it. (3.) He comes speedily, like a roe or a young hart; they thought the time long (every day a year), but really he hastened; as now, so then, surely he comes quickly; he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. When he comes for the deliverance of his people he flies upon a cloud, and never stays beyond his time, which is the best time. We may apply it to particular believers, who find that even when Christ has withdrawn sensible comforts, and seems to forsake, yet it is but for a small moment, and he will soon return with everlasting loving-kindness.

II. She pleases herself with the glimpses she has of him, and the glances she has of his favour: "He stands behind our wall; I know he is there, for sometimes he looks forth at the window, or looks in at it, and displays himself through the lattice." Such was the state of the Old-Testament church while it was in expectation of the coming of the Messiah. The ceremonial law is called a wall of partition (Eph. ii. 14), a veil (2 Cor. iii. 13); but Christ stood behind that wall. They had him near them; they had him with them, though they could not see him clearly. He that was the substance was not far off from the shadows, Col. ii. 17. The saw him looking through the windows of the ceremonial institutions and smiling through those lattices; in their sacrifices and purifications Christ discovered himself to them, and gave them intimations and earnests of his grace, both to engage and to encourage their longings for his coming. Such is our present state in comparison with what it will be at Christ's second coming. We now see him through a glass darkly (the body is a wall between us and him, through the windows of which we now and then get a sight of him), but not face to face, as we hope to see him shortly. In the sacraments Christ is near us, but it is behind the wall of external signs, through those lattices he manifests himself to us; but we shall shortly see him as he is. Some understand this of the state of a believer when he is under a cloud; Christ is out of sight and yet not far off. See Job xxxiv. 14, and compare Job xxiii. 8-10. She calls the wall that interposed between her and her beloved our wall, because it is sin, and nothing else, that separates between us and God, and that is a wall of our own erecting (Isa. lix. 1); behind that he stands, as waiting to be gracious, and ready to be reconciled, upon our repentance. Then he looks in at the window, observes the frame of our hearts and the working of our souls; he looks forth at the window, and shows himself in giving them some comfort, that they may continue hoping for his return.

III. She repeats the gracious invitation he had given her to come a walking with him, v. 10-13. She remembers what her beloved said to her, for it had made a very pleasing and powerful impression upon her, and the word that quickens us we shall never forget. She relates it for the encouragement of others, telling them what he had said to her soul and done for her soul, Ps. lxvi. 16.

1. He called her his love and his fair one. Whatever she is to others, to him she is acceptable, and in his eyes she is amiable. Those that take Christ for their beloved, he will own as his; never was any love lost that was bestowed upon Christ. Christ, by expressing his love to believers, invites and encourages them to follow him.

2. He called her to rise and come away, v. 10, and again v. 13. The repetition denotes backwardness in her (we have need to be often called to come away with Jesus Christ; precept must be upon precept and line upon line), but it denotes earnestness in him; so much is his heart set upon the welfare of precious souls that he importunes them most pressingly to that which is for their own good.

3. He gave for a reason the return of the spring, and the pleasantness of the weather.

(1.) The season is elegantly described in a great variety of expressions. [1.] The winter is past, the dark, cold, and barren winter. Long winters and hard ones pass away at last; they do no endure always. And the spring would not be so pleasant as it is if it did not succeed the winter, which is a foil to its beauty, Eccl. vii. 14. Neither the face of the heavens nor that of the earth is always the same, but subject to continual vicissitudes, diurnal and annual. The winter is past, but has not passed away for ever; it will come again, and we must provide for it in summer, Prov. vi. 6, 8. We must weep in winter, and rejoice in summer, as though we wept and rejoiced not, for both are passing. [2.] The rain is over and gone, the winter-rain, the cold stormy rain; it is over now, and the dew is as the dew of herbs. Even the rain that drowned the world was over and gone at last (Gen. viii. 1-3), and God promised to drown the world no more, which was a type and figure of the covenant of grace, Isa. liv. 9. [3.] The flowers appear on the earth. All winter they are dead and buried in their roots, and there is no sign of them; but in the spring they revive, and show themselves in a wonderful variety and verdure, and, like the dew that produces them, tarry not for man, Mic. v. 7. They appear, but they will soon disappear again, and man in herein like the flower of the field, Job xiv. 2. [4.] The time of singing of birds has come. The little birds, which all the winter lie hid in their retirements and scarcely live, when the spring returns forget all the calamities of the winter, and to the best of their capacity chant forth the praises of their Creator. Doubtless he who understands the birds that cry for want (Ps. cxlvii. 9) takes notice of those that sing for joy Ps. civ. 12. The singing of the birds may shame our silence in God's praises, who are better fed (Matt. vi. 26), and better taught (Job xxxv. 11), and are of more value than many sparrows. They live without inordinate care (Matt. vi. 26) and therefore they sing, while we murmur. [5.] The voice of the turtle is heard in our land, which is one of the season-birds mentioned Jer. viii. 7, that observe the time of their coming and the time of their singing, and so shame us who know not the judgment of the Lord, understand not the times, nor do that which is beautiful in its season, do not sing in singing time. [6.] The fig-tree puts forth her green figs, by which we know that summer is nigh (Matt. xxiv. 32), when the green figs will be ripe figs and fit for use; and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. The earth produces not only flowers (v. 12), but fruits; and the smell of the fruits, which are profitable, is to be preferred far before that of the flowers, which are only for show and pleasure. Serpents, they say, are driven away by the smell of the vines; and who is the old serpent, and who the true vine, we know very well.

(2.) Now this description of the returning spring, as a reason for coming away with Christ, is applicable [1.] To the introducing of the gospel in the room of the Old-Testament dispensation, during which it had been winter time with the church. Christ's gospel warms that which was cold, makes that fruitful which before was dead and barren; when it comes to any place it puts a beauty and glory upon that place (2 Cor. iii. 7, 8) and furnishes occasion for joy. Spring-time is pleasant time, and so is gospel-time. Aspice venturo lætentur ut omnia seclo—Behold what joy the dawning age inspires! said Virgil, from the Sibyls, perhaps with more reference to the setting up of the Messiah's kingdom at that time than he himself thought of. See Ps. xcvi. 11. Arise then, and improve this spring-time. Come away from the world and the flesh, come into fellowship with Christ, 1 Cor. i. 9. [2.] To the delivering of the church from the power of persecuting enemies, and the restoring of liberty and peace to it, after a severe winter of suffering and restraint. When the storms of trouble are over and gone, when the voice of the turtle, the joyful sound of the gospel of Christ, is again heard, and ordinances are enjoyed with freedom, then arise and come away to improve the happy juncture. Walk in the light of the Lord; sing in the ways of the Lord. When the churches had rest, then were they edified, Acts ix. 31. [3.] To the conversion of sinners from a state of nature to a state of grace. That blessed change is like the return of the spring, a universal change and a very comfortable one; it is a new creation; it is being born again. The soul that was hard, and cold, and frozen, and unprofitable, like the earth in winter, becomes fruitful, like the earth in spring, and by degrees, like it, brings its fruits to perfection. This blessed change is owing purely to the approaches and influences of the sun of righteousness, who calls to us from heaven to arise and come away; come, gather in summer. [4.] To the consolations of the saints after a state of inward dejection and despondency. A child of God, under doubts and fears, is like the earth in winter, its nights long, its days dark, good affections chilled, nothing done, nothing got, the hand sealed up. But comfort will return; the birds shall sing again, and the flowers appear. Arise therefore, poor drooping soul, and come away with thy beloved. Arise, and shake thyself from the dust, Isa. lii. 2. Arise, shine, for thy light has come (Isa. lx. 1); walk in that light, Isa. ii. 5. [5.] To the resurrection of the body at the last day, and the glory to be revealed. The bones that lay in the grave, as the roots of the plants in the ground during the winter, shall then flourish as a herb, Isa. lxvi. 14; xxvi. 19. That will be an eternal farewell to winter and a joyful entrance upon an everlasting spring.

The Love of the Church to Christ.

14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. 15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies. 17 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

Here is, I. The encouraging invitation which Christ gives to the church, and every believing soul, to come into communion with him, v. 14.

1. His love is now his dove; David had called the church God's turtle-dove (Ps. lxxxiv. 19), and so she is here called; a dove for beauty, her wings covered with silver (Ps. xviii. 13), for innocence and inoffensiveness; a gracious spirit is a dove-like spirit, harmless, loving quietness and cleanliness, and faithful to Christ, as the turtle to her mate. The Spirit descended like a dove on Christ, and so he does on all Christians, making them of a meek and quiet spirit. She is Christ's dove, for he owns her and delights in her; she can find no rest but in him and his ark, and therefore to him, as her Noah, she returns.

2. This dove is in the clefts of the rock and in the secret places of the stairs. This speaks either, (1.) Her praise. Christ is the rock, to whom she flies for shelter and in whom alone she can think herself safe and find herself easy, as a dove in the hole of a rock, when struck at by the birds of prey, Jer. xlviii. 28. Moses was hid in a cleft of the rock, that he might behold something of God's glory, which otherwise he could not have borne the brightness of. She retires into the secret places of the stairs, where she may be alone, undisturbed, and may the better commune with her own heart. Good Christians will find time to be private. Christ often withdrew to a mountain himself alone, to pray. Or, (2.) her blame. She crept into the clefts of the rock, and the secret places, for fear and shame, any where to hide her head, being heartless and discouraged, and shunning even the sight of her beloved. Being conscious to herself of her own unfitness and unworthiness to come into his presence, and speak to him, she drew back, and was like a silly dove without heart, Hos. vii. 11.

3. Christ graciously calls her out of her retirements: Come, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice. She was mourning like a dove (Isa. xxxviii. 14), bemoaning herself like the doves of the valleys, where they are near the clefts of the impending rocks, mourning for her iniquities (Ezek. vii. 16) and refusing to be comforted. But Christ calls her to lift up her face without spot, being purged from an evil conscience (Job xi. 15; xxii. 26), to come boldly to the throne of grace, having a great high priest there (Heb. iv. 16), to tell what her petition is and what her request: Let me hear thy voice, hear what thou hast to say; what would you that I should do unto you? Speak freely, speak up, and fear not a slight or repulse.

4. For her encouragement, he tells her the good thoughts he had of her, whatever she thought of herself: Sweet is thy voice; thy praying voice, though thou canst but chatter like a crane or a swallow (Isa. xxxviii. 14); it is music in God's ears. He has assured us that the prayer of the upright is his delight; he smelled a sweet savour from Noah's sacrifice, and the spiritual sacrifices are no less acceptable, 1 Pet. ii. 5. This does not so much commend our services as God's gracious condescension in making the best of them, and the efficacy of the much incense which is offered with the prayers of saints, Rev. viii. 3. "That countenance of thine, which thou art ashamed of, is comely, though now mournful, much more will it be so when it becomes cheerful." Then the voice of prayer is sweet and acceptable to God when the countenance, the conversation in which we show ourselves before men, is holy, and so comely, and agreeable to our profession. Those that are sanctified have the best comeliness.

II. The charge which Christ gives to his servants to oppose and suppress that which is a terror to his church and drives her, like a poor frightened dove, into the clefts of the rock, and which is an obstruction and prejudice to the interests of his kingdom in this world and in the heart (v. 15): Take us the foxes (take them for us, for it is good service both to Christ and the church), the little foxes, that creep in insensibly; for, though they are little, they do great mischief, they spoil the vines, which they must by no means be suffered to do at any time, especially now when our vines have tender grapes that must be preserved, or the vintage will fail. Believers are as vines, weak but useful plants; their fruits are as tender crops at first, which must have time to come to maturity. This charge to take the foxes is, 1. A charge to particular believers to mortify their own corruptions, their sinful appetites and passions, which are as foxes, little foxes, that destroy their graces and comforts, quash good motions, crush good beginnings, and prevent their coming to perfection. Seize the little foxes, the first risings of sin, the little ones of Babylon (Ps. cxxxvii. 9), those sins that seem little, for they often prove very dangerous. Whatever we find a hindrance to us in that which is good we must put away. 2. A charge to all in their places to oppose and prevent the spreading of all such opinions and practices as tend to corrupt men's judgments, debauch their consciences, perplex their minds, and discourage their inclinations to virtue and piety. Persecutors are foxes (Luke xiii. 32); false prophets are foxes, Eze. xiii. 4. Those that sow the tares of heresy or schism, and, like Diotrephes, trouble the peace of the church and obstruct the progress of the gospel, they are the foxes, the little foxes, which must not be knocked on the head (Christ came not to destroy men's lives), but taken, that they may be tamed, or else restrained from doing mischief.

III. The believing profession which the church makes of her relation to Christ, and the satisfaction she takes in her interest in him and communion with him, v. 16. He had called her to rise and come away with him, to let him see her face and hear her voice; now this is her answer to that call, in which, though at present in the dark and at a distance,

1. She comforts herself with the thoughts of the mutual interest and relation that were between her and her beloved: My beloved to me and I to him, so the original reads it very emphatically; the conciseness of the language speaks the largeness of her affection: "What he is to me and I to him may better be conceived than expressed." Note, (1.) It is the unspeakable privilege of true believers that Christ is theirs: My beloved is mine; this denotes not only propriety ("I have a title to him") but possession and tenure—"I receive from his fulness." Believers are partakers of Christ; they have not only an interest in him, but the enjoyment of him, are taken not only in the covenant, but into communion with him. All the benefits of his glorious undertaking, as Mediator, are made over to them. He is that to them which the world neither is nor can be, all that which they need and desire, and which will make a complete happiness for them. All he is is theirs, and all he has, all he has done, and all he is doing; all he has promised in the gospel, all he has prepared in heaven, all is yours. (2.) It is the undoubted character of all true believers that they are Christ's, and then, and then only, he is theirs. They have given their own selves to him (2 Cor. viii. 5); they receive his doctrine and obey his laws; they bear his image and espouse his interest; they belong to Christ. If we be his, his wholly, his only, his for ever, we may take the comfort of his being ours.

2. She comforts herself with the thoughts of the communications of his grace to his people: He feeds among the lilies. When she wants the tokens of his favour to her in particular, she rejoices in the assurance of his presence with all believers in general, who are lilies in his eyes. He feeds among them, that is, he takes as much pleasure in them and their assemblies as a man does in his table or in his garden, for he walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks; he delights to converse with them, and to do them good.

IV. The church's hope and expectation of Christ's coming, and her prayer grounded thereupon. 1. She doubts not but that the day will break and the shadows will flee away. The gospel-day will dawn, and the shadows of the ceremonial law will flee away. This was the comfort of the Old-Testament church, that, after the long night of that dark dispensation, the day-spring from on high would at length visit them, to give light to those that sit in darkness. When the sun rises the shades of the night vanish, so do the shadows of the day when the substance comes. The day of comfort will come after a night of desertion. Or it may refer to the second coming of Christ, and the eternal happiness of the saints; the shadows of our present state will flee away, our darkness and doubts, our griefs and all our grievances, and a glorious day shall dawn, a morning when the upright shall have dominion, a day that shall have no night after it. 2. She begs the presence of her beloved, in the mean time, to support and comfort her: "Turn, my beloved, turn to me, come and visit me, come and relieve me, be with me always to the end of the age. In the day of my extremity, make haste to help me, make no long tarrying. Come over even the mountains of division, interposing time and days, with some gracious anticipations of that light and love." 3. She begs that he would not only turn to her for the present, but hasten his coming to fetch her to himself. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Though there be mountains in the way, thou canst, like a roe, or a young hart, step over them with ease. O show thyself to me, or take me up to thee."

CHAP. II. Verſ. 1. I am the Roſe of Sharon]

THe Greek renders it, the flower of the field, that grows without mans labour, having Heaven for its Father, Earth for its Mother. So had Chriſt, made of a woman, manifeſted in the fleſh, without Father as man, without Mother as God, Heb. 7.3. And Heb. 9.11. The Tabernacle of Chriſts humane Nature (ſo called, becauſe therein the fulneſs of the Godhead dwelt bodily, Col. 2.9.) was not made with hands, that is, not by mans help; it was not of this building by the power of Nature. But as matter in the beginning of time was taken from man to make a woman, ſo matter in the fulneſs of time was taken from Woman to make the Man Chriſt Jeſus: And as Eve was a true Woman without woman, ſo Chriſt was a true Man without man. Hee is called, filius hominis, but it is onely of the feminine gender. Hee is the flower of the field, as here, the Stone cut out without hands, Dan. 2.45. the Phoenix that hath no Parents, the Pearl that is not made through any earthly copulation, but is begotten of the dew of Heaven. For as Pearls are bred in ſhell-fiſhes of a celeſtial humour, ſo was Chriſt, by heavenly influence, in the Virgins womb. But let us weigh the words as they are commonly rendred: Sharon was a moſt fruitful place ſituate under the hill Libanon, 1 Chron. 27.29. coupled with Carmel for excellency, Iſa. 35.2. not more a field than a fold for flocks, Iſa. 65.10. To a Roſe (that Queen of flowers) here growing doth the Lord Chriſt fitly compare himſelf. This flower delights in ſhadowy places (and thence borroweth its name in the Original) it is orient of hiew,Habaſteleth. cold of complexion, but paſſing redolent, and of comfortable condition. Such a Flower is Jeſus (ſaith an Expoſitour here) moſt delighted in temperate places, for hiew white and ruddy, the chiefeſt of ten thouſand,Clapham. a cooler to the conſcience, but paſſing ſavoury, and comfortable to the diſtreſſed Patient.

And the Lilly of the Vallyes] Or, low places, which are moſt fat and fertile. Chriſt is both Roſe and Lilly, which two put together make a gallant ſhew, and beautifie the boſomes of thoſe that bear them; but nothing like as Chriſt doth thoſe that have him dwelling in their hearts by Faith. Theſe flowers do ſoon fade, and loſe both beauty and ſweetneſs: but ſo doth not Chriſt or his comforts. Tam recens mihi nunc Chriſtus eſt, ac ſi hac hora fudiſſet ſanguinem, ſaith Luther, Chriſt is as freſh to mee now, as if hee had ſhed his blood this very hour. Hee purpoſely compareth himſelf to a Vine, to a door, to bread, and many other excellent and neceſſary creatures, every where obvious, that therein (as in ſo many optick glaſſes) wee may ſee him, and bee transformed into him. For this it is alſo, that hee here commends himſelf, not out of arrogancy or vain affectation of popular applauſe, but for our ſakes doubtleſs, that wee may take notice of his excellencies, and love him in ſincerity. The Spouſe alſo praiſeth her ſelf ſometimes, not out of pride of her parts, but to ſhew her thankfulneſs to Chriſt, from whom ſhee had them.

Verſ. 2. As the Lilly among the Thorns] The Lilly is white, pure and pleaſant,Shoſ[illegible: 3 letters]nah. having ſix leaves (and thence its name in Hebrew) and ſeven golden-coloured grains within it. The forty fifth Pſalm (of like argument with this Song) is dedicated to him that excelleth upon Shoſhannim, or upon this ſixleaved flower the Lilly. Moreover the chief City of Perſia was called Shuſhan, from the multitude of Lillies growing there.Schindler. Caſſidor. lib. 7. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. Ep. 15. Here Alexander found fifty thouſand Talents of gold; the very ſtones of it are ſaid to have been joyned together with Gold. The Church is far richer, and fuller of beauty and bravery; but beſet with thorns, ſuch as Abimelech was, a right bramble indeed, that grew in the baſe hedge-row of a Concubine, and ſcratcht and drew blood to purpoſe: wicked men are called Briers, Micah 7.4. thorns twiſted and folded, Nahum 1.10. that hurt the earth, and thoſe that handle them. Indeed they cannot bee taken with hands, but the man that ſhall touch them muſt bee fenced with Iron, and the ſtaff of a ſpear. But God ſhall thruſt them all away, ſeal. into hell, and they ſhall bee utterly burnt with fire in the ſame place, 2 Sam. 23.6, 7. In the mean ſpace, who will ſet the briers and thorns againſt mee in battel, ſaith the Lord Chriſt (being jealous for his Spouſe with a great jealouſie, Zach. 1.14.) who dare do it? I would march againſt them, I would burn them together, Iſa. 27.4. Sin or Sinai, a thorny place in the deſert, where it rained down Quails and Manna from Heaven, was a type of the Church, flouriſhing in the midſt of her enemies, like a Lilly among thorns.

So is my Love amongſt the Daughters] i. e. falſe Siſters, quae dicuntur ſpinae propter malignitatem morum; Aug. Epiſt. 48. dicuntur filiae, propter communionem ſacramentorum, ſaith Auguſtine: theſe are called thorns for the malignity of their manners, and Daughters for their profeſſion and outward priviledges. Theſe prick, ſting, and nettle the Church; they cannot but do their nature, till God take an order with them,Matth. 13. till hee binde them in bundles, and caſt them into the furnace. But as the Lilly is freſh and beautiful, and looks pleaſantly (even that wilde Lilly that wee call Wood-binde) though among thorns: ſo ſhould wee amidſt trouble. God hedgeth us about with theſe briars, that hee may keep us within compaſs:Auguſt. hee pricks us with theſe thorns, that hee may let out our ill humours, O felices tribulos tribulationum! O happy thorns of tribulation, that open a vein for ſin to guſh out at! Bee not weary, my ſon, of Gods correction, ſaith Solomon, Prov. 3.11. Ne ejus caſtigationes ut ſpinas quaſdam exiſtimes tibi moleſtas, ſo Kabvenaki renders and expounds that text. Feel not Gods corrections troubleſome to thee, as thorns in thine eyes, or prickles in thy ſides. Eſpecially ſince, as Gideon, by threſhing thoſe churls of Succoth, with thorns and briars of the wilderneſs,Judg. 8.16. taught them better behaviour, ſo deals God by his people: his Houſe of correction is his School of inſtruction, Pſalm 94.12. (See my Love-tokens, pag. 144, 145, &c.) God ſets theſe thorns, as hee did thoſe four horns, Zach. 1. to afflict his people which way ſoever they fled.Zach. 1.19, 20, 21 Howbeit when they had puſhed them to the Lord, there were four Carpenters ſet a work to cut them ſhort enough, for ever doing any further hurt.

Verſ. 3. As the Apple-tree among the trees, &c.] Among wilde trees, moſs-begrown trees, trees that bring not forth meat for men, but maſt for Hoggs. Such is every natural man, Rom. 11.24. Ephraim is an empty Vine, hee beareth fruit to himſelf, Hoſ. 10.1. paltry-hedge-fruit. Oaks bring forth Apples, ſuch as they are, and Acorns. But what ſaith our Saviour, John 15.2. Every branch in mee that beareth not fruit, hee taketh away, and without mee yee can do nothing, verſ. 5. That is a true ſaying (though Spiera the Poſtiller cenſure it for a cruel ſentence) Omnis vita infid elium peccatum eſt, Aug. De. vera innocen. cap. 56 & nihil bonum ſine ſummo bono, The whole life of an unbeleever is ſin: neither is there any thing good without Chriſt the chiefeſt good. Here hee is fitly compared by the Church to an Apple-tree, which yeelds both ſhade and food to the weary and hungry traveller; furniſheth him with whatſoever heart can wiſh, or need require. Chriſt is cornucopia, an Univerſal Good, All-ſufficient and ſatisfactory, proportionable, and every way fitting to our neceſſities: It is not with Chriſt, as with Iſaac, that had but one bleſſing: for in him are hid all the treaſures of wiſdome, and whatſoever worth, Col. 2.3. So that as a friend of Cyrus in Xenophon being asked where his treaſure was, anſwered, [non-Latin text not transcribed], where Cyrus is my friend: ſo may a Chriſtian better anſwer to the like queſtion, [non-Latin text not transcribed], where the Lord Chriſt is my friend:Bern. For as ſine Deo omnis copia est egeſtas, without Chriſt all plenty is ſcarcity; ſo with him there can bee no want of any thing that is good. In the fulneſs of his ſufficiency hee is in want, ſaith Job of a wicked man. Contrariwiſe the godly, in the fulneſs of his want, is in an All-ſufficiency; becauſe hee is in Chriſt,Col. 3. who hath filled [non-Latin text not transcribed], the neuter gender, not onely all the hearts of his people, but All things; hee hath filled up that emptineſs that was before in the creature, and made it ſatisfactory.

I ſate down under his ſhadow with great delight] Heb. I delighted and ſate down. The Church being ſcortcht with troubles without, and terrours within, ran to Chriſt for ſhelter, and found ſingular comfort, Pſal. 91.1. Iſa. 25.4. Tua praeſentia, Domine, Laurentio ipſam craticulam dulcem fecit, ſaith an Antient; Philip Lantgrave of Heſſe, being a long time priſoner under Charls the fifth, was demanded what upheld him all that time? Reſpondit, divinas Martyrum conſolationes ſe ſenſiſſe, hee anſwered, that Chriſt came in to him with ſuch cordials, as kept up his ſpirits above beleef. There bee divine comforts that are felt by the ſuffering Saints, that others taſte not of, nor themſelves neither at other times. When the childe is ſick, out come the conſerves and ſweet-meats: Never ſits hee ſo much on his Mothers lap, and in her boſome, as then.

And his fruit was ſweet to my taſte] i. e. His word and promiſes, which I rolled as Sugar under my tongue, and ſucked therehence more ſweetneſs than Sampſon did from his hony-comb, Pſal. 19.10. & 119.103. Jer. 15.16. Luther ſaid, hee would not live in paradiſe,Tom. 4. Oper. Lat. if hee might without the Word, at cum verbo etiam in inferno facile eſt vivere, ſaith hee, but with the Word hee could live even in Hell it ſelf. True it is, that thoſe that have not the Spouſes palate, finde no ſuch ſweetneſs in Chriſt or his promiſes. Moſt men are ſo full gorged with the Devils dainties, ſo ſurfeited with ſins ſweetmeats, that they finde no more reliſh in the good Word of God,Multi in terris manducant quod apud inferos digerunt. Aug. than in the white of an Egge, or in a dry chip. Theſe feed upon that now, that they muſt (without repentance) digeſt in Hell, there will bee bitterneſs in the end. Whereas they that, by ſucking thoſe full-ſtrutting breaſts of conſolation, the promiſes, have taſted and ſeen how good the Lord Chriſt is, as their ſouls are ſatisfied with fat things, full of marrow, with the very beſt of the beſt, Iſa. 25.6. ſo hee ſhall make them to drink abundantly of the river of his pleaſures, Pſal. 36.9. hee ſhall take them into his Wine-[illegible: 1 letter]eller, and fill them with gladneſs.

Verſ. 4. Hee brought mee to the banquetting-houſe] Heb. to the houſe of Wine, where hee giveth mee that which is better than Apple-drink, as verſ. 3. As the ſufferings of Chriſt abound in us, ſo our conſolation alſo aboundeth by Chriſt, 2 Cor. 1.5. The lower that ebb, the higher this tide: as is to bee ſeen in the Martyrs, who went as merrily to die, as ever they did to dine; ſang in the flames, and felt no more pain, than if they had lain upon beds of Roſes. This their perſecutors counted ſtupidity and vain-glory: but they knew not the power of the Spirit, and the force of Faith: as Mr. Philpot told ſcoffing Morgan, who coming to confer with him, asked him, How know you that you have the Spirit of God? Mr. Philpot anſwered, By the Faith of Chriſt which is in mee. All by Faith (quoth Morgan) do yee ſo? I ween it bee the ſpirit of the buttery which your fellows have had that have been burned before you, who were drunk the night before they went to their death,Act. and Mon. fol. 1653. and I ween went drunk unto it. Whereunto Philpot replied, It appears by your communication, that you are better acquainted with the ſpirit of the buttery, than of God. Meethink you are liker a ſcoffer in a Play, than a reaſonable Doctor to inſtruct one. Thou haſt the ſpirit of illuſion and ſophiſtry, which is not able to countervail the Spirit of truth. Thou art but an Aſs in the things of God, &c. God ſhall ſurely rain fire and brimſtone upon ſuch ſcorners of his Word, and blaſphemers of his people as thou art. The like ſenſure was paſſed upon Nicholas Burton, Martyr in Spain, who becauſe hee went chearfully to the ſtake, and embraced death with all gladneſs and patience, Ibid. 1866. his tormentours and enemies ſaid, that the Devil had his ſoul, before hee came to the fire, and therefore his ſenſe of feeling was paſt. Theſe carnal creatures meddle not with the true Chriſtians joy, neither know they the privy armour of proof (the joy of Faith) that hee hath as an aes triplex about his heart, making him inſuperable, and more than a Conquerour. Rom. 8.35. True grace hath a fortifying comforting virtue, which the world knows not of: like as true gold comforts and ſtrengthens the heart, that Alchymy gold doth not. And as a man that by good fare, and plenty of the beſt Wines hath his bones filled with marrow, and his veins with good blood, and a freſh ſpring of ſpirits, can endure to go with leſs cloathes than another; becauſe hee is well li[illegible: 1 letter]ed within: So it is with a heart, that by oft feaſting with Chriſt in his Ordinances, and by much reading and ruminating upon the Scriptures (called here the Banquetting-houſe, or Wine-celler, as moſt are of opinion) hath got a great deal of joy and peace: ſuch an one will go thorow troubles, and make nothing of them, yea though outward comforts utterly fail, Hab. 3.17.

Rom. 5.15. And his banner over mee was love] As a Standard erected, as a banner diſplayed, ſo was the love of Chriſt ſhed abroad in her heart by the Holy Ghoſt: who had alſo (as a fruit of his love) ſet up a Standard in her againſt ſtrong temptations and corruptions, Iſa. 59.19. and thereby aſſured her of his ſpecial preſence: like as where the colours are, there is the Captain, where the Standard, there the King. The wicked alſo have their banners of luſt, covetouſneſs, ambition, malice, under which they fight (as the Dragon and his viperous brood, Rev. 12.7.) againſt Chriſt and his people: but they may read their deſtiny, Iſa. 8.9, 10. Aſſociate your ſelves, O yee people! ſtand to your arms, repair to your colours, &c. yet yee ſhall bee broken in peeces, gird your ſelves, and yee ſhall bee broken in peeces, &c. Take counſel together, and it ſhall come to nought, &c. for God is with us, Immanuel is our General: And how many do you reckon him for? (as Antigonus once ſaid to his ſouldiers, that feared their enemies numbers.) Surely if Chriſt bee for us (and hee is never from us, Matth. 28.20. but as Xerxes was wont to do, hee pitcheth his tent, and ſets up his Standard in the midſt of his people, as once in the wilderneſs) who can bee againſt us? Rom. 8.31. And though many bee, yet No weapon that is formed againſt the Church ſhall proſper, (how ſhould it, fith ſhee hath ſuch a Champion as Chriſt, who is in love with her, and will take her part, fight her quarrel?) and every tongue that ſhall riſe againſt thee in judgement, thou ſhalt condemn, Iſa. 54.17. As the ecclipſed Moon, by keeping her motion, wades out of the ſhadow, and recovers her ſplendour: So it ſhall bee with the Spouſe. Yea ſhee ſhall bee able to anſwer thoſe that reproach and caſt dirt upon her, for her keeping cloſe to Chriſts colours, and ſuffering hardſhip for him: as the Emperour Adrian did the Poet Florus, who ſate on an Ale-bench and ſang, Nolo ego Caeſar eſſe Ambulare per Britannos Rigidas pati pruinas, &c.

The witty Emperour replied upon him, aſſoon as hee heard of it,Melanchthon. in Chron. Carion. Nolo ego Florus eſſe Ambulare per tabernas; Latitare per popinas, Pulices pati rotundos.

Verſ. 5. Stay mee with flaggons] Not with cups or bowls onely, but with flaggons, larger meaſures of that Wine that was ſet before her in Chriſts Wine-houſe. Comfort mee with Apples, ſuch as fall from Chriſts Apple-tree, ſpoken of in the former verſe, the precious mellifluous promiſes, which are ſweet like the Apples of the Garden of Eden, as the Chaldee here hath it. Boulſter mee up with theſe: for I am even ſinking and ſwooning with an exceſs of love, with an exuberancy of ſpiritual joy in God my Saviour, ſuch as I can hardly ſtand under. Stay mee therefore (ſaith ſhee to the Miniſters, Poly. hiſt. cap. 56. Smells are applied to the noſtrils of them that faint. thoſe pillars to ſupport the weak, Gal. 2.9. and to comfort the feeble minded, 1 Theſ. 5.14.) Stay mee, or ſuſtain mee with flaggons, comfort mee with Apples. (Solinus tells of ſome near the River Ganges, that live odore pomorum ſylveſtrium, by the ſmell of Forreſt Apples, which is ſomewhat ſtrange.)

For I am ſick of love] Surprized with a love-qualm, as an honeſt Virgin may bee, meeting her Love unawares, enjoying him in the fulneſs of joy, and fearing the loſs of his company for a long ſeaſon.Lomb. Se[illegible: 1 letter]t. lib. 3. distine. 34. Vide Auguſt. Epiſt. 121. ad Hoxor[illegible: 1 letter]. This is timor amicalis, which Lombard thus deſcribeth, ne offendamus quem diligimus, & ne ab eo ſeparemur, The fear of love is, leſt wee ſhould offend him whom our ſoul loveth, and ſo cauſe him to withdraw. Hic timor tranſit in charitatem, ſaith Gregory, This fear paſſeth into love, and overwhelms the ſpirit ſometimes. This was it that made Jacob, when hee ſaw nothing but viſions of love and mercy, cry out, How dreadful is this place! This made that mixture of paſſions in thoſe good women, that coming to look Chriſt,Goſr. in Vit. Bern. departed from the grave with fear and great joy. From this cauſe it was that Bernard, for a certain time after his converſion, remained as it were deprived of his ſenſes by the exceſſive conſolations hee had from God. Cyprian writes to his friend Donatus, that before his converſion, hee thought it impoſſible to finde ſuch raptures and raviſhments, as now hee did in a Chriſtian courſe.Epiſt. l. 1. Confeſſ. l. 6. c. 22. Hee begins his Epiſtle thus, Accipe quod ſentitur antequam diſcitur, &c. Auguſtine ſaith the like of himſelf: What unconceiveable and unutterable extaſies of joy then may wee well think there is in Heaven, where the Lord Chriſt perpetually, and without intermiſſion, manifeſteth the moſt glorious and viſible ſigns of his preſence, and ſeals of his love? Hee pours forth all plenteous demonſtrations of his goodneſs, to his Saints, and gives them eyes to ſee it, minds to conceive it: and then fills them with exceeding fulneſs of love to him again, ſo that they ſwim in pleaſure, and are even overwhelmed with joy: a joy too big to enter into them, they muſt enter into it, Mat. 25.21. Oh pray! pray with that great Apoſtle that had been in Heaven, and ſeen that which eye never ſaw. that the eyes of your underſtanding being enlightened, Verbis exprimi non poteſt, experimento opus eſt. Chryſ. you may know the love of Chriſt which paſſeth knowledge, and what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints, Epheſ. 1.18. & 3.19. A glory fitter to bee beleeved, than poſſible to bee diſcourſed. An exceeding exceſſive eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. 4.17. Such a weight, as if the body were not upheld by the power of God, it were impoſſible but it ſhould faint under it. How ready are our ſpirits to expire here, when any extraordinary unexpected comfort befalls us? The Church is ſick of love. Jacobs heart fainted when hee heard of Joſephs life and honour in Egypt. The Queen of Sheba was aſtonied at Solomons wiſdome and magnificence, ſo that ſhee had no ſpirit more in her. Viſcount Liſley in Henry the Eighths time died for joy of an unexpected pardon. What then may wee think of thoſe in Heaven? and ſhould not wee haſten in our affections to that happy place? Oh do but think (ſaith one) though it far paſs the reach of any mortal thought) what an infinite inexplicable happineſs it will bee, to look for ever upon the glorious body of Chriſt, ſhining with incomprehenſible beauty, far above the brighteſt Cherub; and to conſider, that even every vein of that bleſſed body bled to bring thee to Heaven! Think of it, I ſay, and then exhale thy ſelf in continual ſallies, as it were, of moſt earneſt deſires to bee diſſolved, and to bee with Chriſt, which is far the better, Phil. 1.23. As in the mean while, let thy ſoul ſweetly converſe with him in all his holy Ordinances, but eſpecially at his Holy Table, where hee ſaith unto thee, as once to Thomas, Reach hither thy hand, and thruſt it into my ſide, and bee not faithleſs, but beleeving. Let thy ſoul alſo there reciprocate and ſay, My Lord and my God! Whom have I in Heaven but thee? and in Earth,Pſa. 73.25 none in compariſon of thee! Rabboni, Come quickly.

Verſ. 6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace mee] As if ſhee ſhould have ſaid, I called unto you my friends to relieve and raiſe mee falling into a ſpiritual ſwoon, but behold the conſolation that is in Chriſt, Phil. 2.1, 2 the comfort of love, the fellowſhip of the Spirit, the bowels and mercies of my dear Husband: hee hath fulfilled my joy, hee hath prevented your help, or at leaſt hee hath wrought together with the means, and made it ſucceſſeful. You have ſtayed mee with flaggons,Pſal. 23.2 but hee hath reſtored my ſoul: You have bolſtered mee up with Apples, but when that would not do, hee hath put his left hand under my head, as a pillow to reſt upon, and with his right hand hee hath embraced mee; as a loving Husband cheriſheth his ſick wife; and doth her all the help hee can, Epheſ. 5.29. The whole virtue and power of the Miniſtry cometh from Chriſt. They do their worthy indeavour to ſtay and under-prop our Faith: but that notwithſtanding wee ſhall ſoon fall to the ground, if Chriſt put not to both his hands to keep us up. Wee ſtand in need of whole Chriſt: and having him to ſupport us, wee cannot fall finally, becauſe fall wee never ſo low, wee ſhall ariſe, for the Lord puts under his hand, Pſal. 37.24. his goodneſs is lower than wee can fall: hee circleth his Saints with amiable embracements, and none can pull them out of his hands. Jacob under-bare Rachel till ſhee died upon him, died on his hand, Gen. 48.7. The good Shunamite held her Son till hee died on her lap. But the love-ſick Church,Rom. 14.8 whether ſhee lives or dies, ſhee is the Lords: and who ſo liveth and beleeveth on him, cannot die eternally. But as when Chriſt himſelf died, though ſoul and body were ſundred for a ſeaſon, yet neither of them were ſundred from the Godhead whereunto they were perſonally united. So is it here: death may ſeparate ſoul and body, but cannot ſeparate either of them from Chriſt. And as Chriſt being raiſed from the dead, dies no more:Rom. 6.9. Col. 3.1 ſo neither doth any one that is riſen with him. Chriſt may as eaſily die at the right hand of his heavenly Father, as in the heart of a true Beleever.

Verſ. 7. I charge you, O yee daughters of Jeruſalem] A vehement obteſtation, (or rather an adjuration, I charge you, and that by an Oath) taken from the manner of Country-ſpeech. For in this whole Chapter the Allegory is ſo ſet, as if the feaſt or meeting were made and repreſented in a Country-houſe or Village. Theſe Daughters of Jeruſalem therefore, the particular Congregations, and all faithful men and women, (as Luk. 23.28.) are ſtraightly charged, and as it were in conſcience bound by the Church, the Mother of us all, Gal. 4.26. not to diſeaſe or offend (much or little) her Well-beloved Spouſe, that reſteth in her love, Zeph. 3.17. and taketh pleaſure in the proſperity of his Servants, Pſal. 35.27. until hee pleaſe, that is, not at all: for hee is not a God that taketh pleaſure in wickedneſs, Pſal. 5.4. his holy Spirit is grieved by it, Epheſ. 4.30. Or, until hee pleaſe, that is, till hee waken of his own accord: bee not over-haſty with him for help, but hold out faith and patience, let him take his own time, For hee is a God of Judgement, Iſa. 30.18 and waiteth to bee gracious. If through impatience and unbeleef you ſet him a day, or ſend for him by a Poſt, hee will firſt chide you before hee chide the waves that afflict you, as hee dealt by his Diſciples that wakened him ere hee was willing, Mark 4.37.40. Thoſe that are ſuddenly rouſed out of a deep and ſweet ſleep, are apt to bee angry with thoſe that have done it. Great heed muſt bee taken by our ſelves, and Gods charge laid upon others, that nothing be ſpoken or done amiſs againſt the God of Heaven, Dan. 3.39. Their ſorrows ſhall bee multiplied that haſten after another God, Pſal. 16.4. The Lord ſhall trouble thee, thou troubler of Iſrael, 1 Cor. 10.22. Joſh. 7.25. Do yee provoke the Lord to wrath? are yee ſtronger than hee? will yee needs try a fall with him? Pſal. 18.26. Hath ever any yet waxed fierce againſt God and proſpered? Job 9.4. Surely as Ulyſſes his companions told him when hee would needs provoke Polydamas, ſo may wee ſay much more to thoſe that incenſe the Lord to diſpleaſure.

[non-Latin text not transcribed];

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Heb. 10. Had men the feet of Roes and Hindes of the field, they could not out-run his wrath, witneſs Jonah. Or if they could, yet the Roes and Hindes, thoſe loving creatures, (Prov. 5.19.) would bee ſwift witneſſes againſt them for their baſeneſs and diſloyalty, ſith they do ſuch things as thoſe poor creatures would not; ſee Deut. 30.19. Iſa. 1.2. Bee thou inſtructed therefore, Oh Jeruſalem, leſt Chriſts ſoul bee diſ-joynted from thee, leſt (as well as hee loves thee now) hee make thee deſolate, a land not inhabited, Jer. 6.8. Let him bee that Love of thine (as ſhee here emphatically calls him) that taketh up thy whole heart, ſoul and ſtrength, [non-Latin text not transcribed] with a love, not onely of Deſire, but of Complacency, with a God-like love. True it is, that wee cannot, neither are wee bound to love God, in quantum est diligibilis, ſo much as hee is loveable (for ſo God onely can love himſelf) but wee muſt love nihil ſupra, aeque, or contra, nothing more, or ſo well, or againſt God. Other perſons wee may love with his allowance, but it muſt bee in him, and for him, as our friends in the Lord, our foes for the Lord: Other things wee may alſo love, but no otherwiſe than as they convey love to us from Chriſt, and may bee means of drawing up our affections unto Chriſt. This true love will keep us from doing any thing wilfully that may diſeaſe or diſpleaſe him: it will alſo conſtrain the Daughters of Jeruſalem to abide with the Roes, and with the Hindes of the field, (ſo ſome read this Text) as Rachel did by her Fathers Herds, to glorifie Chriſt in ſome honeſt and lawful vocation, and not to vex him by idleneſs, and unprofitableneſs: ſith as puniſhment hath an impulſive, ſo love hath a compulſive faculty, 2 Cor. 5.14.

Verſ. 8. The voice of my Beloved! Behold!] An abrupt paſſage, proceeding from a pang of love, whereof ſhee was even ſick: and now lay languiſhing as it were, at Hopes Hoſpital, lingering and liſtening, hankering and kearkening after her beloved. Of the ear wee uſe to ſay, that it is firſt awake in a morning: Call one that is aſleep by his name, and hee will ſoon hear and ſtart up. Chriſt calls all his ſheep by their name, John 10.3. and they know his voice, verſ. 4. (ſo well are they verſed in his Word, and ſo habitually are their ſenſes exerciſed, Heb. 5.14.) yea they know his paſe, for Behold hee cometh] viz. to make his abode with mee, according to his promiſe, John 14.23. to fulfil with his hand what hee had ſpoken with his mouth, as Solomon phraſeth it in his prayer, 1 King. 8.15. Chriſt ſends his voice as another John Baptiſt, a forerunner, and this no ſooner ſounds in the ear, and ſinks into the heart, than himſelf is at hand to ſpeak comfort to the conſcience, Pſal. 51.8. Hee thinks long of the time till it were done, as the Mothers breaſt akes, when it is time the childe had ſuck.

Hee comes leaping upon the Mountains, skipping upon the Hills] Look how the jealous Eagle, when ſhee flieth higheſt of all from her neſt, and ſeems to ſeat her ſelf among the clouds, yet ſtill ſhe caſts an eye to her neſt where are her young ones; and if ſhee ſee any come near to offend, preſently ſhee ſpeeds to their help and reſcue: So doth the Lord Chriſt deal by his beloved Spouſe. Neither mountains, nor hills ſhall hinder his coming: neither the ſins of his people, nor the worlds oppoſition. As for the former, Chriſt blots out the thick cloud, as well as the cloud, Iſa. 44.22. that is, enormities as well as infirmities. Hee caſts all the ſins of his Saints into the bottom of the Sea, which can as eaſily cover mountains, as mole-hills. And for the ſecond, Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey (meaning, than all the Churches enemies▪ called for their ravenouſneſs, mountains of Lions and Leopards, Cant. 4.8.) The ſtout-hearted are ſpoiled, &c. Pſal. 76.4, 5. And who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou ſhalt become a plain, Zech. 4.7. And whereas mans ſoul hath naturally many mountains of pride and prophaneneſs in it (there is that Leviathan, Pſal. 104.26 and creeping things innumerable, as the Pſalmiſt ſaith of the Sea.) And for his body there is not a vein in it that would not ſwell to the bigneſs of the higheſt hill to make reſiſtance to the work of grace; every ſuch mountain and hill is made low before the Lord Chriſt, Iſa. 40.4. and every high thing caſt down, that exalts it ſelf againſt the knowledge of God, 2 Cor. 10. Hee comes with authority, and reigns over all impediments.

Verſ. 9. My Beloved is like a Roe, or a young Hart] Viz. For ſweetneſs and ſwiftneſs, as in the former verſe. His help ſeems long, becauſe wee are ſhort. In the opportunity of time hee will not bee wanting to thoſe that wait for him. The Lion ſeems to leave her young ones till they have almoſt killed themſelves with roaring and howling; but at laſt ſhee relieves them: and hereby they become the more couragious. God ſeems to forget his people ſometimes, but it is that they may the better remember themſelves, and reminde him. Hee ſeems, as here to have taken a long journey, and to bee at a great diſtance from them, when as indeed hee is as near us, as once hee was to Mary Magdalen after his Reſurrection, but ſhee was ſo bleared ſhee could not ſee him. If hee at any time abſent himſelf for trial of our Faith and love to him, and to let us know how ill wee can bee without him, yet hee is no further off, than behinde ſome wall or ſcreen. Or if hee get out of doors from us, yet hee looks in at the window to ſee how wee take it, and ſoon after ſhews himſelf thorow the Latteſs, that wee may not altogether deſpond or deſpair of his return. [non-Latin text not transcribed] Apparuit inſtar floris exoricutis. Yea hee flouriſheth or bloſſometh thorow the Latteſſes, like ſome flower or fruit-tree that growing under or near unto a window, ſends in a ſweet ſent into the room, or perhaps ſome pleaſant branches: to teach, that Chriſt cometh not to his without profit, and comfort to their ſouls.

Verſ. 10. My Beloved ſpake and ſaid] Heb. Anſwered and ſaid. Shee had ſighed out, belike, ſome ſuch requeſt unto her Beloved, as David did, Pſal. 30.19. Return O Lord, how long! Lovers hours are full of eternity. Hee replieth, Even now my Love, behold here I am for thy help. Now will I riſe, now will I bee exalted, Iſa. 33.10. now will I lift up my ſelf. Riſe thou therefore out of the aſhes wherewith thou haſt been covered, Lam. 3.16. and come away to a better condition. Or, Riſe out of ſin, wherein by nature thou ſitteſt, Luk. 1.79. Stand up from the dead, come away to Chriſt, and hee ſhall give thee light, Epheſ. 5.14. Come, for the Maſter calleth, as they ſaid to blinde Bartimeus, Mark 10.49. Come, for it is high time to come: ſith now is our ſalvation nearer, than when we beleeved. The night is far ſpent, the day is at hand, &c. Rom. 13.11, 12. The winter is paſt, the flowers appear, &c. Up therefore, and come with mee to my Country-houſe, as it were, to take the pleaſure of the Spring-tide. In Heaven there is a perpetual Spring: and here the Saints have hanſel of heaven, thoſe firſt-fruits of the ſpirit, even as many as are holy Brethren, partakers of this heavenly calling, Heb. 3.1.

Verſ. 11. For loe the winter is paſt, the Rain is over and gone] In winter, the clouds commonly return after the Rain, Eccleſ. 12.2. A ſhowre or two doth not clear the air; but though it rain much, yet the sky is ſtill over-caſt with clouds; and as one ſhowre is unburthened, another is brewed. Loe ſuch is the doleful and diſmal condition of ſuch as are not effectually called by Chriſt. Omnis illis dies hybornus eſt, it is ever winter with them; no ſpring of grace, no Sun-ſhine of ſound comfort. It is with ſuch, as it was with Paul and his fellow-ſailers, Act. 27.20. when as neither Sun, nor Stars in many daies appeared, and no ſmall tempeſt lay on them: all hope that they ſhall bee ſaved was then taken away. All the hope is, that God who by all his all-quickening voice, raiſeth the dead, and calleth things that are not, as if they were, Rom. 4.17. that calleth thoſe his people, that were not his people, and her Beloved, which was not Beloved, Rom. 9.25. Together with his voice, there goeth forth a power, as Luk. 5.17. as when hee bade Lazarus come forth, hee made him riſe and come away, ſo here. Of carnal, Chriſt makes us a people created again, Pſal. 102.18. Epheſ. 2.10. of a wilde Aſſe Colt hee makes a man, Job 11.12. and of an hollow perſon (as empty and void of heart, as the hollow of a tree is of ſubſtance) hee makes a ſolid Chriſtian, fit to bee ſet in the heavenly building. This is as great a work, as the making of a world with a word: God plants the Heavens, and laies the foundation of the Earth, that hee may ſay to Zion, Thou art my people, Iſa. 51.16. Hence Chriſt is called the beginning of the Creation of God, Rev. 3.14. And the Apoſtle, Rom. 5.10. argues from Vocation to Glorification, as the leſſer.

Verſ. 12. The flowers appear on the Earth] Here wee have a moſt dainty deſcription of the Spring or prime time (as the French call it) far ſurpaſſing that of Horace, and the reſt of the Poets, Prim-tempe▪ who yet have ſhewed themſelves very witty that way. For the ſenſe; by flowers (made rather to ſmell to, than to feed upon) are underſtood (ſaith an Interpreter) the firſt-fruits of the Spirit, whereby the Elect give a pleaſant ſmell: and therein lyeth ſweetneſs of ſpeech, and words going before works, even as flowers before fruits. For the which cauſe, as the Apoſtle exhorteth that our ſpeech bee gracious alwaies, miniſtring Edification to the hearer, Col. 4.6. ſo the Prophet calls it a pure language, which the Lord will give to as many as love him, as are called according to his purpoſe. Zeph. 3.9.

The time of the ſinging of birds is come] Hic autem garritus avium plurimum facit ad veris commendationem, this chirping of birds makes much to the Springs commendation, ſaith [illegible: 2 letters]nebrard. How melodiouſly ſing the Miniſters of the Goſpel, whiles they a[illegible: 1 letter] unto Gods people, as a very lovely ſong of one that hath a pleaſant voice [illegible: 1 letter] Ezek. 33.32. It is mel in ore, melos in aure, to the Elect, as it was to Auſtin, who coming to hear Ambroſe, had his ears tickled, his heart touched; ſo had that unlearned Corinthian, 1 Cor. 14.25. and the whole City of Samaria, wherein there was great joy at the receiving of the Goſpel,Luk. 2.10. Act. 8.8. Behold wee bring you good tidings of great joy to all people, ſaid thoſe Angels to the Shepherds that ſang Chriſt into the world: and from whom the preaching of the Goſpel was afterwards taken and given to the Miniſters, whoſe proper office it is to publiſh peace, to bring good tidings of good, Thy Watchmen ſhall lift up the voice, with the voice together ſhall they ſing, &c. Iſa. 52.7, 8. If they do otherwiſe to any, if they ſing doleful accents to guilty perſons, if the voice of theſe Goſpel birds, bee to ſuch, like that of Abijah to Jeroboams wife, I am ſent to thee with heavy tidings, 1 King. 24.6. they may thank themſelves. To fall out with the Miniſter is as great folly, as if ſome fond people ſhould accuſe the Herald or the Trumpet as the cauſe of their war; Or as if ſome ignorant peaſant when hee ſees his fowls bathing in his pond, ſhould cry out of them as the cauſes of ſoul weather. What do faithful Miniſters do more? (what can they do leſs, if they will be true to their ſouls?) than tax mens ſins, fore-tell their judgements? This when they do, it is diverſly taken: Ravenous and unclean birds, like the Ravens of Arabia, See Ezek. 7.16 Iſidor. ſcriech [illegible: 1 letter]orribly, ſcratch terribly: Turtles and Doves (whoſe voice is here ſaid to be heard in the Land when other birds are ſweetly ſinging) come in with a mournful tone mixt with a groaning ſadneſs (whence alſo the Turtle hath its name, ſcil. a ſomo quem edit per onomatopoeiam) and may well ſerve to ſet forth the unutterable groans of gracious ſpirits, grieving for their ſins, mourning bitterly over Chriſt crucified before their eyes,Zach. 12.10 Gal. 3.1 and evidently ſet forth by their faithful Miniſters (ſo that they need no other crucifix to draw tears from them) tabring upon their breasts with the voice of Doves, Nah. 2.7. Yea ſmiting upon their breaſts with the penitent Publican, and ſaying, or rather ſighing out each for himſelf, Lord bee merciful to mee a ſinner. And here aſſert ſolatium lugentibus ſuſpiriorum ſocietas. Baſi[illegible: 1 letter]. It is an heavenly hearing when a Church-full of good people, wrought upon by their godly Preachers, ſend up a volly of ſighs to God: and as Hindes by calving, ſo they by weeping caſt out their ſorrows, Job 39.3. ſuch as ſhew their hearts to bee as ſo many Hadadrimmons. Aug. in Pſa. 10 Auſtin perſwades a Preacher ſo long to inſiſt upon ſome needful point, until by the groans and looks of his hearers, hee perceive that they underſtand it, and are affected with it. Such hearers Paul had at Athens, that wept as hee did, Act. 20.37. but this is but few mens happineſs. Turtles are rare birds in our Land.

Verſ. 13. The Fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes, &c.] Theſe two trees put forth their fruits firſt; when other trees for moſt part,Poſt flores fructus, &c. Lib. 17. cap. 13 put forth firſt flowers, and then fruits in their ſeaſon. Pliny numbers the Fig-tree among the trees of quick Nature. And our Saviour, Luk. 21.29, 30. makes the ſhooting forth of the Fig-tree to bee a ſign of Summers approaching. When himſelf came hungry to that Fig-tree, Matth. 21.19. hee thought to have found ſomething on it more than leaves onely; for though the time of Figs was not yet, (that is, of ripe Figs) Mark 11.13. yet groſſuli, green Figs at leaſt hee looked for, thoſe untimely Figs that ſhee caſteth when ſhee is ſhaken of a mighty wind, [non-Latin text not transcribed] groſſus. Hinc ficus, & fig. Hinc puto Bethphage dictam quaſi locum groſſorum. Mercer. Unde pomum decerpſeris alterum protuberat. Rev. 6.13. his hunger would have made ſomewhat of them. It was at Bethphage (that houſe of green Figs, as the word ſignifieth) or near unto it, that hee curſed this barren Fig-tree, Mark 11.1, 13. and therefore curſed it, becauſe it anſwered not his expectation. It behoves us therefore not onely to make a flouriſh of goodly words (with Naphtali) but to bee fruitful boughs (with Joſeph) being filled with the fruits of Righteouſneſs, which are by Jeſus Chriſt unto the glory and praiſe of God, Phil. 1.11. Joſeph is a fruitful bough, Gen. 49.22. that is, of the Vine, ſaith the Chaldee Paraphraſt there. But it may bee Jacob meant it of the Aegyptian Fig-tree,Uno anno ſepties fructus ſufficit. whereof Solinus reporteth, that it beareth fruit ſeven times a year: pull off one Fig, and another preſently puts forth. Now if the Fig-tree ſlack not her duty, but laboureth quickly to bring forth her firſt-fruit, that ſo again and again ſhee may bee more fruitful: how much more ſhould wee haſten the fruits of holineſs, break off our ſins, and bee abrupt in our repentance, Dan. 4.27. cut the cart-ropes of vanity, and caſt away the deeds of darkneſs, Rom. 13.12. bring forth fruits meet for repentance, parallel to it, and tantamount: ſuch as were to bee ſeen in the penitent theef, that ſuffered with our Saviour? Aarons Rod was not ſooner changed from a withered ſtick into a flouriſhing tree, than hee was from a barren malefactor into a fruitful profeſſor; for ſee what a deal of fruit hee bears in an inſtant: hee confeſſeth his own ſin, rebuketh his companion, giveth a good teſtimony unto Chriſt, and praies that Chriſt would remember him when he came into his Kingdome. This incouragement among many other wee have, that Chriſt will bleſs our very budds, Iſa. 44.3. (ſee the Geneva Tranſlation) hee will taſte of our green Figs,Un[illegible: 1 letter] minutula. R. David. of our tender Grapes, which, if not yet of a good taſte, yet becauſe they give a good ſmell, as this Text hath it, they are well reſented; Chriſt when hee comes into his garden, takes all hee findes well aworth: Hee gathereth his myrrhe with his ſpice, hee eats not onely of his hony, but of his hony-comb, and drinks not onely of his Wine, but of his Milk, Cant. 5.1.

Verſ. 14. Oh my Dove! that art in the clefts of the Rock] The Dove is meek, mournful, ſimple, ſociable, fearful, beautiful, faithful to her mate, fruitful, neat, ſo is the Church. And becauſe the Dove is ſought after by birds of prey, therefore ſhee builds in ſtrong and ſteep places, in clefts of Rocks, in the ſides of the holes mouth, as Jeremy hath it, chap. 48.28. The Church alſo is forced many times to flie into the wilderneſſe, Rev. 12. into the further parts of the world, and hide it ſelf in corners, to avoid perſecution. So many, ſo mighty, and ſo malicious are the Churches enemies, that ſhee dare ſcarce peep out, or appear abroad, with the Dove, but ſhee is in danger to become Hawks-meat. Hence Hilary ſaith of the Primitive Chriſtians, that they were not to bee ſought in tectis & exteriori pompa, in Palaces and outward pomp, but rather in deſerts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth, as the Apoſtle alſo hath it, Heb. 11.38. Concerning the Chriſtian Congregation in Queen Maries time, ſaith Mr. Fox, there were ſometimes forty, ſometimes an hundred, ſometimes two hundred came together, as they could, in ſome private place in London, Act. & Mon. fol. 1881. for mutual edification. They are utterly out therefore, that hold that the true Church muſt bee evermore glorious and conſpicuous for her outward ſplendour. Shee is eft-ſoons like the Moon in her ecclipſe, which appeareth dark toward the earth, but is bright and radiant in that part which looks toward Heaven. The Papiſts would have this Moon alwaies in the full. And if ſhee ſhew but little light to us, or bee ecclipſed, they will not yeeld, ſhee is the Moon. And yet (except it bee in the ecclipſe) Aſtronomers demonſtrate that the Moon hath at all times as much light, as in the full: But oftentimes a great part of the bright ſide is turned to Heaven, and a leſſer part to the earth. And ſo the Church is ever conſpicuous to Gods eye, though it appear not alwaies to ours.

In the ſecret places of the ſtairs] Whither thou art retired, as for ſecurity, ſo for ſecrecy, that thou mayeſt the more freely, and without ſuſpition of hypocriſie, pour out thy heart before mee, and ſeek my protection. Or, where thou lyeſt cloſe out of modeſty, or conſcience of infirmity; not daring to ſhew thy face.

Shew mee thy face] Or, Let mee ſee thy countenances, leave none of thy particular Congregations or Members behinde thee, but preſent your ſelves before the Lord, come boldly to the Throne of Grace, Heb. 4.16. in full aſſurance of Faith, Heb. 10.22. Quid enim per faciem niſi fidem qua â Deo cognoſcimur, ſaith Gregory upon this Text.Heb. 11.6 What can wee underſtand by the face but Faith, ſith by it wee are known of God, and without it, it is impoſſible to pleaſe God: For hee that cometh to God, (that ſhews his face before the King Eternal, Immortal, Inviſible, &c. 1 Tim. 1.17. muſt come in his beſt) muſt beleeve that hee is (ſcil. Optimus Maximus) and more particularly, that hee is a rewarder of all that diligently ſeek him, that ſeek him out, as the Greek hath it, viz. that fetch him out of his retiring-room, as the Syropheniſſe by the force of her Faith did, Mark 7.24. and as the Spouſe here would never give him over, till ſhee had recovered him out of the Country, and drawn from him this ſweeteſt invitation to go along with him, and incitation to make bold with him.

Let mee hear thy voice] In holy exerciſes, preaching, prayer, conference, &c. See here how the Lord Chriſt wooes attendance, ſolicits ſuters. The Father ſeeketh ſuch to worſhip him, John 4.24. Hitherto yee have asked mee nothing, ſaith the Son, nothing to what you might have done, and ſhould do well to do hereafter, Ask, that your joy may bee full. John 16.24 Pray that yee may joy: draw waters with joy out of this well-ſpring of Salvation. Ply the Throne of Grace, follow your work cloſe. It was more troubleſome to Severus the Emperour (to Chriſt you may bee ſure it is) to bee asked nothing of his Courtiers, than to grant them much. Ask, and you ſhall have, ſaith Chriſt. And is not hee worthily miſerable, that will not make himſelf happy by asking?

Sweet is thy voice] Becauſe uttered by the Spirit of grace and ſupplication, whoſe very breath prayer is, and without whom prayer is no better than a ſounding braſs, or tinckling cymbal.

And thy countenance is comely] ſcil. By reaſon of the Image of God repaired in thee, clearly ſhining in thy heart and life: This renders thee comely indeed, ſo that I am the better to ſee thy face, and to hear thy voice. To Lovers nothing can bee more pleaſing than mutual converſe and conference.

Verſ. 15. Take us the Foxes, the little Foxes] i. e. The Hereticks and Schiſmaticks. For as Fox-cubbs will bee Foxes one day, and of little will become great: ſo Schiſmaticks, if not timely taken, will turn Hereticks. Whence it is that the Apoſtle 1 Cor. 11.18, 19. having ſaid, I hear that there bee diviſions or Schiſms among you, hee preſently ſubjoyns, For there muſt bee alſo Hereſies among you (God having ſo fore-appointed and foretold it) that they which are approved may bee made manifeſt among you. Now theſe Hereticks and Schiſmaticks are fitly called Foxes, both here, and Ezek. 13.4. (Herod is alſo called a Fox, Luk. 13.32. as being a Sect-Maſter, Mat. 22.16. and as it is thought, to ſtill the noiſe of his conſcience, a Sadducee) firſt for their craft, ſecondly, for their cruelty. Foxes are famous for their craftineſs even to a Proverb (As ſubtle as a Fox, Perſius.Aſtutam vapido ſervans ſub pectore vulpem.)

They are paſſing cunning to deceive thoſe that hunt them; feigning themſelves ſimple, when there is nothing more ſubtle, and looking pittifully, when taken in a ſnare, but it is onely that they may get out: there is no truſting to their looks, for Vulpes pellem mutat, non naturam, ſaith the Proverb, the Fox may alter his countenance, but not his condition. And for cruelty, beſides the hurt Foxes do among Lambs and Fowls (for, lacking meat, they feign themſelves dead: and ſo the birds haſting down as to a carkaſe, volucres rapiunt & devorant, Iſidor. Etym. lib. 12.1. ſaith Iſidore, they ſeize upon the birds, and devour them) they are noted here to mar the Vineyards, Vulpes vitibus maximè nocivae, ſaith one. And for Grapes, the Fox loves them exceedingly, yea though they bee but tender, and unripe. Hence the Latines call him Legulus, a Gatherer, namely, of Grapes; and wee ironically ſay of a man, The Fox loves no Grapes, hee will not eat them, but it is becauſe hee cannot get them: howbeit, by his leering one may know hee loves them. Hereticks and Schiſmaticks are therefore to bee taken by the Vine-dreſſers, that is, detected, refuted,1 Tim. 1.20. and if need bee, delivered up to Satan by the Miniſters, chaſed out of the Vineyard, and purſued to death, if incorrigible, by the Magiſtrate, as Jehu dealt by the Baalites, and after him Joſiah. The ſword is put into their hands for ſuch a purpoſe, Rom. 13.4. and our Saviour with a civil whip expelled thoſe Church-Foxes, the Mony-merchants, giving therein a taſte of that civil authority which hee naturally derived from David, as one obſerveth. The Apoſtles being convented before civil authority about matters of Religion, never pleaded, You have no power to meddle with us in theſe things that belong to Jeſus Chriſt. No: their plea was only the juſtneſs of their cauſe, their obedience to God, &c. This, Hereticks can never make good. Well they may pretend that they ſuffer for righteouſneſs ſake, and ſtile themſelves, as the Swenck feldians did, The confeſſours of the glory of Chriſt. Well they may cry out as that Heretick Dioſcorus did in the Council of Chalcedon, I am caſt out with the Fathers, I defend the doctrine of the Fathers, I tranſgreſs them not in any point. Well they may ſeem to bee ambitious of wearing a Tiburn-tippe[illegible: 1 letter] (as Campian) and cry out with Gentilis the Antitrinitarian,Se pro gloria Altiſſimi Dei pati. that hee ſuffered death for the glory of the moſt High God. Hee that hateth, diſſembleth with his lips (ſaith Solomon of ſuch ſubtle Foxes) and layeth up deceit within him: When hee ſpeaketh fair, beleeve him not; for there are ſeven abominations in his heart, Prov. 26.24, 25. Hereticks are notably cunning, and no leſs cruel, as the Arians and Donaetiſts were of old, the Papiſts, Matth. 8. Socinians, and others of the ſame bran at this day. Theſe Foxes have holes; they cunningly creep, or ſhoot themſelves into houſes by their pithanology and counterfeit humility, they lead captive ſilly women, and, by them,2 Tim. 3.6 their husbands: they take them priſoners (as the word ſignifies) and then make prize of them, 2 Pet. 2.3. they bring them into bondage, and devour them, as St. Paul ſaith of thoſe deceitful workers, the Foxes of his time, 2 Cor. 11.13, 20. they fraudulently foiſt in falſe doctrines, 2 Pet. 2.1. Hereſies of perdition, and ſo corrupt the Vineyard, as the Maſter of the Vineyard complains, Jer. 12.10. ſhipwrack the Faith, 1 Tim. 1.19. ſubvert whole houſes, Tit. 1.11. and are therefore to bee taken, or clubd down as Peſts, and common miſchiefs to mankind; to the younger ſort eſpecially, thoſe tender Grapes, which they chiefly covet, and catch at. And here in hunting of theſe cruel crafties, that counſel would bee taken that Saul gave the Ziphites concerning an innocent man, that deſerved it not: Go, I pray you, prepare yee, and know, 1 Sam. 23.22, 23 and ſee his place where his haunt is, and who hath ſeen him there: for it is told mee, that hee dealeth very ſubtilly. See therefore and take knowledge of all the lurking places where hee hideth himſelf, &c.

Verſ. 16. My Beloved is mine, and I am his] Hitherto the Church hath related Chriſts words to her ſelf, and others. Now ſhee ſhuts up the whole diſcourſe with praiſe of Chriſt, here, and prayer to him, verſ. 17. In praiſing him, ſhee preacheth her own bleſſedneſs in that ſpiritual Union, that myſtical marriage that is betwixt them, My Beloved is mine, &c. q. d. I am ſure hee is mine, and I can boldly ſpeak it. Many lay claim to him, which have no ſhare in him: they deeply affirm of him, but have no manner of right to him, their faith is but fancy, their confidence preſumption; they are like that mad-man of Athens, that claimed every rich ſhip that came to ſhore, when as hee had no part in any; or Haman, who hearing that the King would honour a man, concluded (but falſely) that himſelf was the man. Like Idolatrous Micah, they conceit that God will bleſs them for the Levites ſake, Judg. 17.13. which was no ſuch matter. And like Siſera, they dream of a Kingdome, when as Jaels nail is nearer their Temples than a Crown. The condition of ſuch ſelf-ſoothers, and ſelf-ſeekers is nothing different from his, that dreaming, upon a ſteep place, of ſome great happineſs befallen him, ſtarts ſuddenly for joy, and falling down with the ſtart, breaks his neck at the bottom. The true beleever is upon a far better ground, his faith is unfeigned, his hope is unfailable. Hee knows whom hee hath truſted, hee knows and beleeves the love that God hath to him, 1 John 4.16. hee hath gotten a full gripe of Chriſt, and is ſure that neither death nor life, &c. ſhall ſeparate him from Chriſt. Hee hath comprehended him, or rather is comprehended of him, Phil. 3.12. Chriſt hath laid hold on him by his Spirit, and hee hath laid hold on Chriſt by Faith, the property whereof is to put on cloſe to Chriſt, and Chriſt to him: yea to unite us to Chriſt, ſo that hee that is joyned to the Lord, is one ſpirit, 1 Cor. 6.17. as truly one, as thoſe members are one body which have the ſame ſoul; or as man and wife are one fleſh: as they two are one matrimonial fleſh, ſo Chriſt and his people are one myſtical Chriſt, 1 Cor. 12.12. Well therefore may the Church here glorifie Chriſt, and glory in her own happineſs by him, ſaying, My Beloved is mine, and I am ſure of it, and cannot bee deceived; for I am his: all that I am is his, I have made a total reſignation of my whole ſelf unto him, and have put him in full poſſeſſion of all. I am crucified with Chriſt: Nevertheleſs I live, yet not I, but Chriſt liveth in mee, Gal. 2.20. Chriſt is All-ſufficient to mee, and I am altogether his. His is as a Covenant of mercy, mine of obedience. Wherein I do as it were by Indenture, with higheſt eſtimations, moſt vigorous affections, and utmoſt indeavours, beſtow my ſelf upon him: and I accept of whole Chriſt in all his offices and efficacies.

Hee feedeth among the Lillies] Before ſhee was to ſeek, and goes to Chriſt to bee reſolved where hee fed, Chap. 1.7. Now, after more intimate communion with him, ſhee is able to reſolve herſelf and others where hee feeds his flock, viz. among the Lillies, that is, in ſweet and ſoft paſtures, Pſal. 23.2. in thoſe Mountains of ſpices, Cant. 8.14. thoſe bounties of holineſs, the glorious Ordinances, wherein Chriſt feeds his people, and feaſts them daily and daintily, pleaſantly and plentifully with the beſt of the beſt, fat things full of marrow, Wine on the Lees well refined, Iſa. 25.6. to the gladding of their hearts, and greatning of their Faith, ſo that they grow up as the Lillies, Hoſ. 14.5. as the Calves of the ſtall, as the willows by the water-courſes, Iſa. 44.4. And as Lillies are not more beautiful than fertile, Una radice quinquagenos ſaepe emittente bulbos, Plin. yea the dropping of the Lilly will cauſe and beget more Lillies: ſo the Lilly-white Saints will bee working upon others, and bringing them to Chriſt, as Andrew did Peter, and Philip Nathaniel, John 1.41, 45. True goodneſs is generative, Charity is no churl, &c.

Verſ. 17. Until the day break, and the ſhadows flee away] Until that day dawn, that laſt and glorious day, when Chriſt the Sun of Righteouſneſs ſhall appear, and chaſe away the ſhadows of ſin and miſery, wherewith I am here benighted.

Umbra terrae noctem facit. Iſidor. Etym. lib. 5. cap. 13. Turn about my Beloved] And though thou leave mee for a time (as thou art a God that hideſt thy ſelf, Iſa. 45.15.) yet never forſake mee, but let thine heart bee ever upon mee, and thine hand ready to help at a dead lift.

Yea bee thou like a Roe or a young Hart] Come ſweetly and ſeaſonably to my relief and ſuccour. To ſet thee a time, were to ſet the Sun by my Dial. But when thine own time is come,2 Sam. 2.29. their come Lord Jeſus, come quickly, bee as nimble as a Roe or young Hart upon the Mountains of Bether, called elſewhere Bithron beyond Jordan: which mountains were much haunted by Hunters. Mountains of diviſion, ſome render it, and one deſcants thus: The Spouſe of Chriſt in that heavenly Marriage-Song calleth him a young Hart on the Mountains of Diviſion. D. Hall Epiſt. 5. dec. 3. Tell mee then whither will you go for truth, if you will allow no truth, but where there is no diviſion?