John Trapp on Song of Solomon 1:17

Verſ. 17. The beams of our houſe are Cedar] Not My, but Our houſe, as before Our bed, and after Our galleries. All is common betwixt the Bridegroom and the Bride, bed, board, houſe, all. It ſhould bee ſo betwixt married couples, who ſhould not have ſeveral purſes, intereſts, &c. but both bring in what they have or get, to the common hive. The Church is Chriſts houſe,1 Tim. 3.15 Heb. 3.6 Iſa. 51.16 and every faithful ſoul is Gods building: hee plants the Heavens, and laies the foundation of the Earth, that hee may ſay to Zion, Thou art my people. The great Architect of the world doth as wonderful a work in converting a ſoul to himſelf, as hee did in ſetting up this goodly Edifice of the Univerſe. This ſtately ſtructure of the new creature hee makes of the beſt materials, Cedar, Cypreſs, Bora[illegible: 1 letter]ine, &c. A mud wall may bee made up of dirt, ſtraw, ſtones of the ſtreet, &c. Not ſo a ſtately Palace, a Marble Monument. Solomons Temple was built of Cedar-wood: So was the Temple of Diana of the Epheſians, as Vitruvius teſtifieth: the Devil will needs bee Gods Ape. Hee knew that Cedar is a tree ſtrong and durable; and for the drineſs of it, the timber chawneth not, rotteth not: yea it hath a property to preſerve other things from putrefaction. A late writer obſerveth of it,Hinc Horat. Cedro dignum, & Cerite cera. Scribon. in Phyſic. lib. 2. that viventes res putrefacit & perdit, putridas autem reſtituit & conſervat. The Church is alſo ſtable, and cannot bee ruinated; it is founded upon a Rock; the Elect cannot bee finally deceived: the faithful Miniſters, by preaching Law and Goſpel, kill the quick Phariſee, and quicken the dead Publican, Rom. 7.9. 2 Cor. 2.16. they declare unto man his righteouſneſs, Job 33.23. and ſhew him how hee may be found in Chriſt, (viz. when ſought for by the juſtice of God) not having his own righteouſneſs, thoſe filthy garments,Phil. 3.9 Rev. 19.14 Zech. 3.4. but the Brides fine white linnen and ſhining: and after a few turns taken here with Chriſt in the terrace or galleries of the Church Militant made of Firr, hee ſhall have places given him in Heaven, to walk among thoſe that ſtand by, Zach. 3.7. that is, among the Seraphim, as the Chaldee Paraphraſt expounds it.