John Trapp on Song of Solomon 2:3

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.