CONTENTS This beautiful Song is now drawing to a close, and the Church repeats her earnest desires for increasing knowledge of, and communion with her Lord. In the body of this Chapter, it is hard to distinguish between the expressions of Christ and those of his Church, in which are contained the v... [ Continue Reading ]
I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me: I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. And then, saith the Church, (still following up the same subject of her address to her brother and her Lord), I would assume the freedom wherewi... [ Continue Reading ]
His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. (4) I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, until he please. These have been already noticed, therefore I refer to them. Song of Solomon 3:5; Song of Solomon 3:5.... [ Continue Reading ]
Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee. The former part of this verse also hath been noticed; Song of Solomon 3:6. But there is an addition here,... [ Continue Reading ]
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. In whatever sense we accept the words of this most precious verse, the meditation on them cannot but be swe... [ Continue Reading ]
Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. Here is the same obscurity in this verse, as in the former, whether the words are principally applicable to Christ or to his Church. If we cons... [ Continue Reading ]
We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? (9) If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. (10) I am a wall, and my breasts like towers: th... [ Continue Reading ]
Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard unto keepers; everyone for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. (12) My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred. The best comme... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice: cause me to hear it. These are the words of Christ to his Church, in which he calls her the inhabitress of the gardens, his Churches; and it is a love-call of the Lord, that as she is heard by her companions, and is frequently... [ Continue Reading ]
Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices. With these words the song is closed. Jesus finisheth his divine part, in the verse before, and here the Church echoes to her Lord in this affectionate answer. We had a similar request, Song of Solomon... [ Continue Reading ]