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A

PARAPHRASE

ON THE

SONG OF SOLOMON.

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THE

PREFACE.

1. TH

I.HAT this book was composed by Solomon, is no more doubted, than that he was the author of the two foregoing.

And that it was always looked upon as an holy book, treating of some spiritual and divine matter, appears from its being placed among the rest of that kind. Nor hath it been doubted of by any considerable number of men, either among Jews or Christians, but only by a few singular persons; who ought (as Theodoret speaks in his preface to this book) to have looked upon those blessed Fathers, who, placing this Song among the divine writings, took it to be fit for the use of the church, as men of greater judgement, and more spiritual than themselves. And they ought likewise to have considered, (as he adds), that we have in effect the testimony of the Holy Ghost itself for its divine authority; Ezra, a man excelling in virtue, and full of the Holy Spirit, having thought this worthy of a room among those sacred volumes, which he gathered together after the return from their captivity of Babylon.

And accordingly, a great many holy men have illustrated it (as he farther notes) with their commentaries and interpretations, or have adorned their writings with its sentences; such as Eusebius, Origen, Cyprian, (who wore the crown of Martyrdom), i TSTV Tanαιótegory To Amosónwv πanolésego, and others that were more ancient than these, and nearer to the times of the apostles.

It is unnecessary to mention those that followed after in future times, who all took this for a spiritual book; let us only consider, whether, if these things being so, it be reasonable for us to despise so many and such great persons, nay, the Holy Spirit itself, and to follow our own private opinions, nor hearkening to him that said, "The thoughts of mortal man are vain, and our devices are but uncertain," Wisd. ix. 14. ; or rather of St Paul, Rom. i. 21. "They became vain in their imagination, and their foolish heart was darkened."

II. Nor doth it seem hard, either to find out what that spiritual matter is, of which the wise man here treats, (especially since all Christian writers have from the beginning applied this Song to Christ and the church), or to give an account of the rise and original of such sublime contemplations, which I take to be this:

The great prophet David having plainly foretold, that a far more glorious King than his son Solomon should one day arise, (as we read in the song he made at his marriage, Psal. xlv.), and likewise more expressly prophesied of his Divinity, Royal Majesty, Priesthood, &c. (Psal cx.), and again resumed this argument, just before his death, when he caused his son Solomon to be crowned, and to sit upon his throne, (Psal lxxii.), it stirred up the longing desires of Solomon after the coming of this most illustrious Prince, and made him study to have at least as clear a sight of him as was possible to be attained afar off. And that he might stir up the same desire of the whole nation, after his appearing, he cast his meditations on this subject into a song, in the form of pastoral eclogue; in which several persons being introduced, who speak their parts, it may be called a dramatic poem. And so it is styled by St Greg. Nazianzen, in his 31st oration, where VOL. III.

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he quotes a passage, in rỡ rumping Spaμatos Tesμatos, (as his words are *), "out of this bridal-interlude and song.' For a drama, as the Greeks teach us, consists in the change of persons, some of which enter, others come to them, others withdraw, till the whole work be completed by this shifting and alteration of the persons. Now, the persons which compose this song, are the bridegroom, the bride, the virgins attending on her, and the youths attending on him, to whom some add the sister of the spouse, mentioned chap. viii. and the watchmen and daughters of Jerusalem, who are introduced in their turns. For example, first the bride and her companions comes in, and saith, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth," &c. Then the bridegroom appears, and saith, ver. 8. "If thou knowest not, O thou fairest," &c. After which he seems to withdraw himself, leaving the bride and her companions alone upon the stage, (while he sits at his repast, ver. 12.), who thus speak to her: "We will make thee borders of gold," &c. And then she speaks again, ver. 13. and he returns and speaks, ver. 15.

How many parts there are in this drama, is not agreed. Some make ten, others make but seven colloquies, or interlocutory passages in this sacred dialogue, as they call it. About which I do not think fit to dispute, but shall take notice of as many as I can observe, in the argument or annotations upon each chapter.

As for the phrase, it is wholly allegorical, in expressions borrowed chiefly from the fields, and woods, and gardens, as I shall show in their proper places when we meet with them. And such were the fittest that could be found, supposing he would use poetical words to set forth the ardent desire he had, and would excite in others, (as I said before), to have a sight of that great Shepherd of the sheep, who would make all the world happy.

III. And none need wonder that he speaks wholly of this glorious King; for so doth his father David in the 110th psalm, which can be applied to no other person whatsoever; and so doth the prophet Isaiah in after times, in his 53d chapter. Which though some have endeavoured to accommodate first to another person, yet they have failed in their attempt, and never could find any in whom it was so literally fulfilled as in our blessed Saviour; who alone was there intended, as he seems to me to be here also in the present Song of Solomon's.

Where it need not seem strange neither to any one, that he is compared to a bridegroom, and the church to a bride, who doth but reflect upon the 45th psalm, and observe how Solomon doth only follow the metaphor wherein his father David had represented this mystery; and observe withal, that it is the common language of the prophets, who compare Jerusalem and Zion (under which name is comprehended the whole church of the Jews) to a virgin, called frequently" the virgin-daughter of Sion," &c. whom God had espoused unto himself.

IV. But for the fuller explication of this, it may be fit to note, that the profoundest of the Hebrew divines, whom they now call Cabbalists, having such a notion as this among them, that "sensible things are but an imitation of things above," conceived from thence that there was (for instance) an original pattern of that love and union which is between a man and his wife here in this world. This they expressed by the kindness of Tipheret to Malcuth, which are the names they give unto the invisible bridegroom and bride in the upper world. And this Tipheret (i. e. beauty or ornament) they also call by the name of Adam on high, and the Great Adam, in opposition to the terrestrial or little Adam here below. As Malcuth (i. e. kingdom) they call also by the name of Cheneseth Israel, i. e. congregation of Israel, who is united, they say, to that Celestial Adam, as Eve was to the terrestrial. Which heavenly Adam, or Tipheret, they call likewise the sun, and Malcuth the moon; and make the former an active principle, the latter a passive; or as their phrase is, Tipheret is but the masculine power which influences Malcuth, who is but the recipient of those influences. So that, in sum, they seem to say the same that the apostle St Paul doth, when he tells us, that " marriage is a great mystery; but he speaks concerning Christ and his church," Eph. v. 32. For the marriage of Tipheret and Malcuth (or Cheneseth Israel) is the marriage of Christ the Lord from heaven, with his spouse the church, which is the whole

P. 503. Edit. Paris.

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