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more than an equivalent for all the debt of sin which the whole human race has contracted from the days of Adam!

With these right views of Christ and His salvation, let us welcome His advent, rejoicing in the symbols of His love here set before us.* Let us approach His table with trembling hope and humble gratitude, to receive the benefits of that salvation which fills all heaven with wonder, and all the earth with gladness. The heartless prayer, and formal worship, and cold acknowledgment, are unworthy of that Saviour who is given to us, and of the many great blessings we derive from Him. May God impart to us such feelings as become the subject and the occasion, that "with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we may laud and magnify His glorious name, evermore praising Him, and saying, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts! heaven and earth are full of thy glory: glory be to thee, O Lord Most High!"

* Preparatory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper.

Wertheim and Macintosh, 24, Paternoster-row, London.

SOLOMON'S BRIDE A TYPE OF

THE TRUE BELIEVER.

A TRACT,

BY THE

AUTHOR OF "CHRISTIAN JOY," ETC.

"Oh! for a closer walk with God,
A calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road
That leads me to the Lamb!

"The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be,

Help me to tear it from Thy throne,
And worship only Thee.'

LONDON:

WERTHEIM AND MACINTOSH,
24, PATERNOSTER-ROW.

DUBLIN: W. CURRY AND CO., UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET.

1851.

Price Twopence.

MACINTOSH, PRINTER,

GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.

SOLOMON'S BRIDE A TYPE OF THE

TRUE BELIEVER.

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth : I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets, and in the broadways, I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me; to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.”SOLOMON'S SONG, iii. 1—4.

THIS singular and striking passage is taken from a portion of the Sacred Volume, which, from the figurative and flowing style in which it is composed, is in general too little studied by the devout reader of God's Word. The fanciful and mysterious expressions with which it abounds, are indeed more likely to amuse than to improve, to inflame than to subdue the light and careless reader, and, instead of converting, enlightening, or elevating the sinner's soul (which all Scripture is intended to do), through

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the influence of a corrupt imagination, which often turns the blessings of heaven into curses, may tend to kindle in the breast impure desires. But, for minds devoutly and religiously disposed, this book of Canticles teems with rich and varied and attractive lessons of piety and wisdom, delineating in glowing language, and with peculiar force, the exceeding great love between Christ and His Church —a theme more likely than any other to rouse the languid Christian to devotion, and to excite him to holier and more ardent zeal. Whenever, then,

you read this sacred hymn, humbly seek the enlightening Spirit of the Most High, abstracting your minds from earthly thoughts and outward things and what an ungodly man can scarcely read with profit, shall then become to your souls "the savour of life unto life."

This "Song of songs" is generally considered to have been composed by Solomon in honour of his own marriage with a Gentile queen; and viewed merely in this light, and in a literal sense, it is much to be admired for its piety and interest. But it claims our attention for other and far higher reasons. It has ever been considered as a sublime allegory, representing the bridal union between the Lord Jehovah and His Church, under figures taken from the affection subsisting between a bridegroom and his espoused. And this emblem has been introduced into other parts of Scripture. For example, John the Baptist represents our Saviour as the

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