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and Latin versions, have rendered pitch.' It is the word used for the mercy-seat', or covering of the ark of the covenant, and seems to signify atonement, propitiation, pardon, &c. through the whole of the Old Testament. So says the church here, My beloved is to me, askul, hakepher, a cluster of covering, my covering, my atonement, pardon, or 'propitiation *.' In the vineyards of Engedi.' Engedi, we know, was the name of a real place near Jericho; and famous, as travellers tell us, for its aromatic shrubs. The name is interpreted the 'kid's eye,' upon what account is not easy to say, and is used by way of typical allusion in Ezekiel's vision of the holy waters, ch. xlvii. 10, The fish

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ers shall stand upon it from Engedi, (the eye 'the kids), even unto En-eglaim, (the eye of the calves); but in what meaning, or with what tendency to our present purpose, does not appear. There is something in the Mosaic history that seems to offer a little elucidation; it is in Numbers xi. 7. And the manna was as the seed of coriander, (Heb. 73, gad, LXX. xop8), and the colour of it (y en-u, ad LXX. the eye' marg.) ' like bdellium. Here we have our two component words, y, en-ged, colour and coriander, taken to describe the typical food of the church, called manna: And when we remember the wonderful nature and many mysterious qualities of this man

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na,

Exod. xxv. 17.

2 See Rom. iii. 25. 1 St John ii. 2.

and iv. 10. &c.

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na, whence it came, and what, or rather whom it represented', it will not, I hope, be thought too great a stretch or luxuriance of fancy, to apply the description of the manna by Moses, especially being in words so exactly the same, to the church's description of her beloved in this place of our song, and to read this clause, in the vineyards of Engedi,' as spoken of, and relative to the dudi, thus ; My beloved is to me a camphire covering, clus*ter, he is, y engedi, my en-ged, (what the cori'ander colour represents to me), ", be-karm-i, in 'my vineyard.' In plain language, My beloved my propitiation, he is my manna, my heavenly nourisher, in my course of labouring to cultivate my formerly neglected vineyard.' The rules of grammar do not oppose this interpretation, so it cannot be rejected for being ungrammatical; and I do not see how the spiritual sense can be discovered without it, or something like it.

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VER. 15.-Behold thou art fair, my love, thou art fair, thou hast dove's eyes.

The feminine appellation here, roithi, my love, ascertains the change of the speaker, and puts this endearing compliment into the mouth of the beloved. Behold thou art fair,' repeated too, adds strength to, and heightens the impression. If we consider the poem, as one continued dialogue, we

VOL. II.

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I See, inter alia, St John vi, 30-58.

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may observe from the connexion, that this rapture of commendation is a condescending return to the church's grateful acknowledgments of her obligations to, and trust in, her beloved, in conformity to the gracious promise, them that honour me, I will 'honour'.' And this observation will be confirmed by what follows-thou hast dove's eyes,' or literally, and according to the LXX. 'thy eyes are ' doves.' We cannot but take notice how frequently, and with what emphasis, the hero of this poem, in his expressions of love, delights to compare his fair one to this pretty creature the dove *. There is surely a reason for this comparison. The Hebrew for dove is, ionah, alluding to its innocence, simplicity and meekness; so a fit emblem of what Christ is, and what his church ought to be 3. · Learn of me,' says he, for I am meek;' and more particularly, be ye harmless' (anego, simple, unmixt) as doves 4. Besides, this creature has one peculiar quality, by which it is distinguished, and that is, its constancy in love, and faithfulness to its mate; and scripture warns us, how much danger there is in this respect, from the eyes being allowed to rove. So Job 5, says I have made a 'covenant with mine think upon a maid?

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eyes, why then should I So our Saviour observes",

Whoso looketh on a woman to lust after her,'

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&c. and if thy right eye offend thee,' &c. 'the light (candlestick, or torch) of the body is the 'eye' The dove's eyes therefore are commendable, for their being fixed and settled on the belov ed object, not going astray or roving after other lovers, like the eyes full of adultery, or going after idols 3. In this sense the church is here said to have 'dove-eyes;' that is, her eyes, thoughts, desires, and delights, are stedfaftly and irremoveably fixed upon her beloved, giving him all the glory of her endowments, her graces, and perfections, not looking fondly into herself, and not foolishly wantoning after strangers. Thus she is fair; this is her beauty; this makes her beauty commendable— • Thou art fair my love, thou hast dove-eyes.'

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VER. 16.-Behold thou art fair, my beloved, yea pleasant; also our bed is green.

The church echoes back the commendation to her Beloved: To him it belongs essentially, to her by communication. Thou art fair, dudi, yea pleasant, y, noim, the participle hiphil, by rule of the jod in the third order, so making pleasant;' as tzadiq, the justifier, p quedesh, the sanctifier, and many more such derivatives, which should be carefully attended to, as giving a noble turn to D d 2

most

I St Matth. vi. 22.

22 St Peter ii. 14.
3 Ezek. vi. 9. xviii, 12.

Gen. xxxix. 7.

xx. 24. xxxiii, 25,

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most of those passages where this peculiarity of the Hebrew idiom occurs. Thou art fair, my beloved, thou art the pleasant-making one.' A joyful and just confession, whence all her pleasures, delights, every thing agreeable to her, or in her, do flow; from him, who is not only fair and pleasant in himself, but is also the cause, source, or fountain of fairness, desirableness, and pleasantness, to his saints. At, or in, thy right hand are, nomuth, pleasures, pleasantnesses', &c. May they, the beauty, or pleasantness, of the Lord our God be upon us.' the church there in terms of her declaration here, corresponding with the particular description in the 16th of Ezekiel, and addressed to the same person. It is Adoni Jehovah in the prophet, it is Adoni Aleinu in the Psalm: He is the dudi of the song, the Lord our God who puts his beauty' upon us, whose pleasures' we expect for evermore. Also our bed is green.' Bed, is too restricted; the word wy, oresh, is properly a resting-place, whether on bed, couch, arbour, &c. ronnah, green, is applied to trees, flourishing, or verdant; so descriptive of joy and festivity, in any resting position, and spiritually pointing to the verdure, or fertility, which the church enjoys in every state, by communion with, and derivation from, her beloved.

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VER.

I Psalm xvi. 11.

2 Psalm xc. 17.

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