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this, by that triumphant persuasion of his', 'That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor heighth, nor depth, nor any other creature, (great waters nor floods), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, (his love of us, and * our love of him), which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' But this is not all; for so full is our inspired Bard of this enchanting theme, that he cannot relinquish it, without putting without putting us in mind, that as no enemy can rob us of his love, so it is not in our own power to procure it originally to ourselves. Though a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned. It is indeed, even in a natural sense, but a poor love that is purchased, if such a thing be possible, with money. In a spiritual sense, such a purchase is impossible; and the foolish attempt would be both contemned and rejected. The love which our spouse here magnifies so much, is, and must be, the product of a divine flame, to resist the attacks made upon itby floods and great waters.' The fruit of the Spirit is love; Love is of God,' ε -, ' from God 3;' 'Christians ought to be rooted and grounded in love and able to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge*. "There now

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• abideth

lecabuth, aßira, LXX. extinguere, Jerom, from the root cabeh, always and invariably employed in this one sense of extinguishing ‘flame,' literally and metaphorically.

I Rom. viii. 38, 39.

3 1 St John iv. 7.

2 Gal. v. 22.

4 Eph. iii. 17. 19.

' abideth, faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love''

VER. 8. 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?

All commentators agree in spiritualizing this passage, and making the little sister to signify the Gentile church; and I shall be told, that this warm expression of affection and care contradicts the application I have made of the jealousy in the 6th verse, But this objection, if it shall be made, goes entirely upon a point taken for granted, but not proved, that the expression comes from the spouse, and not from the Beloved, which yet I think is fully as likely, and even more mannerly and respectful to him, than as coming from her: And in this application I find myself warranted from the Beloved's own mouth', 'Other sheep I have, 'which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,' and do something for. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? or, as Jerom has it, alloquenda est, shall be spoken to? The question is proper enough from him, and nothing is more usual than for the questioner, in such cases, to give the answer What could have been ' done

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11 Cor. xiii. 13.

• See it touched at above, on chap. i. 13.

3 St John x. 16.

done more to my vineyard I will tell you what "I will do '

VER. 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.

The plural we, used on this occasion, can be no bar to putting both these verses into the mouth of the Beloved, when we remember that early in the Poem this plural form was assumed by him, which I then explained and accounted for. That explication, though not improper, is not necessary here, as the circumstances are not the same. There, the business was to adorn the bride, the then favourite, in which no service of inferior attendants was either required or allowed. Here, it is to provide for, and be beneficial to, a little sister without breasts; in which kind work the spouse is here called upon, and we know was employed in fact, to be assistant along with, and under the direction of, the Beloved. ⚫ Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem 3.' Ye shall be witnesses unto me-to the uttermost parts of the earth? I send thee to the Gentiles, to open 6 their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God"." Let

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Isaiah v. 4, 5.

3 Isaiah ii. 3.

5 Acts xxvi. 17, 18, &c.

2 Chap. i. 11.

4 Acts i. 8.

Let us now observe how this conjunct work of provision for the little sister is expressed, and we shall see ground to admire both the significancy of metaphors quite irreconcileable to the natural sense, and the beautiful propriety of application that is all along kept up.

If she be a wall', we will build upon her a palace of silver; we will make thee studs of silver"? The word for palace is 7, thirt ; and the Lexicons make an affinity, as they call it, betwixt it and the root, thur, which is translated ordines, rows,' corresponding with the ", turim, ' rows,', mentioned in the first chapter 3. We will build. St Paul says, We are workers together with GodI, as a wise architect, have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, &c. • Christians are said to be built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, &c. If she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. The door of faith opened to the Gentiles". A door of utte⚫rance opened to speak the mystery of Christ 7. He that entereth not by the door is a thief3.'

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I See on ch. v. 7.

2 Chap. i. 11.

The

3 We read of the four rows of precious stones, Ex. xxviii. 17. 20. and repeated chap. xxxix. 10-13. Compare St John's Holy Jerusalem lying foursquare,' with twelve foundations of precious stones, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Rev. xxi. throughout. 5 Eph. il. 20. 22. 7 Colos. iv. 3.

6 Acts xiv. 27.

4 1 Cor. iii. 9. 10.

8 St John x. 1:

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The door here is to have boards of cedar. word for boards, m, luhh, is singular, and always used for the tables' of the law, never for boards but here, and only in our translation. In the sense of table,' it is taken both literally and metaphorically- Write them upon the table' of thine 'heart';' Write it before them in a table Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables 3. All in allusion to the original writing of the law upon luhhut, tables,' the first, and for a long time, the only way of writing: and there is nothing either in the language or subject to hinder this idea from being kept up in the passage before us. Inclosing a door with boards, seems to have but little meaning. Jerom's compingamus illud, let us compact, fitly frame it with cedar tables,' is more expressive, and nearer to the purpose. But the Greek points more directly the same way that I am looking, διαγραψωμεν επ' αυτην σανίδα κεδρίνην, we will write upon her a cedar table:' and these 'translators being Jews, seem to have had in their eye the old direction of their great lawgiver 5,' • Thou shalt write these words upon the door-posts of 'thy house, and in thy gates.' Allow a Jewish poet to have had the same retrospect; and by joining together these several strokes of scriptural resemblance,

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I Prov. iii. 3.

2 Isaiah xxx. 8.

3 Habak. ii. 2.

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4 Hence the Latin tabellarius, in use to this day for a letter carrier.'

5 Deut. xi. 20.

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