of others, is as much detached from the parable as the grounds for explaining this Song are detached from the Song. The clew to the whole system of the Jewish ritual is not found till we come to the Epistle to the Hebrews. The solution of many of the prophecies given in allegorical dress, is to be got, not from any hints appended as to the specific facts pointed out thereby, but only from the general meaning of such symbols in prophetical language, and from the future history of the world, viewed in comparison with such meaning. It is not a thing of the least. moment, that the clew to a prophecy, parable, or allegory, be given in the book containing it, or by the man who gave it utterance. The material point is, that it be spoken by the Holy Spirit, and be found within the word of God. The various books of inspiration are merely different chapters in the one great volume of revelation. The whole has one Author, the divine Spirit of Wisdom, and whatever truths are there found, derive their authority, "not of men, neither by man," but from the presence of the Holy Ghost. And according to the laws of poetic composition, we could not expect to find in Canticles itself, an indication that the book is an allegory, and that such is its meaning. The poem is more finished, and more pleasant as a study, in its present form, than it could be with the thread of the allegory continually broken by interpolations concerning the meaning. Is it necessary, or in good taste, to write on an allegorical picture or piece of statuary, what it means. The finest allegorical poems, and the finest allegori

cal passages of poems not wholly allegorical, are framed on the same principle with this Song-of leaving much to be done by the reader towards threading out the literal meaning. Every piece of this kind is a species of enigma: the solution of this is to be sought at the lips of the Holy Spirit; he will lay open the veins of wisdom here contained, to those who search for them as for hid treasures.

The question therefore is, Do we find in the Scriptures any clew to the meaning of an allegory like this? any thing leading us to suppose that such language may be applied to the illustration of the love of Christ and his people? On this point we have full and satisfactory instructions. In many passages, the relation of husband and wife is used for setting forth the love and the relations of the Redeemer and the redeemed. This is, in truth, the leading and standing comparison on this subject, throughout the whole Scriptures. For establishing the inspiration of a book, there is no necessity for it to be quoted by Christ and his Apostles, or for its illustrations to receive such sanction. The Song is not the only book in the Old Testament where this comparison is used. It is the leading and standing comparison on this subject. And how can there be a doubt concerning its meaning, after such language as this: "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman." Jer. vi. 2. After such frequent repetition of it through the compass of revelation, one of the last things in the Scriptures is the setting of this allegory beyond all question, by calling

the Church "the bride, the wife of the Lamb," Rev. xxi. 9; as though it was said, The bride alluded to in those many passages as the wife of the Lamb, is the redeemed Church. And how could we expect any thing more satisfactory than the words of our Saviour, in Matt. xxii. 1-10, and xxv. 1-13? There the meaning is made clear by the restriction, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage."

Here, therefore, we have a volume which the Holy Spirit has given to man by inspiration, consisting of different chapters, called by us books, published at intervals, through a succession of ages, according to his wise arrangements in unfolding the plan of salvation. One of these chapters is occupied as an elucidation of the love of Christ and his people, by means of a comparison taken from the love of husband and wife. In perfect keeping with the laws of poetry, this allegory is not marred by the introduction of sentences giving a clew to its literal meaning. It lies in the casket of revelation, an exquisite gem, engraved with emblematical characters, with nothing literal thereon to break the consistency of their beauty. But in other parts of this volume, its author, the Holy Spirit, has very distinctly stated that the bride there introduced is the redeemed Church, the sanctified soul; and that "her Maker is her husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name."

7. The Scriptures do more than merely apply the spirit of this allegory to Christ and his Church; they set forth the union of Christ and his Church, as a

great fact on which the relation of marriage is founded, for being the illustration of this union to the comprehension of men. In Eph. v. 22-33, the apostle takes the truth of the oneness of Jesus and his people, and makes it the basis of an argument for illustrating and enforcing the duties of the marriage relation. These were very much violated in the heathen world, as they are even at the present day; they lie at the foundation of every thing good and stable among men, and therefore required to be set in a very clear light, and on a very strong basis. This has been done. What, therefore, is that basis? It is nothing less than the union existing between Christ and his people, and the likeness of the relation between husband and wife to this union. He does not go from the marriage relation to the union of Christ and the Church, as though the former was the first and better established principle; but he comes down from the union of Jesus and his people, to the marriage relation, inasmuch as that union was the first and best recognised fact, and the ground of the reciprocal duties of the marriage state.

While man was formed in the image of God, and thus bears in his constitution certain endowments which are the likeness of certain attributes of the divine character; in his social relation, the union between husband and wife was intended to be an image of the relation existing between Jesus and the redeemed; just as the relation of father and son is an illustration of the union between two persons of the Trinity. In the purpose of God, this union existed

before the creation of man and the institution of the marriage relation. It was an original picture lodged in the mind of God, of a great and glorious fact thereafter to be developed, which it was necessary to unfold to man, and of which the marriage relation was a transcript. God could doubtless have made other arrangements for representing to us this spiritual relation; it is sufficient for us to know that marriage has been shaped with reference to this end. Love in the human soul is the image of love in God, and the love of husband and wife is the image of that love of God in Christ exercised towards his people. This is not an uncertain figment of the fancy, but truth resting on the deliberate purpose of God the Creator.

The apostle brings out distinctly several points on this topic; Christ is the head of the Church ;-the Church is his body;-he is the Saviour of this body, by and through him it was created anew from its state of spiritual death;—this salvation or new creation is the result of his love, and is a strong exhibition of that love;-it required him to leave heaven and suffer great sacrifices;-it prompts him to foster and cherish the Church by sanctification;—this is in order that the Church may be without spot or wrinkle, perfectly lovely ;-the Church, as a consequence, is subject to Christ. He states these truths as the foundation of the following duties: As Christ is the head of the Church, so the husband is the head of the wife; as the Church is the body of Christ, so the wife is really one with the husband, as truly as the