feet was discerned which were wont to be set with Gemms as we learn from many Authors I shall name none but the Book of Judith because what Greek or Roman Writers say about their own Shooes is not material where Sandals are mentioned as a part of the bravery wherein she set forth her self to deceive Holofernes X. 4. And with these she is said in her Song to have ravished his eyes XVI 9. See also III. Isai 18. Now the Feet not being here considered as naked in all reason we ought not to expound the next Words of the naked Thighs the discovery of which had been immodest but of the clothing of them round about For so that Word we translate Joints is expounded by others the circuit or as the LXX their whole proportion or model which was as fine as the Ornaments that adorned them So Chelaim signifies which R. Solomon here observes is an Arabick Word denoting not Jewels as we translate it but the fine attire and trimming wherewith Women deck themselves to set off their beauty Which agrees with what follows The work of the hands of a cunning Workman Where Workman also signifies not any Artificer but a Goldsmith who as Bochart hath observed made Wires Laces Wreaths Rings and such like little Ornaments of Gold and Silver as Women used The Chaldee Paraphrase applies all this to the peoples going up three times a year to the publick Feasts as R. Solomon before-named expounds also that place in LII Isai 7. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet c. Which with more reason others apply to their return into their own Country out of Captivity and the Christian Writers apply to the Apostles going through the World to preach the Gospel Whose stedfastness herein may be also here represented though I see not why it may not as well be applied to Christians going cheerfully to worship God in their publick Assemblies b V. 2. The Garments I doubt not of these Parts are still described in this Verse For what resemblance hath the Belly it self of any person which it had not been seemly neither to describe unto an heap of Wheat set with Lilies And they seem to me to have had in their eyes that Apparel of wrought Gold mentioned XLV Psal 13. and represent that part of it which covered the Belly to be of raised or embossed Work resembling an heap of Wheat By which it is possible may be meant many Sheaves of Wheat embroidered round about as the Kings Daughters raiment was XLV Psal 14. with Flowers especially with Lilies And then this was a Figure wherein Harvest was represented which is no unlikely conjecture for anciently nothing was more honourable than to follow Tillage or Pasturage From whence it is that we find in the latter end of Homer's 18th Iliad that the device contrived by Vulcan in Achilles's Shield were Reapers cutting down ripe Corn and the King himself standing in a furrow and providing a Dinner for them Now in the very midst of this Work I conceive there was a Fountain which I take to be the meaning of the first Words of the Verse Thy Navel is a round Goblet which wanteth not Liquor that is a great Bowl or Basin was wrought in the Center of the Embroidery full of Water which ran continually from above into it Or a Conduit running with several sorts of Liquors into a great Bowl Unto which the Word hammazog importing a mixture seems to incline the sense The Word agan which properly signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the LXX translate it a great Bowl or Basin is used by the Chaldee Paraphrast for a receptacle of Water in Fountains or in Ditches As in IV. Judg. 11. where the Valley or Plain of Agannaja of Bowls which was in Kedesh is interpreted by Kimchi the Field in which were many Pits or Trenches like to Bowls full of Water This seems to be a plainer Interpretation than that of Zanchez who fansies this to have been some Jewel that hung down from her Girdle upon the Navel which was of this form round like the Moon And the Chaldee Paraphrast understood it to be of this Figure when he applies it to the Head of their School who shone in the knowledge of the Law like the Circle of the Moon and seventy Wise men round about him like a Heap of Wheat What is the mystical meaning of this Hieroglyphick Vesture as it may be called is very hard to say It may be applied to the two Sacraments which the Church administers to her Children the Font in Baptism being represented by the former and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the other part of this Figure c V. 3. This Verse hath been explained before IV. 5. I only observe that the Chaldee Paraphrast applies these two Breasts to the two Messiahs whom they foolishly expect the Son of David and the Son of Ephraim who shall be like Moses and Aaron c. Which I mention because it shows that the Jews have an Opinion that the Messiah is discoursed of in this Book and that these Words are to be applied to the Leaders of the Church such as Moses and Aaron Of which see in the place before-named d The Tower to which the Neck is here compared in all probability is the same with that IV. 4. where it is called the Tower of David and here the Tower of Ivory because of its smoothness and whiteness And the Phrase is varied perhaps to express an encrease of Beauty for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we meet withal in Anacreon in a description of extraordinary handsomeness In like manner the Eyes are here compared to Pools for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shining moisture of the eyes is commended as very beautiful by many Authors Particularly by Plutarch who commends this in Pompey and in Alexander And by Philostratus in his Epistles very frequently Thou seemest to me saith he Epist 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to carry Water as it were from the Fountain of thy eyes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and therefo reto be one of the Nymphs Among Pools those fair ones at Heshbon were much celebrated which were in the very entrance of the City hard by the Gate called Bath-rabbim because it opened towards the way that led to Rabbah the Metropolis of the Children of Ammon which made the more people pass in and out at it For Heshbon we find in XXI Numb 24 25 c. was the principal City of Sihon whose Country bordered upon the Ammonites and it fell to the share of the Gadites who desired this Country because it abounded with Pasturage and was excellently watered there being many Rivulets and Brooks in its Neighbourhood from whence the Pools of Heshbon were supplied Which were remarkable for their purity and serenity or quietness and therefore fitter to represent the composed setled eyes of a modest Virgin Whose gravity and Majesty I suppose is also set forth in the next Words by comparing her Nose to that
God and by Christ and by the holy Ghost and by the Majesty of the Emperour which next after God was to be loved and honoured L. 2. Cap. 5. Where he adds this remarkable reason for it because to him when he hath remarkable the Name of Augustus faithful Devotion is to be performed and all vigilant service paid as unto a present and corporeal God The violation of which Oath though made to an Heathen Prince how heinously God takes even as a despising of an Oath made to himself and a breach of his own Covenant those terrible threats do sufficiently demonstrate XVII Ezek. 12 13 14 c. especially v. 19.20 Which are denounced against Zedekiah who rebelled against the King of Babylon who had made him swear by God 2 Chron. XXXVI 13. Some of the Pharisees were the first that we read of who would not take this Oath of Allegiance but as Josephus tells us L. XVII Antiq. Cap. 3. boasting themselves to be the most exact Observers of the Law of God and therefore the most in his favour while they were full of inward pride arrogance and fraud dared openly to oppose Kings and presumed by their motions to raise War against them and annoy them refusing saith he to take the Oath when all the Jews had sworn to be faithful to Caesar Of this Sect he adds there were above six thousand who were so far from lessening their crime by this refusal and making what they did against his Authority to be no Rebellion that it heightned it very much and was in it self a piece of Rebellion they having a natural Allegiance unto him by being born his Subjects There are some who from the beginning of this Verse argue this Book not to be Solomon's because he saith of himself I observe the mouth i. e. Commandment of the King So they translate the first words which the LXX translate as we do and so do the Chaldee the Syriack and Arabick Interpreters For though the Hebrew word be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ego I it signifies nothing to this purpose because he doth not say I observe but simply I do thou observe There being a distinctive Note between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I and what follows showing that it is a short Form of Speech to be supplied by some such word as this I say or I command or counsel or rather charge thee And the reason perhaps why the principal Verb was omitted might be as the learned Primate of Ireland Usher conjectures because no word could be found significative enough to express the deepness of the Charge Some may think that I have dilated too much upon this Verse but they may be pleased to consider how useful if not necessary it is at this time when men begin again to plead the lawfulness of resistance Which is so plainly condemned in this Place that the most learned Assertors of the Old Cause were extremely puzzled to make it agree with their Principles in the late times of Rebellion There is one who in his Book called Natures Dowrie Chap. 21. calls in the assistance of a great many Hebrew Doctors to help him to another Translation of the words and yet after all is forced to acknowledge that our English is right enough and is content to admit it with this Proviso that the King manage well the affairs of the Common-wealth As much as to say do what they would have him c V. 3. The first word in this Verse is capable of several senses which I have endeavoured to express in the Paraphrase For it originally signifies such a passion and perturbation particularly that of anger and terror as makes a man precipitant in his motions being translated sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sometimes by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the LXX And the meaning of the Wise man is that in pursuance of the foregoing counsel v. 2. we must take care if we desire to live happily to suppress our passions and not to show the least discontent with the Government especially not hastily and rashly to fling our selves as we speak in a fume out of the Kings presence on any occasion much less receive his Commands with impatience or which is worst of all incur his just displeasure by sullen disobedience For though we may think to escape the effects of it we shall find our selves deceived Princes having long arms as the Phrase is to reach those that offend them though they flee never so far from them This is the sense of v. 3. d V. 4. And it is further enlarged in this Verse where Symmachus translates the first words thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Command of the King is authoritative carries such authority with it that it will be executed For the word Shilton from whence learned men have not unfitly derived the Titles of Sultan and Soldan denotes such a power as over-powers and cannot be resisted like that of Death v. 8. to which all must submit And so it follows in the end of this Verse Who may say unto him What doest thou i. e. first Who hath any authority to call him to an account as much as to say none hath but God alone According to that of an eminent Rabbi quoted by the forenamed Primate in the entrance of his Book about Obedience No Creature may judge the King but the Holy and Blessed God alone To allow the people either collective or representative to have power to do it is to make them Accusers Judges and Executioners also in their own cause and that against their Sovereign Nor secondly Can any man safely attempt it but he shall meet with punishment either here or hereafter Which is no new Doctrine but the same with that of St. Paul as Luther here honestly notes they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation which none shall be able to avoid Therefore it is safest simply to obey Magistrates Which he repeats again upon v. 7. A man cannot do better than simply to obey So Preachers saith he should exhort the tumultuous and seditious For judgment vengeance or punishment is ordained and decreed by God to all the disobedient which none shall escape And thus much the Author of Natures Dowry is forced to acknowledge from the evident light he saw in this place that the scope of the words is that as we tender our own safety we ought not to withstand the Magistrate in his Edicts which are consonant to the Word of God And it is Wisdom saith he out of Elisha Gallico an Hebrew Interpreter in a private man when the Magistrate enjoins what is repugnant to God's Will to remove out of his Dominions rather than contest with him Which some conceive to be imported by the word telec go out or go away in the foregoing Verse e V. 5. From whence he again concludes it is the most prudent course as well as most honest to comply with those that have authority over us in a dutiful obedience or
into the Well Melancthon by Cistern understanding the Stomach the Word signifying saith he a profound Cavity takes the Wheel for the Guts adjoining thereunto which are wrapt about one another in a kind of Circular form and make the Mesentery look like a Wheel Which Grotius seems also to have had in his mind But taking it for granted that a Wheel being an Instrument of Circulation is the Hieroglyphick of something that goes and makes a round in us I think Dr. Smith's conjecture is most probable that hereby is meant the great Artery with all its Branches which is the great instrument of rotation or circulation in the Body of man and so evidently thrusts the Blood forward that we perceive its Pulses forcing the Blood along its Cavity in the Wrists the Temples and other Parts of the Body Without which Instrument to compel it the Blood that naturally tends home to the heart would go no further And then the Cistern from whence this Wheel forces the Liquor and conveys it through all the Parts is the left Ventricle of the Heart to which this great Artery is annexed and from whence it ariseth For a Cistern is a Vessel made on purpose to receive a due proportion of Water and to keep it till the time of use and then conveniently to pass it into Vessels that are prepared to receive it from thence And such is the left Ventricle of the Heart which in its Diastole as they call it receives the Blood that is brought into it from the Lungs and then keeping it there a little doth in its Systole pass due proportions thereof into the great Artery to be dispensed as was said before And for this end there are little Valves or Falling doors placed at the entrance and at the going out of this Cistern which are like Cocks to let in and to let out and by their opening or shutting give convenient passage or stoppage to the Liquor which continually runs that way And so the breaking or shaking in pieces as Forsterus translates the Word of this Wheel is the ceasing of the Pulse so he in another place translates it trodden down i. e. suppressed by the decay of the instruments of Pulsations which can no longer perform that work Which being absolutely necessary for the preservation of life the ceasing of it is death g V. 7. And so the Body made of a mouldering substance being no longer a fit habitation for the Spirit and therefore deserted by it which held the parts of it together shall crumble again into the Earth out of which it originally came according to that Sentence passed upon Adam in the beginning Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return III. Gen. 19. This Body was no better in its first Principles and though now we are very fond of it as if it were some goodly thing yet when the Spirit leaves it it will appear to be indeed but Dust But the Spirit the nobler part of man being of an higher Original shall return to God who sent it into the Body to be disposed of by Him according to the Sentence that he should pass upon it For the Chaldee Paraphrase's Explication of the latter part of this Verse is very apposite It shall return that it may stand in judgment before God For Elohim the Word here for God in the Hebrew Language signifies a Judge As in the place above-mentioned 1 Sam. XXVIII 9. There is a Sentence not much unlike to this I have observed in Plutarch's Consolatory Discourse to Apollonius upon the death of his Son where he alledges amongst a great many other this Saying of Epicharmus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 h V. 8. And now having thus demonstrated his first Proposition he elegantly repeats the Exordium or entrance of his Book as is here observed by St. Hierom whose Words are so significant that I cannot but translate them as an excellent Gloss upon this Verse For since all the labour of mortal man of which Solomon hath disputed in this whole Book amounts to this That the Dust returns to its Earth and the Soul returns thither from whence it was taken it is an excess of vanity to labour for this world and to gather nothing for the future where he is to live for ever and to be judged according to his behaviour here This only may be added That here he enters upon the Conclusion of his Discourse and divides it into two Parts as he had done the foregoing Book First He summs up what he had said in the six first Chapters concerning the false ways men take to happiness in this Verse which he backs by several serious Considerations in those that fol ow unto Verse 13. Where secondly he summs up what he hath said from Chap. VII to this place concerning the true way to happiness which lies only in a due regard to God and his Commandments i V. 9. The first Word of this Verse is variously translated and the whole Verse applied by Interpreters either to confirm what was said before concerning the false methods men take to happiness as if he had said I have done when I have told you that you may believe me who am sufficiently able to inform you and not think to meet with better information from other mens Writings or from your own experience or as an introduction to what he intends to say ver 13 14. concerning the right method to be happy Which he prepares the Reader to attend unto and receive into his mind first by asserting his own great Authority in this Verse who the wiser he was the more desirous he was both to teach and to learn And then the weighty Doctrine which he taught v. 10. And the great usefulness of it v. 11. The like to which they would find no where else v. 12. It is not very material which of these ways we take but I have had respect to both in my Paraphrase where I have expressed the sense so fully that I cannot think fit to enlarge any further upon this Verse But only note that Luther and he alone I think expounds the first Words thus not absurdly nor disagreeing with the Hebrew Text There remained nothing to the Preacher but that he was wise c. He understood and taught aright and took a great deal of pains which was a great satisfaction to himself but he saw little or no success of it in others who would not be governed by his Advice c. k V. 10. This Verse runs thus word for word in the Hebrew The Preacher carefully sought to meet with desirable words and the writing of uprightness and the words of truth Where writing may refer both to what he read in others whether Divine or Humane Authors and to what he wrote himself and so I have expounded it in the Paraphrase which he commends from three Heads pleasure or delight usefulness and certainty Some fansie that Solomon wrote a Book called Catub Jascher the Writing of Uprightness or Jascher dibre emeth the upright Words of
Effigies Reverendi in Christo Patris D Simonis Patrick Eliensis Episcopi A PARAPHRASE UPON THE BOOKS OF ECCLESIASTES AND THE SONG of SOLOMON WITH ARGUMENTS to each Chapter and ANNOTATIONS thereupon By SYMON PATRICK D. D. Now Lord Bishop of Ely LONDON Printed by W. H. for Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCC To the Right Reverend Father in God and the no less Honourable HENRY Lord BISHOP of LONDON one of His MAJESTY'S most Honourable Privy Council MY LORD WE see in Your Lordship such a plain and familiar Example of that Wisdom which SOLOMON preaches in the Book of ECCLESIASTES that I am invited thereby to this boldness of prefixing Your Lordship's Name before the Paraphrase I have made upon it and upon the Book that follows it A Wisdom which hath raised Your Mind above the deceitfulness of Riches and of all Worldly Glories a Divine Wisdom which hath raised You above your self and made the faithful service of God and of the King the sole scope of all Your Endeavours It is a token surely of the Divine favour towards us and ought to be reckoned among the felicities of our Sovereign's Reign that a Vertue so active and laborious in doing good is placed in such a wide and capacious Sphere as that wherein Your Lordship moves From whence Your influences are no less powerful than they are benign stirring us up to industry and quickning us by Your own great Example to do our Duties uprightly and unweariedly in our several Stations Some small service I hope I have performed in the Explication of these two holy Books In the first of which according to the ancient Opinion the foundation is laid for a due progress unto the other the Mind not being fitted for such sublime thoughts as lye hid under the Figures in the Book of Canticles till it hath learnt by the Ecclesiastes the vanity of all earthly Enjoyments and by looking down upon them with contempt be disposed to value heavenly Blessings To this purpose Origen discourses in his Preface to the Song of Songs Which is a Depth into which I have adventured to dive though it hath been famous as one speaks for the shipwrack of many great Pilots who went too far as I conceive and sought for more there than is to be found and therefore miscarried Which Rock I have carefully avoided and steered my Course by such a clear and certain Direction which I thought I espied in other holy Writings that if I have kept my eye stedfastly fixt upon it I am satisfied hath not misled me but carried me to the right sense of this admirable Piece of Divine Poetry Which I trust I have made so evident that if the Readers will seriously consider the Rise and Ground I have taken for my Exposition even they who have made bold to prophane this Book with their wanton imaginations will hereafter look upon it with reverence If in any Part of this difficult Work I have mistaken my way Your Lordship I know hath the Goodness not only to pardon the errours of my weakness but to accept of the sincerity of my endeavours to do Honour to the Holy Scriptures by representing them to the best of my power in their native Beauty that is simplicity unto the eyes of those who have the heart to make them their Study Praying God to continue Your Lordship a long Blessing to this Church by Your prudent steady and obliging Conduct in the Government of us who have the happiness to be under Your particular care I remain MY LORD Your most humble and dutiful Servant S. Patrick THE PREFACE I. THis Book not carrying in the front of it the express Name of SOLOMON it hath emboldned some to take the liberty of intitling other Authors to it Hezekiah for instance whom the Talmudists make to speak those Words in the entrance of it The words of the Preacher c. Or Isaiah as R. Moses Kimchi with some other Jews fansie Or to name no more Zorobabel whom Grotius in his Notes upon Chap. XII 11. conjectures to have appointed certain men to make this Collection For so he would have the word COHELETH translated a Collector or Heaper up of Opinions rather than a Preacher II. But there are so many passages in the Book which agree to none but Solomon that it is a wonder so great a man as Grotius should be led away from the common Opinion by such slight reasons as I shall presently mention For instance there never was any Body that could truly speak those words which we read v. 16. of the first Chapter but only Solomon For neither Hezekiah nor Josiah nor Zorobabel kept such great State as he did much less excelled him in Wisdom And who but he could boast of such things as are mentioned Chap. II. v. 4 5 6 7 8 9. to represent the splendour wherein he lived above all that had been before him in Jerusalem Or on the contrary Who had such reason as he to make that sad complaint Chap. VII 26 c. of the mischief he had received by Women And to omit the rest those words in the last Chapter v. 9 10. can belong to none but him who set in order many Proverbs as appears in the foregoing Book III. Which things are so convincing that Grotius is forced to acknowledge that Zorobabel caused this Book to be composed in the Name of King Solomon for he was no King himself but a Governour under the King of Persia repenting of his former vain and sinful life Which very acknowledgment carries in it a plain solution of the principal Argument whereby he was led to this odd Opinion Which is that he finds some words in this Book that are no where to be met withal but in Daniel and Ezra and the Chaldee Interpreters Which makes it probable he thinks that it was written after their Captivity in Babylon But supposing Solomon to write here as a Penitent after he had frequented the Company of many Outlandish Women of whom we read 1 Kings XI 1 2. it need not seem strange to us that he had learnt the use of many of their words And so notwithstanding this Objection he may still be thought to have been the Author of this Book himself which the Hebrews generally conceive to have been written by him towards the end of his Reign after he had tried all manner of pleasures even to an excess Besides in other Books of Scripture there are words for the signification of which we are fain to have resort unto other languages and particularly the Arabick because they are not to be found elsewhere in the Scripture and yet for all that might be pure Hebrew according to the language which was then spoken when such Books were written IV. But it is not fit to stay any longer in the confutation of such a weak reason as this which hath no force in it though it be the best he hath to make us think of any other
Author of this Book than Solomon Who if he did not write it himself it is certain spake the things contained in it and calls himself the PREACHER because of the great gravity and dignity of the Subject whereof he treats of which he was wont to speak frequently Chap. XII 9. desiring it might be understood and laid to heart by the whole Congregation of Israel as the Word Coheleth seems to import which in the Aethiopick language signifies a Circle or a Company of men gathered together in the form of a Circle as Ludolphus hath lately observed For the scope of this Discourse is concerning the chief Good or happiness of man the great end he should propose to himself all his life long Which is not that he shows which men generally follow but that which is generally neglected For most men mind nothing but just what is before them which they will find at last as he had done by sad experience to be mere vanity utterly unable to quiet their minds Which must therefore seek for satisfaction in something else and after all their busie thoughts designs and labours come to this Conclusion that to fear God and keep his Commandments is the happiness of man who ought therefore to use all the pleasures of this World which is the only Good it can afford us with a constant respect to the future account we must all make to God V. This it appears by the beginning and the end of this Book is the Scope of it Vnto which they that will not attend are wont to pick out here and there a loose Sentence which agrees with their desires and then please themselves with a fancy that they have got Solomon on their side to help to maintain their infidelity Not considering what he asserts directly contrary in other places Where he presses the greatest and most serious reverence to Almighty God IV. 17. V. 1 2 c. VIII 12 13. XII 13. together with a remembrance of the future Judgment III. 17. XI 9. XII 14. Works of mercy and charity also whereby we may do good to others XI 1 2 c. and the contempt of those frivolous pleasures which draw our hearts from God and from good works II. 2. VII 2 c. All which plainly shew that those words which seem to countenance men in their neglect of Religion and open a Gap to licentiousness are only Opinions which he intends to confute according to the method he had propounded to himself in this Book Wherein he first represents the various ends men drive at which in the very entrance of it that men might not mistake his meaning he pronounces to be so vain that he had not words significant enough to express their vanity and then their different Opinions about God and his Providence and their own souls and what thoughts he himself had tossed up and down in his mind which at last came to that resolution I mentioned before wherewith he ends his Book In the close of which to give the greater weight unto what he had said he adds this That these were not only the result of his own thoughts but the judgment of other Wise men with whom he had consulted Let no man therefore deceive himself to use the grave words of Castalio as some I wish I could say a few have done who not minding the end and drift of this Book but having met with some one place in it that seems to favour their beloved lusts lay hold on that Scrap alone and with that endeavour to defend their licentious course of life As if they expected they should find God just such a Judge hereafter as they are of themselves at present VI. To comprise all in a few words The sense of the whole Sermon as we may call it seems to be comprehended in this Syllogism Whatsoever is vain and perishing cannot make men happy But all mens designs here in this World are vain and perishing Therefore They cannot by prosecuting such designs make themselves happy The Proposition is evident in it self and needs no Proof The Assumption therefore he demonstrates in the six first Chapters by an enumeration of Particulars as I shall shew in the Argument before or Annotations upon each Chapter And then proceeds in the rest of the Book to advise men unto the best course to make themselves happy evidently proving all along from this inconstancy and vanity of all things here that he who wishes well to himself ought to raise his mind above them to the Creator of the World and expecting to give an account to Him so to demean himself in the use of all earthly enjoyments that he devoutly acknowledge his Divine Majesty fearing and worshipping Him and doing his Will Such indeed is the dulness of Mankind that hearing all was but vanity they might condemn every thing as evil and hurtful and declaim too bitterly against this World Which was so far from Solomon's intention that having explained the vanity of all our injoyments here and the vanity of humane cares solicitous desires and endeavours he perswades all men to be content with things present to give God thanks for them to use them freely with quiet minds living as pleasantly and taking as much liberty as the remembrance of a future account will allow void of anxious and troublesome thoughts what will become of them hereafter in this life VII But it may not be amiss perhaps to give a larger account of this Sermon and let the Reader see in what method it proceeds For many men imagine it to be a confused Discourse which doth not hang together and therefore have explained this Book only by giving an account of the meaning of each Verse as if it were a distinct Sentence independant on the rest like those in his Proverbs But Antonius Corranus a most excellent person in a small Discourse of his upon this Book written above an hundred years ago hath drawn such a Scheme of it as I believe will satisfie those who consider it that Solomon proceeds after an exact order to deduce what he intended And therefore I will translate the sense of what he saith into English which is to this purpose VIII The design of the Author is to find out and to shew What it is in which the chief good and compleat felicity of man doth consist As appears by this that reflecting upon various things in which men place their happiness at the end of his Discourse upon every one of them he rejects them as utterly insufficient for that purpose but continues his search so far till at last he finds it and declares in the concluding Epiphonema that he had been seeking it through the whole Discourse saying the summ of the matter is this Fear God and keep his Commandments for this is the whole of man Now there are two principal Parts of the whole Sermon The first of which contains a recital and confutation of mens false Opinions about their Chiefest Good the other
this Book and is capable of many senses all pertinent to the scope of this place For according to the several Fountains from whence it may be derived this Phrase may be interpreted either anguish of Spirit or breaking of Spirit or preying upon the Spirits or in another sense of the word Spirit feeding on the Wind or Air none of which I have neglected in the Paraprase k V. 15. The shortness of humane Wit though never so much improved is here represented by two things first that it cannot remove what is inconvenient secondly that it cannot supply what is deficient in any condition of life Or as others will have it the first part of the Verse refers to the inability of man to rectifie that perverseness as the Hebrew word we translate crooked signifies which he finds in himself or others and the latter part to the small reach os humane understanding which can attain but a very imperfect knowledge either of words things times persons or actions as some branch out the innumerable Particulars of which we must be content to be ignorant l V. 16. I have not curiously distinguished between Wisdom and Knowledge either in this Verse or in the 18th But there may be this difference pertinently made That Wisdom directs a man in the practical affairs of life unto that which is most fit for his purpose according to the various circumstances wherein he may be It consists chiefly in a clear judgment to discern our true interest and the proper means to compass it together with a presentness of mind to obviate sudden accidents And then Knowledge relates to the speculation of natural things in their causes and effects their properties and differences and such like things m V. 17. Madness and Folly may refer also to all the idle Speculations wherein men of Parts and Wit sometimes not only imploy but applaud themselves as the first of those words seems to import in the Hebrew This trifling sort of Knowledge is notably described by Erasmus in his Praise of Folly n V. 18. If there be any difference to be made between Wisdom and Knowledge I have noted it above upon v. 16. As for grief and sorrow they may be thus distinguished That the former in the Original word includes in it indignation which is a sharp anger mingled with scorn to find either our Persons and Counsels contemned or our Projects and well laid Designs defeated Such as was in Achitophel whose penetrating Wit made his rage the greater to see his judicious advice rejected and the whole Conspiracy utterly disappointed The other word sorrow properly denotes an extreme great trouble and sickness of mind and is sometimes applied to pains in the Body which is the effect too frequently of over-hard study Melancthon understands the whole Verse as he did v. 13 14. of the trouble that wise men have when they are intrusted with Government to see the confusions errors vices and calamities of Mankind And their afflictions are the greater because they are not only more sensible than other men of present evils but foresee by the present those that are future and therefore are tormented with a sore pain and grief both for what they feel and for what they fear For they know that from the first disorders there commonly follow greater confusions as when Pericles had once stirred up a War there followed the destruction of almost all the great Cities of Greece And it is too truly said by Pindar that it is easie for any body to disturb a City but God alone can restore peace unto it This I take to be too limited a sense but it is no small trouble to a wise and prudent person as Corranus excellently expresses it to behold the miserable disorders and confusions of humane affairs For how is it possible to avoid it nay how can a man chuse but be filled with indignation to see Justice Equity Probity Fidelity Integrity and Constancy and all other such like Vertues slighted and disregarded by mankind and on the contrary Injustice Baseness Perfidiousness Flattery and such like Vices possess the World and carry all before them Or what man can without vexation observe the preposterous judgment of mankind which magnifies those things that are not only vain but hurtful and pernicious and not only contemn but hate those things which are truly good for them nay alone desirable No man can either be wise alone to himself in such a multitude of Fools and mad men without the greatest grief and indignation nor can be accommodate himself with an equal mind to the dotages of the common people when he sees that which is better I shall conclude this Chapter with the Lord Bacon's Observation concerning this anxiety of spirit which ariseth out of Knowledge in the beginning of his Book of the Advancement of Learning Solomon saith he doth not pass this censure absolutely upon Wisdom and Knowledge but only sets forth the true Bounds wherein humane knowledge is to be circumscribed which if we do not observe it will prove very troublesome to us and others And those limitations are three First That we do not so place our felicity in Knowledge as to forget our mortality Secondly That we use not our Knowledge to beget anxiety but repose and contentment of mind and Thirdly That we do not presume by the contemplation of Nature to think our selves able to comprehend the Mysteries of God The first and the last of these are plain enough and therefore I shall only note what he saith of the second that it is certain no anxiety or perturbation of mind ariseth from Knowledge but by mere accident For all Knowledge and Admiration which is the Seed of Knowledge is pleasant in it self but when we fall to frame Conclusions from thence which obliquely applied to our own affairs beget either weak fears or immoderate desires then ariseth that torment and trouble of mind whereof Solomon here speaketh For then Knowledge is no longer dry light which Heraclitus was wont to say was the best but moist light steeped and infused in the humours of the affections As for that Exposition which some have given of these words that he increaseth the number of his stripes or wounds who increaseth knowledge but makes no use of it nor takes care that his obedience rise in some good proportion with it it is not the proper sense of the place but rather an accommodation of the words to another profitable purpose CHAP. II. ARGUMENT Having passed his censure upon the first way men take to find satisfaction mentioned in the Notes upon v. 12. of the first Chapter which without all contradiction is the chief and the best of the four he proceeds here to consider the second which is the more common most men immersing themselves in pleasure as their highest Good Of which he was more capable to judge than any other man because he denied himself no delights that he desired and yet did not plung himself wholly into
especially among those Great Persons spoken of before who seriously considers it and believes that the souls of all mankind go to God that gave them XII 7. to be judged by Him v. 17. of this Chapter whereas the Souls of Beasts perish with them No herein they differ not at all from Beasts that having buried their minds in brutish pleasures they have no more sense of a future life than they but imagine that their souls die together with their bodies So senselesly stupied are they that trample upon the rest of Mankind and yet have such ignoble thoughts of themselves that they imagine their very souls are no longer-liv'd than a Beast See Annot. k 22. Wherefore I percieve that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoyce in his own works for that is his portion for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him 22. And therefore considering that our Bodies have no privilege above the Beasts and that Mankind are so liable to be abused by those who should protect them v. 16 19 20. I was confirmed in my former Opinion II. 24. that it is best for a man herein also to imitate the Beasts by enjoying freely the good things God hath blessed him withal and taking all the comfort he can find in them at present without solicitous care about the future For this is all he can be sure of it being in no mans power to secure him he shall enjoy that hereafter which he makes no use of now much less when he is dead can he be brought back again to take any pleasure in the fruit of all his labours or see what becomes of them ANNOTATIONS a V. 1. season The Hebrew words Zeman and Gneth signifie either that point of time when things being ripe come forth of themselves by the constitution of their several Beings as all natural things do or that occasion which serves our voluntary actions and is fit for effecting what we design The Hebrews observe that Solomon here reckons seven opposite Seasons of each sort as a complete demonstration by induction of the truth of this General Proposition in the first Verse Which bolds good even in Vertue it self which is not proper but in its place For Fortitude hath not always been successful as the Lord Herbert observes nor Temperance safe nor Justice opportune the fury and insolence of the outragious people having in some insurrections grown to that excess that is hath been greater Wisdom to pass by a while than to punish them And it is very apparent also in our Councels when they are conducted merely by humane Wisdom which is not able without a Divine direction to chuse the most fortunate as we call them and happy Seasons for undertakings Brutus Cicero Hertius Pansa all thought to restore the ancient estate of the Roman Commonwealth as Melancthon notes but were deceived and after the same manner many are still and will always be deceived Then businesses proceed when we obey his Divine directions and He assists and yet then sometimes more and sometimes less difficultly b V. 3. kill In the third Verse I have taken the liberty of following my own Judgment in expounding the first part of it which I have not referred to punishing and sparing Offenders as Interpreters do but to the condition of Diseases that are in our own Bodies For though the other be an excellent sense yet this seems to be more agreeable to the Wise mans meaning Because he is hitherto speaking of things Natural and the word heal also directs rather to that sense which I have given of killing than the common one The same may be said of the next part of the Verse there being a craziness in Buildings as well as in the Body of man and some Weather so improper to raise a Fabrick that the parts will not hang together but that which cements them moulders so fast away that that time were better spent in pulling down an house than in building it up As for the rest of the Calender or Ephemeris as the Lord Bacon calls it which the Wise man hath made of the diversities of times and occasions for all actions I need give no further account of it here than I have done in the Paraphrase c V. 9. What profit Nor is it hard to expound the inference he makes in this Verse from the foregoing induction which I have expressed as fully as I could in the Paraphrase and more largely in the Argument of this Chapter Gregory Nazianzen thinks he only intends to reflect upon the great inconstancy as of all earthly things so of humane actions sometimes for instance men are madly in love with a Woman and in time they as much hate her now they are eager to get and at another time they profusely spend sometimes they kill and sometimes are killed sometimes do nothing but talk and at another time have not a word to say c. and therefore all his labours are vain But I have extended it further with a respect to other things which the forenamed induction suggests to us d V. 11. world in their heart There is greater difficulty in this Verse if we connect it with the rest of the Discourse as we ought to do Which I have endeavoured to explain by taking the word Haolam the World for the present state of things in this Age wherein we live which is a genuine sense of it whereof God hath given us some understanding but not so perfect as to be able to give an account of the reason and scope of every thing that we see happen in this World because we are ignorant of what went before and of what will follow after when we had or shall have no Being here It is commonly understood of the works of Nature And in this sense the Lord Bacon in the beginning of his Book of the Advancement of Learning hath admirably expounded it in this manner In these words He hath placed the world in mans heart c. Solomon declares not obscurely that God hath framed the mind of man as a Mirrour or Looking-glass capable of the Image of the whole World and as desirous to receive it as the eye is to entertain the light and not only delighted in beholding the variety of things and the vicissitude of times but ambitious to find out and discover the immoveable and inviolable Laws and Decrees of Nature And though he intimate that this whole Oeconomy of Nature which he calls The work that God hath wrought from the beginning to the end cannot be found out by man it doth not derogate from the capacity of his mind but is to be imputed to the impediments of Learning c. There is one Interpreter Corranus who by Olam World understands the Circular motion of things for the service of man But I can find no such use of the word any where else the sense would be elegant enough which arises from thence viz. that this revolution being remote
lay in an high Tower well garrison'd to which none could ascend but by Ladders And the Father of Alexander was slain in the midst of a publick Pomp his Princes and his Guards looking on as Julius Caesar also was in the Senate Ten mighty men every one knows is in Scripture-Phrase as much as many mighty men And so Bochartus interprets that difficult place XI Numb 31. where speaking of the vast quantity of Quails that came into the Camp Moses saith he that gathered least gathered ten homers that is saith the forenamed Writer many heaps for so he thinks homer should be there translated as it is in some other places L. I. de sacris Animal Cap. XV. p. 106. Part. 2. q V. 20. Here he seems to limit what he had said before with this exception that no man can be always so wise and cautious as never to offend Which Melancthon truly calls Politica sententia and refers to lapses in Government like that of Josiah who was a very good Prince but perished by engaging rashly in an unnecessary War And therefore the Character of a Governour as well as of a man must be fetcht from the constant strain and bent of his actions and not from particular facts For he is a good Governour that always intends to do right though he sometimes miscarry as David and the forenamed Josiah and he is an ill Governour who hath no such design but quite contrary though sometime he do well as Cambyses The difference therefore must be taken from their perpetual will and inclination There are those who connect this Verse with the next rather than the foregoing but I have referred it to both and not unfitly I think as may be seen in the Paraphrase upon v. 21. r V. 21. Which the Lord Bacon L. VIII C. 2. Parab 4. refers principally to vain curiosity and thus discourses upon it It is a matter almost beyond belief what disturbance is created by unprofitable curiosity about those things that concern our personal interest That is when we make a too scrupulous inquiry after such Secrets which once disclosed and found out do but cause disquiet of mind and nothing conduce to the advancing of our designs For first there follows vexation and disquiet of mind humane Affairs being so full of treachery and ingratitude that if there could be procured a Magical Glass in which we might behold the hatreds and whatsoever malicious contrivances are any where raised up against us it would be better for us if such a Glass were forthwith throne away and broken in pieces For things of this nature are like the murmurs of the leaves of Trees which in a short time vanish Secondly This curiosity loads the mind too much with suspicions and ungrounded jealousies which is the most capital Enemy to counsels and renders them inconstant and involved Thirdly The same curiosity doth sometime six those evils which otherways of themselves would pass by us and fly away For it is a dangerous thing to irritate the consciences of men who if they think themselves to ly undiscovered are easily changed for the better but if they perceive themselves to be detected drive out one mischief by another And therefore it was deservedly esteemed the highest Wisdom in Pompey the Great that he instantly burnt all Sertorius's Papers unperused by himself or suffered to be seen by others Some take this Verse to speak of those who willingly lend their ears to Informers and Detractors who will bring them what is said abroad whether true or false And therefore saith Solomon since there is no man but who offends sometimes not thou thy self excepted do not hearken unto those who reckon up other mens faults lest thou hear thy own from those that are of thy Family Thus Maldonate s V. 23. Here he seems to resume his Discourse in the beginning of the Book concerning the shortness of humane understanding and the difficulty of finding the truth and the reason of things But no account can be given why he thus starts from his Subject on a sudden without any coherence And therefore I have endeavoured to give another account of this and the following Verse Which I have so interpreted that they may be knit to the foregoing I cannot say that herein I have followed any Guide but my own Judgment which led me to think this to be a continued Discourse But they that dislike my connection must rest satisfied as far as I can see with that of Corranus which hath more colour for it than any other who takes this Verse to be a Preface to what the Wise man had to add concerning the subtil Arts of Women to draw men in if they be not exceeding cautious Their wits being so versatile their cunning so sly and their allurements so many that he professes he found them inexplicable though he had spared no pains to penetrate into them This he makes the sense of ver 23 24 25. t V. 26. And then in this Verse Solomon gives an account of the danger they are in who suffer themselves to be insnared by the Arts of naughty Women who are so numerous that he advises him who would be good to be very cautious how he enters into familiarity with that Sex who have brought sore calamities upon the greatest men such as Samson David and Paris and many other besides Solomon himself The next Verse I have made to relate to that The two words we translate snares and nets to which he compares her heart i. e. her invention devices c. both signifie nets Only the former signifies the Nets of Hunters the latter the Nets or Draggs rather of Fishermen XXVI Ezek. 5. as the LXX distinguish them The former indeed is applied also to Fishes in this Book IX 11. and therefore the truer difference perhaps is that the former signifies finer the latter courser but stronger Nets such as cannot be broken but will certainly destroy as the Root from whence Cherem comes denotes Both these words are in the Plural Number to denote the vast multitudes that they catch and the innumerable ways they have to entangle them and hold them fast u V. 28. Gregory Thaumaturgus interprets this Verse altogether of their Chastity after this manner I have found a chaste man but never a chaste woman And indeed of that he is speaking which makes this sense not unreasonable though I have not so restrained it nor do I think this is to be lookt upon as the true Character of Women in General in all Ages and Countries but of such only as Solomon was acquainted withal and of those in that and the neighbouring Nations especially of Women there excelling in beauty which commonly betrayed them to their ruine and to the ruine of others without an extraordinary Grace to preserve them x V. 29. In the beginning of this Verse Melancthon thinks Solomon speaks not of the first creation of man but of the Rule of mens actions which God proposed to them
hates shall befal him but all things are before them that is are appointed how they shall be antecedent to the will of men Thus Eben Ezra And there are those who interpret that Phrase before them in this manner They see the good and evil which befals them but cannot foresee it till it come upon them And some joyn both together thus Neither the favour nor disfavour of men neither their approving or opposing what we do is any certain mark that we are good or bad But I have followed that sense which seemed to me most simple and most coherent with the rest of the words As for that Doctrine which many great Writers in the Roman Church have built upon this Text that no man can be certain whether he be in the favour of God or no while he is in this life Melancthon truly calls it Interpretatio Monachorum the Interpretation of the Monks who distorted the words of Solomon and wreathed them to their own dotages For it is madness saith he in another place in his Treatise of Good Works to say that we know not whether Murderers and Adulterers are worthy of God's hatred b V. 2. For this next Verse plainly shows that he speaks of such notes of God's favour or hatred as men are very desirous he would make by putting a difference between good and bad men in external things Which he is not pleased to do but they are sick or lose their Goods their Children or Friends all alike Which is more particularly true in publick calamities as St. Cyprian excellently discourses both in his Book to Demetrian and in his Book de Mortalitate In the former of which he acknowledges that good and bad men being in this World as in one and the same house whatsoever befals the house must necessarily befal the Inhabitants who cannot be well when the common Air wherein they all breathe is infected nor have a good Crop when there wants Rain to make the Earth fruitful Only herein saith he to the Pagans we are not compares aequales vobis alike and undistinguish'd from you that we do not grieve as you do in these common calamities we are not so impatient nor make such outcries and complaints but a couragious and religious patience quiets our mind and makes us thankful to God Viget apud nos speirobur c. the strength of Faith is vigorous among us and the firmness of hope and a mind erect in the midst of the ruines of a decaying World together with an immoveable Vertue a constantly joyful patience and a Soul always secure of her God So that she may say with the Prophet III. Habakk 17 18. Although the fig-tree should not blossom neither should fruit be in the vine c. yet will I rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation The difference of the several expressions used here in this Verse for good men and bad I have explained as well as I could in the Paraphrase And they that would see Examples of the same event to every one of the opposite persons may look into the Hebrew Commentators or into Mercer and there find them c V. 3. In this and the following Verses he shows the ill use men make of the foregoing Observation and their folly therein For imagining God loves all men alike because they find the same things happen to them all they run into such an excess of wickedness with such a frantick liberty as brings them speedily to their Graves whereby they lose what they would have kept and what they desired and hoped still to get Thus I have interpreted v. 4. in which there is exceeding great difficulty both because of the various reading of one word which we translate joyned to and the uncertainty whether Solomon here deliver his own Opinion or the Opinion of the Epicures whom some think he here introduces and making a Speech which reaches to v. 11. which is the sense of Greg. Thaumaturgus among the Greeks and of several Latin Writers who herein follow some of the Hebrews whose Wise men say as we read in Maimonides his More Nevochim part II. Cap. 28. that some sought to smother the Book of Ecclesiastes because its words savour of Heresie From which imputation that they might free it they took such words as they thought lookt that way to be the Sayings of carnal men But there is no need to have recourse to this way of Exposition as St. Hierom acknowledges which I have not followed because there seems to me to be an easie and plain sense of the words in coherence with the foregoing And in the expressing of that sense I have neglected neither the Writing nor the Reading as the Hebrews speak but taken notice of the sense of the word we translate joyned to as it is in the Text and as it is in the Margin of the Hebrew Bibles There are many other ways of explaining it and the whole Verse but I shall not trouble the Reader with any of them save only with Melancthon's which I do not find taken notice of by any of the latter Interpreters who translates the words thus What therefore is to be chosen in one that is alive there is hope and a living Dog c. In answer saith he to those who being disturbed at the confusion of things asked Must we then chuse to labour when we meet with no rewards Solomon replies By all means follow your Calling and commend events to God there is hope while a man lives that he may come to something and although thou canst not be a Lion yet be content to be a meaner Creature though it be but a little Dog Thou art not able to be such a Captain as Scipio yet thou mayst be like to Fabius Why do we seek for Lions such Heroical Captains and Governours a Gideon Samson and David Let us use such as we have who though they be not like those Lions yet may be like small Dogs And let them do something in their places and pray to God they may be Vessels of mercy In which consideration saith he Solomon stays long saying in the following Verses that the dead are gone from the Government of this World and therefore we must use those that are present follow our Calling rest in God by Faith and a good Conscience whatsoever the events be As for those that fansie the Wise man would here contradict himself in what he said Chap. IV. 2 3. unless we take these words for the Opinion of other men they may be easily answered that both are true in different respects There he speaks with respect to the troubles of life and here with respect to the advantages of it The chief of which is hope of bettering our condition when it is never so miserable Which may be extended to the mind as well as our outward concerns there is hope men may live to see their follies correct their mistakes amend their lives and recover the favour
they do as some expound that Phrase as an errour And yet notwithstanding it is the wisest course not to be exasperated by it to make any tumults and seditions but to be patient and quiet v. 8.9 So I have expounded these Verses in connection one with another for though there are those who by Ruler here understand the Devil who thrusts the worst men into the best Places as may be seen in St. Hierom's Commentaries and others understand God who permits this yet the whole Discourse is still to the same purpose that senseless persons get into power being more acceptable many times at Court as Melancthon glosses than the wise and good According to the ancient Verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This World takes the greatest pleasure in bad men the Flatterer fares best in the first place and next him the Sycophant and false Accuser In the Roman Story there are many instances of men preferred merely for their Vices of others only for money some of which are collected by Joannes Filesacus L. 8. Selectorum Cap. 15. f V. 6. I mentioned Vices in the foregoing Annotation e because folly in the holy Language comprehends that as well as silliness or incapacity to manage affairs and mindlesness negligence and sloth which are both denoted in the Hebrew Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place Where the Abstract as they speak being put for the Concrete we are to understand idle ignorant and senseless men and that in the highest degree and being opposed to rich they are also supposed to be men of mean extraction or condition For which reason the rich also are to be understood not simply men of Estates or great Birth but of excellent education noble endowments of mind and attentive unto business c. g V. 7. The sense of this Verse is not different from that of the former but the same thing is set forth in both by two illustrations one taken from their Place and Dignity the other from the Equipage as we now speak wherein they appear upon their advancement For to ride belonged unto Great Persons as to go on foot unto Inferiors And to ride on Horses in Solomon's time was much more stately than to ride on Mules which were used by Great Men in David's time 2 Sam. XIII 29. 1 King I. 33. or on Asses in former Ages X. Judg. 4. h V. 8. Yet it is as senseless to be inraged by this preferment of senseless and unworthy men into rebellion as the Wise man here shows by several Proverbial Sayings In the Application of which to this purpose I have the approbation of Melancthon who expounds the last Words of v. 8. and the first of v. 9. concerning the punishment of those who go about to change the ancient Laws and the Form of Government And it is more agreeable to the Phrases of breaking hedges and removing land-marks or such like things than to apply it unto the mischiefs that Princes bring upon themselves and their Countries by such imprudent promotions as are before-mentioned though that be true also that such disorders give great disgust and are the occasion of dangerous commotions Which commonly are most fatal notwithstanding to those that are so foolish as to advise contrive and excite them Who bring that mischief on themselves which they intended should wholly have fallen upon others as Solomon here shows by two Similitudes One taken from the Pits digged for the intrapping Foxes Wolves and such like Creatures or as others will have it from those that undermine the Walls of Towns and often perish in the Mines wherein they themselves have long wrought Agreeable to that old Saying which Aristotle mentions in his third Book of Rhetoricks Cap. 9. out of Democritus Chius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The other from a Breaker of an Hedge or Fence or Wall for so we translate this Word XXII Numb 24. or any partition so the LXX there translate it by the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby mens grounds were separated and kept in several in which enterprize he meets with his deaths wound from a Serpent Which were wont to lurk in Rocks XXX Prov. 19. and in Holes of the Earth XI Isa 8. as well as in the bottom of Hedges or old Walls as the Wise man here intimates and in other dry places where there was no water VIII Deut. 15. There were Water-Serpents also IX Amos 3. of which men were in less danger i V. 9. There is great variety of judgments concerning the sense of this Verse But that which I have given I am sure is not improper which in short is this That they who out of love with novelty will not let things alone in their place but be altering and changing though thereby they make great rents and distractions do not only give themselves a great deal of trouble and disturb the quiet of their own mind but run the hazard of ruining themselves together with whole Kingdoms and Churches Therefore that Saying of Pindar quoted by Melancthon should alway be in peoples minds It is easie to disturb a Government but God alone can settle it again The Phrases are sufficiently explained in the Paraphrase only I think fit to note that the Word which following the LXX we translate endangered is by Forsterus translated aspergetur that is hurt by the shivers of it k V. 10. There is no less variety but rather greater in the interpretation of this Verse Wherein he seems to return to the commendation of Wisdom And it may still refer to what went immediately before as I have applied it in the latter end of my Paraphrase In which I have not varied from our Translation if after those Words put to more strength these be understood but all in vain And so the Words may be translated out of the Hebrew If the iron be blunt and he that cutteth with it do not whet the edge it will overcome all the force he uses that is will not cut as he would have it And so the meaning of the Verse is excellently expressed by the Lord Bacon in his Preface to the second Book of the Advancement of Learning These words saith he insinuate that a wise election of the means doth more efficaciously conduce unto the accomplishment of any enterprize than any inforcement or accumulation of endeavours For as the Saying is Claudus in via antevertit Cursorem extra viam A lame man in the way will outrum a Post out of the way But though I take this to be the true sense yet I shall here mention some others that the Reader may chuse which he thinks most congruous Some take that Word chajalim which we translate strength for Forces or Armies and make the sense this Where an Army is governed by Wisdom it prevails though it be defective in Weapons For Wisdom doth more to set things right i. e. doth more to make up the want of Arms than Arms can do to get the Victory
fast in the memory as Nails do when they are driven into a Board and to collect also the thoughts affections and resolutions unto one certain end especially when they are fastned by the skilful hand of those who rule the Assemblies of God's people and are ruled themselves by one and the same supreme Governour whose Holy Spirit directs them all See Annot. l 12. And further by these my son be admonished of makeing many books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh 12. Therefore my Son or whosoever thou art that shall read these things whose happiness I wish as my own be advised by me and not only believe these things but rest contented with such useful Knowledge and do not trouble thy self either in composing or reading many Books For all that is needful to instruct men how to be happy may be comprized in a few wise Precepts and if thou extendest thy desires beyond this thou mayst turn over infinite Volumes which are encreasing continually and serve only to distract thy mind and tire thy spirits and impair thy health but yield little profit after the expence of a great deal of pains and time See Annot. m 13. ¶ Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man 13. Let us draw up all then that can be said in this matter into as small a compass as is possible If thou wouldst be happy preserve in thy mind such an awful sense of God as to have a greater regard to Him both as thy Creator and Governour and as thy Judge than to any thing in this World and dreading his displeasure not only worship Him religiously but observe all His Commandments For as unto this all men are bound so in this consists all their Duty and their whole happiness and therefore they ought to make this their main business and employ their best endeavours in it See Annot. n 14. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil 14. As they would with all seriousness did they but believe and remember what is most certainly true That though now the wicked and the good sometimes fare alike yet there will be a notorious distinction one day made between them when God whose knowledge nothing can escape and out of whose memory nothing can slip will pass an exact Sentence upon every thing we do here in this World though never so secret and known to none but Himself and then no evil thing though only designed and never actually committed shall go unpunished and no good thing though only heartily intended for want of power to accomplish it shall be unrewarded See Annot. o ANNOTATIONS a Verse 1. From the consideration of what he had said in the Conclusion of the foregoing Chapter that Youth is attended with folly and folly attended with destruction as Greg. Thaumaturgus excellently explains those Words he begins this with the most weighty Lesson which ought to be perpetually inculcated and beaten into the mind and memory of young men viz. That they would reflect so far as to consider who gave them their being and what upon that account they owe unto Him who as He is the sole Author of all things that give us any delight so He is of all the abilities and faculties which make us capable to take pleasure in them and the sole Disposer likewise of all opportunities that bring us and those Delights together All this may well be comprehended in the Word Creator if this place be compared with XL. Isai 28. XLV 7.18 LXV 17 18. Which being in the Hebrew a Word of the Plural Number some from thence draw the Mystery of the Holy Trinity which I cannot certainly say is here intended because it is very ordinary in the Scripture to put the Plural for the Singular especially when God is spoken of Thus when the Israelites had made the golden Calf they said These are thy Gods O Israel c. so we translate it XXXII Exod. 4. as if there had been more Gods than one in that Calf But it should be translated This is thy God O Israel as appears by what follows which brought thee out of the land of Egypt signifying they worshipped in this Image Him who had wrought that great deliverance for them And thus Jonathan there understands it and Theodoret upon 1 Book of Kings Quest 10 More places like to this are observed by Bochartus L. II. de Animal Sacr. C. 34. P. 1. in whom the Learned Reader may find many such Latine Words that are only of the Plural not Singular Number And I will only mention one remarkable place which he might have added 1 Sam. XXVIII 9. where the Woman says she saw Gods ascending out of the Earth and Saul thereupon asks her What form is he of understanding she saw a single person But what ever becomes of this we Christians to whom this Mystery is now plainly revealed ought when we read such places as these to think of the obligations we have unto God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Ghost into whose Name we are baptized And not only to consider such things as are above-mentioned but to be moved and affected with them for that is here included in the Word Remember according unto their weight and importance And to do this betime the first thing we do because the days of our youth are our best and choicest days as the Word in the Hebrew signifies whence in 2 Sam. VI. 1. where David is said to gather all the chosen men the LXX hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the young men in Israel in which we are apt to take the greatest delight in our selves or in any thing truly delightful our spirits being then most fresh lively and vigorous So that the measure of our delight whether in our selves or in any thing without us being then truly taken it would constrain us unto an equal delight in Him who is the Author of both and unto a correspondent gratulation for them Whereas if we deferr this remembrance till Old Age come upon us when life grows a burden and the wonted delights of it are either irksome or insipid unpleasant or without all taste or relish our thankfulness for them will be but faint our gratulation worthless our Devotion cold and lumpish as Dr. Jackson excellently glosses upon these Words B. XI upon the Creed C. 33. Which he had expressed long before more briefly in his Treatise of Faith Chap. 8. p. 125 thus The Inventory of what we have received from God in our Creation should be taken in those days wherein we most delight because then the Characters of his Blessings bestowed upon us and their true worth are most fresh and sensible in all our faculties well knowing that if we deferr this Survey till Old Age in which life it self becomes a burden our return of
Truth of which as there is no certainty so I see no probable grounds to assert it Only we know he wrote a great many more Books than we have 1 King IV. 32 33. 2 Chron. XXXV 4. And see Josephus L. VIII Antiq. C. 2. l V. 11. Some connect this with the foregoing Verse in this manner The Preacher sought to find out the words of the Wise c. And so the Words run exactly in the Hebrew But we may take this Verse by it self supplying the Word are as we do in our Translation and look upon it as a commendation of these wise Words which doth not in the least alter the sense I have had respect to both and comprehended also in my Paraphrase two of the Interpretations which one difficult Phrase is capable of viz. Masters of the Assemblies Which may be translated divers ways more literally out of the Hebrew than we do who add the Word by before them which is not in the Original For the last Words which we translate Masters of Assemblies may be attributed to Nails in this manner As Nails fastened whereby things are joined together Nails being the Instruments of gathering or bringing those things together which were separate or thus retaining the Words of our Translation the Masters of Assemblies are as fixed Nails or the Masters of Collections such judicious Authors as make excellent Collections of Apophthegms and smart Sayings Stick in the Mind as Nails do in Planks Or the Principal the choice Collections viz. of Wise men mentioned in the beginning of the Verse are as c. or it may in the same sense be connected not with Nails but with the Words following the Masters or Authors that collect wise and pithy Sayings have their Gifts from one and the same Shepherd So ungrounded is the fancy of Grotius who from hence conjectures that there were several persons appointed by Zerobbabel whom he takes for this one Pastor to collect the Sentences of this Book and put them out under the name of Solomon Who himself may rather be thought to be this one Pastor or King who employed if we interpret the Words this way many persons to make Collections of which he afterwards made use as he saw cause This seems to be certain that he here gives the reason of this concise and sententious way of Writing because such acute Sayings not only stir up and quicken slothful minds for the present as a Goad stimulates the dull Oxe to labour but penetrate deep and stick fast in the memory collecting also the thoughts affections and resolutions to one certain Point or Scope and gathering together a great deal of sense into a few Words As those Words baale a syppoth Masters of Assemblies or Authors of Collections may I have sometimes thought be understood Such a Collector was that Great Man Julius Caesar who gathered a Book of Apoththegms and showed by that he thought it more honourable unto him if he changed himself as it were into Tables and Codicils in which the prudent and grave Sayings of others were registred than to have his own Words hallowed like Oracles as some vain Princes corrupted by flattery have affected Though divers of his own Speeches as the Lord Bacon observes L. I. de Augm. Scient C. 7. are truly such as those which Solomon here describes full of vigour and efficacy insomuch that by one word alone he appeased a mutiny in his Army But after all that may be said on this Subject since I find not only the Vulgar but the LXX making out the sense by adding the Word per and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we do the Word by in our Translation before Masters of Assemblies I have in the Paraphrase followed that Interpretation also m V. 12. And in this Verse have adhered to the same Translation which understands the first Words as if he had said Beyond these things do not trouble thy self For so they may be translated exactly and what is above or more than them that is the the words of the wise beforementioned my Son be warned or be enlightned observe these well and trouble thy self no further Be content with a few good Precepts of the Wise and do not involve thy self in many Books For what is necessary may be learnt without much labour out of a short Book if men will be wiser than they need they will but trouble themselves to no purpose There being no certainty of most things no satisfaction when we go beyond the known and acknowledged Principle and Precepts of Vertue but what one man asserts another confutes and when we think we have written excellently another Writer starts up and discovers abundance of errours and so Volumes are multiplied without end and we are led into long disquisitions without any satisfaction to the mind but with much weariness to the Body and great loss of precious time which had better be spent in digesting and practising such short useful and necessary Instructions as these He doth not absolutely condemn many Books for there are not a few of the Divine Writings and about the same thing but Books about needless things and that dilate too much upon things necessary rather tiring than instructing And he condemns the levity of those that are always reading but never meditating running over such a Book as this presently and then going to another not so profitable and never returning to this again So I take it in short Content thy self with this Book and such like and do not turn over many Authors to learn how to be happy For goodness and truth are included in certain Bounds but wickedness and lyes sine fine sunt are without end as St. Hierome here notes Who observes also that perhaps he adviseth us to study brevity and to mind the sense more than the words directly contrary to the Philosophers and Doctors of the World who to assert their false Opinions use abundance and great variety of Words but the Divine Scripture brevi Circulo coarctata est is confined to a small Circle and as much contracted in Words as it is dilated in sense The Hebrew Word bahag which we translate study Aben Ezra says in the neighbouring Languages signifies reading and so we translate it in the Margin n V. 13. To teach us to contract our labours into as small a compass as we can he summs up in a few Words the sense of his whole Discourse in this Book which he calls the conclusion or end of the matter of all that can be said on this Subject the whole sense of the Sermon succinctly delivered unto which therefore every one should confine his endeavours It is this to work his Soul unto such a due regard of the Divine Majesty standing in awe of him as his Lord Overseer and Judge that he take care to observe all his Commandments without which all Religion is vain and fruitless And these two things the fear of God or devotion and
latent under the matter whereby we are led unto it as the main thing comprehended in it Thus Archangelus Burgonovensis speaks in his Preface to the Explication of some select Aphorisms of those Divines gathered by Mirandula who observes also p. 91. of his Book that as immediately after the Fabrick of the World was reared Matrimony followed as the Emblem of God's great love to those that should believe on Him so this World shall end in the Sacrament of Marriage St. John shutting up all the Mysteries of the holy Scripture in the Revelation with these Words Let us be glad and rejoyce for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his Wife hath made her self ready XIX Rev. 7. Which if it be the voice of the heavenly Host agrees with what the Hebrew Doctors say in Perke Elieser Cap. 12. of the Marriage of Adam and Eve that the Angels rejoyced at it and with musick and dancing attended upon the Wedding VI. All which things put together show how naturally the thoughts of David were led at Solomon's Marriage to sing concerning Christ and his Church and the thoughts of Solomon afterward to sing more largely of the wonderful love of the same heavenly Bridegroom in this Song of Songs that is most excellent Song For so it may be truly called both in regard of its Subject matter and in regard of the manner of its composure this Parabolical way of writing by Figures and Similitudes being in many regards as the forenamed Cabbalistical Doctors discourse the best of all others First because it is taken from things sensible by which both learned men and ignorant may be instructed Secondly because such Narrations very easily imprint themselves on the mind a Parable say they being instead of an artificial Memory And thirdly because all our knowledge hath its rise from sense and therefore symbolizes much with sensible Parables And fourthly it is very delightful to contemplate how the Parable agrees with the spiritual things which are thereby figured Vnto which saith that Archangelus before-mentioned the Doctrine of St. Paul is conformable when he saith The invisible things of God from the creation of the World are seen by those that are made And lastly what is there more evident than that all visible things declare God to be love whose praise Solomon celebrates in this Song For by love as the same Author discourses out of Boetius and others the Heavens are joyned together and the Elements agree in composition Animals cohabit Cities are preserved and all Kingdoms supported and replenished Which made Pherecydes Syrus say that God was transformed into love before He made the World And because God created all things in love he also embraces all things with the same love and would have us to love which is the summ of all that He exacts of us that being knit together by mutual love we may in conclusion be united with Him in love that so all things may be one as they were in the beginning Of this love Solomon say they treats throughout this whole Song nay it is the Subject of all the Book of God According to that of David LXII Psal 11 12. God hath spoken once viz. to the whole people of Israel when he gave the Law at Mount Sinai yea twice have I heard this from the Prophets that is who say the same with the Law that power belongeth to God also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his work Which they expound in this manner Thou canst send good or evil influences upon us by the union of Tipheret and Malcuth a good influence by their separation a bad For when Israel doth well then it receives good influences from above that is from Tipheret for such is the order says one of their Aphorisms which is constituted in the Archetypal World that all good influences proceed from Tipheret And then these two Principles are united when we observe God's Precepts but when we transgress the Law the one is separated from the other that is Tipheret doth not send influences upon Malcuth for our good but another Principle interposes and sends anxiety and trouble Now Love is the union of these two Principles the love of Man and Wife signifying in Scripture the Vnion of Israel and Tipheret which Vnion Hosea speaks of when he saith II. 19 20. I will betroth me unto thee for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. Thus that sort of Divines discourse very agreeably to the sense of this Book Which represents the Heavenly Bridegroom appearing in the greatest Beauty and sometimes in most familiar communication with his Spouse the Church but at other times withdrawing his glorious presence and absenting himself from her Who is represented therefore after the same manner like to the moon unto which they compare Malcuth sometimes full of his heavenly light sometimes illuminated only in part and sometimes obscure and dark Which will appear more at large in the Explication of the several parts of this Book VII The time of whose writing cannot be certainly known but it is very probable but is was not long after Solomon was seated on his Throne and had both the Prophecy of his Father David fresh in his mind and was also strongly affected with the wonderful love of God to himself He being filled then likewise with incomparable Wisdom from above such Wisdom that it brought the Queen of Sheba to discourse with him having heard the fame of Solomon because of the name of the Lord 1 Kings X. 1. That is as some of the Hebrews expound it because she understood that the Wisdom which was in him was not merely natural like that of the Philosophers and Eastern Sages but Divine and heavenly by a special inspiration from above whereby he was inabled to answer the hardest Questions At that time when these Celestial Gifts were newly poured into him which the Cabbalists call the Unction of the Holy Ghost or the Sacred Name of which Solomon speaks say they when he says in the beginning of this Song Thy Name is as an Ointment poured out we may well conceive his mind shined in its greatest purity and clearness and enjoying the sweetest and most perfect peace and tranquility was the fitter for such Divine Meditations as these which are the Subject of this Holy Book The sense of which seems to be expressed in the 2 Corinth XI 2. Where St. Paul who was not rude in knowledge v. 6. but mightily versed as that Word knowledge signifies in the Mysteries of the Old Testament puts the Church of Corinth in mind of his solicitous concern for them in these words I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ For of that one Husband alone and of that pure Virgin and
VI. Gal. 1. but only bewails the loss of his presence and represents that notwithstanding she had not lost her Love to Him but rather that it was so great she could not live without Him It must be confessed that there is no necessity of reading those Words which we translate that ye tell him by an Interrogation What will you tell him as the Hebrew seems to import for the Particle mah doth not always denote that but it adds much to the life of the speech and represents her passion to the heighth if we so translate it as I have taken it in the Paraphrase i V. 9. In this Verse the Daughters of Jerusalem reply to her and being touched with a pitiful concern for her whose admirable beauty discovered it self to them in this wretched condition wherein they saw her they desire to have a Character of her Beloved that they might be the better able to know Him if they met Him and be the more excited to help her to seek for Him when they understood his deserts k V. 10. In this part of the Character which now follows of Him Solomon seems to me to have had his eye upon the Person of his Father David 1 Sam. XVI 12. whose very aspect promised much and showed that he was born to rule And whether we translate the first Words white and ruddy as in our Bible or as Bochartus white and shining or glistering making adom not to signifie ruber but rutilus and the whole to be as much as summè candidus exceeding fair and of a pure complexion it matters not For it only signifies in my opinion the Majestick Beauty of his aspect which David himself had also described in those famous Words XLV Psal 2. Thou art fairer than the Children of men And then in the latter part of this Verse he hath respect as I take it both to what they sang of his Father David after he came from his Victory over Goliath 1 Sam. XVIII 7. and to what David himself sang of this great Prince in that XLVth Psal 3 4 c. and more largely CXth Psal 2 3 5 6. Which all relate to the conquest of the World unto Him and is signified in this expression of his being chief or lifting up the Standard over ten thousands that is over great multitudes or Armies III. Psal 6. The LXX translate it Chosen out of ten thousand unto which I have had respect also in the Paraphrase As for mystical significations some think by white and ruddy is meant his Divine and humane Nature others only his humanity c. as may be found in Interpreters but I have not dared to meddle with them And shall but just mention the fancy of the Cabbalists who understand hereby the effects He works in us For sometimes He dispenseth Himself in Mercy and Kindness and then say they He is white sometimes in the zeal of Justice and with Anger and then He is red l V. 11. Now being thus represented as a King He is next described as having a Crown upon his head So I understand Cethem which we translate Gold as Rasi doth who takes it for a Diadem and indeed in other places of Scripture it signifies some precious Ornament as XXV Prov. 12. Now this Crown upon the head is said to be such an one as David had mentioned before XXI Psal 3. of pure Gold In the Hebrew of Paz which Bochartus both in his Phaleg L. II. C. 27. and in his Canaan L. I. C. 46. shows was the Island anciently called Taprobana in which the footsteps of this Word Paz remained in Prolemy's time Who mention in that Island the River Phasis and the Creek or Bay Pasis The same excellent Person in his Book of Sacred Animals Par. 2. L. 2. C. 10. shows that in the latter part of this Verse we are to understand by kevjzoth Locks the Foretop or the Hair coming down the Forehead which is expressed in the next Word taltalim hanging down And this Foretop is only mentioned because little else appeared when the head had the Crown on it This Hair is said to be as black as a Raven because such shining black Hair was accounted Majestick and much affected in those Countries insomuch that they endeavoured by Art to make their Hair of this colour and as Pliny informs us employed the Eggs the Blood and the Brain of Ravens for that purpose They lookt upon this coloured Hair also as a token of courage and fortitude and with a pure clear complexion it was very lovely There are several mystical applications made of this which I had rather the Reader who hath a mind to them should seek in others than find here m V. 12. The plainest meaning of this Verse is that of the LXX and Vulgar Latine which is to the same effect with that I have set down in the Paraphrase For washed and sitting do not referr unto the eyes but unto Doves who love to sit nay to tarry as the Word imports by River-sides and other places which abound with Water and are then so pleased that their eyes appear very quick and lively And such piercing eyes adding much to Majesty they are here made a part of this glorious Persons Character washed with milk signifies Doves as white as milk which are most lovely and when they have washed themselves look as if they had been in Milk As for the common sense which the Hebrews give of this Verse and which most modern Interpreters follow Bochartus in the beginning of his Second Part of Sacred Animals seems to me to have evinced that the Hebrew Words will not bear it But it is fit to mention it and it amounts to this that his eyes were clear and white and full set or set in perfection as Aben Ezra here interprets the Word milleth like a Diamond or Precious Stone in a Ring neither too much depressed nor too prominent but handsomely filling the Sockets And if this were the natural Interpretation of the last Phrase Joscheboth al milleth sitting or dwelling by fulness or fillings I should think there might be an allusion to the Precious Stones in the Pectoral of the High Priest which are said to be set in their fillings XXVIII Exod. 17 20. But this Phrase doth not referr as I said to eyes but to Doves that sit by places abounding with water or as Avenarius will have it ad vas plenum Lacte by a Vessel full of Milk The mystical application of these eyes to the Doctors of the Church seems impertinent because they are described before in the eyes of the Spouse IV. 1. Rather therefore his exact care and providence over the Church which nothing can escape may be hereby represented for He sees into the very heart and reins as He himself affirms II. Revel 18.23 n V. 13. This Verse is so difficult that it is a hard matter to give an account of it The plainest seems to be this that by cheeks we are no to
was the Breast-plate it self which indeed was very shining for they translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which shows they meant some covering of the Belly which was hollow as the Breast-plate was Which I doubt not is the covering of Sapphires here mentioned it being set as you read with twelve large Precious Stones wherein were engraven the names of the twelve Children of Israel And was the most precious part of all the High Priest's habit and therefore more commonly called by the Jews an Ornament than a Garment or any part of his Vesture the whole of which was contrived for Glory and for Beauty XXVIII Exod. 40. i. e. that God might be served most magnificently p V. 15. Next in order follows the description of the Thighs that is of the Garments upon the Thighs which were the very first that the High Priest put on when he went about to clothe himself for his Ministry And are here said to be made of Schesch which is a Word common to fine Linen and to pure white Marble so the LXX twice translate it Parian Marble I. Esth 6. 2 Chron XXIX 2. which the Breeches of the Priest resembled being made of Byssus or pure fine Linen a thing of great price in those Countries as appears both by Pliny and Pausanias The latter of which Authors in his Eliaca mentions this among the rare things which were worthy of admiration in that Country and saith It was not inferiour to the Byssus of the Hebrews Who were ordered to make this part of the Priest's Garments of twined fine Linen XXXIX Exod. 28. which rendred them the more substantial and made them sit the fuller and stiffer like Pillars For the Hebrews say they were made of six-thread Byssus and that they came down to the Knees where they were not gathered at the bottom but sat open Below which Breeches came down the holy Meil or Robe upon the Skirts whereof hung round about Bells made of pure Gold XXVIII Exod. 34. Which may possibly be the Basis of fine Gold here mentioned to which the Femoralia or Garments on the Thighs reached Some refer all this only to his stately gate and Princely motion others to his strength and firmness which lies much in the Thighs and his ability to march against his Enemies and pursue them And then the Sockets of fine Gold are his Sandals bound upon his feet with golden Ribbands or something of that nature The Reader may chuse which he thinks most probable for the explication of the first Part of this Verse His legs or thighs rather are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine Gold Now if my conjecture be allowed then the latter part of the Verse will not be hard to explain For this and all the rest of his habit being contrived for Beauty and Glory as was said before from XXVIII Exod. 40. it made the High Priest appear with an unusual Majesty the riches of these Vestments being not easily to be valued And so his countenance or rather his aspect his whole appearance as the Hebrew Word may signifie was as stately as Lebanon Which was one of the goodliest Sites in those Countries both for Cedars and many other things especially after Solomon had made his Garden there of which we read in the foregoing Chapter ver 15 16. Unto which lovely Forest and Garden the appearance of the High Priest may be the better compared because there were Flowers as well as Pomegranates if we may believe Philo in his third Book of the Life of Moses wrought in the bottom of the holy Robe Which the LXX also affirm in express Words that there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a flowry Work as well as Pomegranates and Bells in the Hem of the Meil XXVIII Exod. 34. And indeed the Pomegranates being made of Wool of divers colours they themselves might look like divers sorts of Flowers And besides this it is to be observed that several other parts of the High Priest's habit are peculiarly commanded to be made of a Work called Choscheb which we translate cunning work Thus the Ephod is ordered to be wrought XXVIII Exod. 6. and the Girdle of it ver 8. and the Breast plate v. 15. Which some translate artificial others ingenious work and all agree to have consisted in certain beautiful Figures of Flowers and Animals and in variety of colours The Girdle moreover is ordered to be made of a Work called rokem which we translate needle-work ver 39. because it is thought not to have differed from the former save only in this that the other things were only woven curiously but this also curiously wrought with the Needle The Jews give another difference that this was wrought so that the Figures appeared on both sides the other only on one About which I shall not trouble my self but only take notice that Josephus in his third Book of Antiquities Chap. 8. explains this Work thus Flowers were woven in this Girdle with Scarlet Purple Blue c. And if Flowers and as others say Animals then in all probability Trees also were wrought in these Priestly Vestures which made the fuller representation of a Forest Among which that of Lebanon was the principal and indeed the most beautiful place in all those Countries which made the Prophet express the Glory of the Church in these Words The Glory of Lebanon shall be given to it XXXV Isai 2. see also XIV Hos 5 6 7. Some think that hereby only the tallness of his Stature is denoted which was always lookt upon as a Princely thing as it was in Saul As for mystical applications of these two Verses there are none to be sought for if I have given the true sense of them but such as relate to the excellency of Christ's everlasting Priesthood and its preheminence above the other as much as the Cedar excells all the Trees of the Forest. q V. 16. There is little difficulty here For mouth Hebrew palate which is within the mouth can signifie nothing but either his words which come from thence or his breath And words being mentioned before v. 13. the latter is probably here intended Which is said to be sweetness nay sweetnesses denoting the perfect soundness of the internal parts as the foregoing description sets forth the excellent shape and stately Vesture of the outward It is applied by Interpreters to the purity of Christ's affections and passions but may be as well to his breathing upon his Apostles when He bid them receive the Holy Ghost Which concluded in a manner what He did upon Earth as it doth his description in this place For she finding his Praises to exceed all her thoughts summs up all in a breath and comprehends his whole Character in this that He is all over lovely attracting all mens affections not only those that saw Him but those that heard of Him too CHAP. VI. ARGUMENT In the foregoing description the Spouse expressed such an unfeigned affection to Him which she
and the following Verses He seems to descend to a particular description of the several parts of her Beauty as He had done before Chap. IV. 1 2 c. And He doth it in the very same Words for the most part to assure her that He had still the same Esteem of her and kindness for her and that notwithstanding what had happened it had not altered her so much as to abate any thing of his affection or to make her appear otherwise in his eyes than she had done This seems to me to be the true reason of this repetition others are given by Theodoret and other Authors And first He begins with the commendation of her eyes as He had done IV. 1. though in other Words For so the first Clause of this Verse may be translated turn thine eyes towards me the Hebrew Phrase signifying not only to turn ones self from another but sometimes to turn towards them as 1 Chron. XII 23. And then we are to conceive that He speaks to her as one ashamed to look upon Him whom she had so much disobliged and bids her take more confidence for He was still in love with her If we follow the common Translation I take the sense still to be the same that she need not trouble her self any further for she had prevailed in her sute to be restored to his favour The looking of the eyes towards one is as much as entreating and petitioning which He tells her she might cease by bidding her turn her eyes away from Him But it is most ordinarily taken for an amorous expression as if He had said her eyes were so bright and dazling he could not bear the passion they excited Of the latter part of the Verse see an account upon Chap. IV. 1. f V. 6. There is no difference between this Verse and that in IV. 2. but only in one Word which alters not the sense And as harechelim sheep was to be fetcht from hence to supply the sense there so another Word hakketzuboth even shorn is to be fetcht from thence to supply it here g V. 7. This is also exactly the same with the latter end of the third Verse of the IVth Chapter The LXX have also the first part but they might as well have added all that there follows which is here omitted h V. 8. Here most think Solomon alludes to the number of his own Wives who were fewer they suppose in the beginning of his Reign as Bochartus himself gathers from these Words in his Epistle to the now Bishop of Winchester p. 126. and that then he composed this Song before he let the Reins of his lust so prodigiously loose as afterwards we read he did 1 King XI 1 c. But it is not at all likely that he had so many as are here mentioned while his mind was filled with such Divine raptures as these And therefore I suppose he alludes to the custom of other Princes in the East who besides their principal Wives that were solemnly espoused and endowed had also another sort who were neither and yet were Wives called by the Hebrews Philagshim Concubines And such a difference the Romans antiently made between her whom they called Matrona who was only taken in marriage and her whom they called Materfamilias who was taken also to order and govern the Family and whose Children inherited As may be seen in Aulus Gellius L. XVIII C. 8. where he confutes Aelius Melissus a conceited Grammarian who had started other ungrounded Notions of these Words And then threescore and fourscore are only a certain number for an uncertain not the precise number of these Wives and Concubines Theodoret thinks by these are mystically intended several Ranks of Christians in the Church some more some less perfect But they discourse better in my Opinion who rather accommodate these to the several sorts of Heretical and Schismatical Churches some of which gloried in the multitude of their Followers and in their wealth and splendour but Christ hath only one Catholick Church more glorious than them all put together as it follows here in the next Verses And thus in effect R. Solomon Jarchi and some other Hebrew Expositors understand these Words with application to themselves Abraham and his Posterity say they till the Descendants from Israel were threescore in number compared here to Queens The Sons of Noah and their Descendants unto Abraham were fourscore compared to Concubines The rest who came from Cham Ishamael and Esau could not be comprehended under a certain number And so the meaning is Whatsoever kindness God had for the rest of Abraham's Posterity or of Noah's not to mention Cham Ishmael and Esau yet I have chosen saith God my people Israel whom I have espoused to my self by Circumcision and by the Law and by Sacrifices c. i V. 9. This Verse needs not much Explication wherein the Spouse is opposed to all the forenamed Beauties who are constrained to confess her preheminence The Hebrew word for one signifies also onely and an onely Child is as much as a beloved Child As appears by this that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely begotten and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 well-beloved are Words of the same import in the New Testament And if such an only Daughter be also barah choice we translate it or pure as the Word originally imports free from all blemish that is a perfect Beauty it makes her still more dearly beloved It is in vain to enquire here who is the Mother intended in this place for his love is only compared to the love of a Mother toward such an onely Daughter who hath ingrossed as we speak all the excellent qualities that are in any other person Which forced the Daughters to admire her so saw her signifies they lookt upon her with admiration and the Queens to bless her and the Concubines to proclaim her praises Thus it is most likely the latter part of this Verse should be interpreted the Daughters saw her and the Queens blessed her and the Concubines they praised her For though the Jews now have otherwise distinguished the Words by their Accents yet Maimonides I observe distinguishes them as I have done in his Preface to Seder Zeraim St. Cyprian from this and such like places of this Book IV. 8 12. V. 1. proves there is but one onely holy Catholick Church making this Observation Epist 75. Edit Oxon. we see one person every where mentioned and no more because the Spouse also is one c. k V. 10. This some take to be the beginning of a new part of this Song and Theodoret in particular here begins his IVth Book of Commentaries upon it but I look upon these Words as the praises and commendations which the Queens and Concubines before-mentioned bestow upon the Spouse with admiration and astonishment at her transcendent Beauty They need no explication being of known signification onely it is fit to note that to make the Elegy more magnificent the speech grows
and encreases For though the morning be very beautiful and agreeable to every eye yet the Moon is still more bright and the Sun far brighter than that but all the host of heaven which I take to be meant in the last Words still more wonderful and amazing For there being a gradation in this place and all the other expressions relating to the heavens it is reasonable to think that this doth so too and that we are to understand by it the Armies or Host of Heaven as the Scripture calls the Stars rather than Armies upon Earth However I have put both into the Paraphrase but have not medled with mystical applications They that desire them may look into the Commentaries of three Fathers where this Verse is applied to the four Degrees of Christians that are in the Church Others with more reason apply it to the progress which the Church her self made in splendor and greatness being at first like the morning when the day breaks after a long night of ignorance and then the light of Christian Knowledge advanced till the Church appeared like the Moon whose paleness may serve for an Emblem of the terrours which persecution struck into their hearts till in the issue it dispersed all mists and conquering all opposition shone like the Sun and then was settled in Constantine's time like a well-ordered Army which beat down all Idolatry They that would see more of these applications may look into Commenius's Book de Bono Unitatis in the Beginning whereof there are applications of these things both unto the Church in general and unto particular Churches l V. 11. This seems to be the voice of the Bridegroom declaring what returns He expected to his love The Word agoz which we translate Nuts of which there were several kinds some very rich as the Pistick is found only here and by some is translated shorn or cut which I have not omitted in my Paraphrase And beibe hannachal Fruits of the Valley the LXX translate Shoots by the Brook or River where Plants are apt to grow best which is very agreeable to the Original The rest of the Words are common and the whole Verse signifies that He went to look after the fruits of all sorts The mystical applications may be found in all Interpreters m V. 12. The meaning of this Verse seems to be that the Spouse hearing such high commendations of her self both from Him and from the persons mentioned v. 10 with great humility saith that she was not conscious to her self of such perfections for so the first Words sound in the Hebrew I did not know it or I did not think so but is excited thereby to make the greatest speed to endeavour to preserve this Character He had given her and to go along with Him into his Garden which she had neglected before V. 2. there to give a good account of her proficiency For which end she seems on a sudden to take leave of her Friends who had been so charitable as to go along with her to seek Him that she might for some time enjoy his Company alone Which is the ground of their calling upon her to return in the next Verse This is the best account I can give of these two last Verses It is supposed Ammi-nadib was some great Captain who pursued his Victories or advantages very industriously with very swift Chariots n V. 13. This Verse is the voice of her Companions or Friends some of which wish for her coming back that they might enjoy her Company again and see how she was improved and the rest ask what they expected to see in her to which the other reply in the last Words as it were the company c. The repetition of the Word return four times over expresseth their vehement affection to her and their desires to have her Company again whom they called Sulamith as much as to say Jerusalamith For the name of that place formerly was Salem which carries peace in its signification or as others will have it perfection for Shalam in the second Conjugation signifies to finish or perfect And is a fit name here for the Church the New Jerusalem built by Christ Himself This seems to me a great deal more probable than the conjecture of Menochius L. III. de Repub. Hebr. C. XXI n. 14. who because Wives when they were married took the name of their Husband thinks the Spouse from Solomon had the name of Sulamith which Aquila translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pacifick i. e. Salomonidem The Reader may follow which he likes best Solomon seems to me not to have had respect to his own Spouse in this Song To see or look upon her signifies to enjoy her happy Society and the benefit of her excellent Vertues and perfections Whom in the two last Words He seems to me to compare unto the Choices of the heavenly Hosts For the Word Mechola doth not signifie any kind of Company but of such as dance or sing as may be seen in XV. Exod. 20. XXXII 19. XI Judg. 34. XXXI Jer. 4. V. Lament 15. and many other places Which show that it signifies both Chorea a Dance and Chorus the Company that dances and so the LXX here translate it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Choires And Mahanaim which we translate two Armies may as well be a proper name as Ammi-nadib in the Verse foregoing and relates to the appearance of Angels to Jacob XXXII Gen. 2. as a token of God's special presence with him and most lively sets forth the far more glorious presence of God now in the Christian Church Or if we interpret it Armies or Hosts as we do still it may signifie the Armies above in the Heavens either the Stars or the Angels called the Armies in Heaven XIX Rev. 14. and Army of Heaven IV. Dan. 35. CHAP. VII ARGUMENT Here begins as I take it a new part which is the VIIth of this Song and reaches to Verse the eleventh In which the Spouse is represented returning again as they desired in the end of the foregoing Chapter and appearing in greater lustre than before the Company of Friends who attended her praise her beautiful perfections in such a description as was made of them Chap. IV. though varying from it in several things Which is the summ of the first nine Verses Of which perfections she modestly acknowledging her Lord to be the Author and assuming nothing to her self v. 10. is excited thereby only to do the more good and to labour to extend his Empire over more hearts who were not yet subject to Him v. 11 c. Where the VIIIth part of this Song begins and continues to the fifth Verse of the next Chapter Companions or Daughters of Jerusalem 1. HOW beautiful are thy feet with shooes O princes daughter the joints of thy thighs are like jewels the work of the hands of a cunning workman 1. AND now that she appears again like the Daughter of the great King in all her Royal Apparel