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
raptures The Word berach which we translate make haste is twice translated by the LXX 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to go or run thorow to the very end XXVI Exod. 28. XXXVI 32. And no doubt denotes here most vehement and restless endeavours in a speedy course like that of a Roe Buck or wild Goat rather whose agility both in running and jumping is celebrated by all Authors and said to be such as is scarce credible The young hart called here opher is still more swift and nimble than the old the exceeding great fear wherein it is adding Wings as we speak to its feet Whence Xenophon saith there is nothing comparable to their swiftness when the old ones are absent and they are pursued by Dogs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. then there is no speed like to that of such young Harts as his Words are quoted by Bochartus Who well observes L. III. C. XVII Part. 1. de Animal that the sense of the last Words upon the mountains c. is to be made out by adding one Word in this manner Be thou like the young Harts running or when they run upon the mountains of spices i. e. the Mountains where Spices grow such as those mentioned IV. 6. Such perhaps was Bether II. 17. where we meet with these Words before and I have sometime thought that they should be so translated here the Mountains of Besamim as there the Mountains of Bether But what these Mountains were we are now ignorant though this is certain that the Creatures here mentioned were bred in the highest Mountains of the Country as Aelian testifies in the latter end of his fifth Book The Harts in Syria are bred in their highest Mountains Amanus Libanus and Carmel For there they were safest and most secure from danger there it was difficult to pursue them especially when they climbed up the steepest places And therefore the Psalmist and the Prophet Habakkuk when they would represent themselves as in a state of perfect security say God had made their feet like hinds feet and made them to walk upon their bamoth high places XVIII Psal 33. III. Hab. ult Which Words allude to the inaccessible Mountains which those Creatures frequented especially the Females that they might there secure their young ones Besides as there they could feed and bring forth their young most securely so there was the sweetest feeding In short Solomon here seems to long for the first coming of the Messiah as St. John doth for his last who concludes his Book of the Revelation in the same manner as Solomon doth this saying Come Lord Jesus XXII Revel 20. There are those who fansie that in the foregoing Verse the Bridegroom asks her consent for the perfecting their love in Marriage and desires her in the audience of her Companions to lift up her voice and sing the Nuptial Hymn Which she now say they in this Verse professes her self to be ready to do if He would but be present with her and assist and direct her to do it aright And then it is thus applied and paraphrased by the fore-named Almonazit Thou commandest me that I should with Morning and Evening Hymns and Songs celebrate thy Omnipotent Wisdom and Goodness c. vouchsafe then speedily to adjoyn the eternal force and flame of thy Holy Spirit unto my voice that in spirit and truth and sanctity of heart I may sing thy praises and not only with my mouth and sound but in my mind and heart especially worthily worship thy incomprehensible Majesty Whence it is that the Church being moved by a Divine Inspiration saith thus in all her Prayers O Lord open Thou our lips And our mouth shall shew forth thy praise O God make speed to save us O Lord make haste to help us Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-yard Books written by the Reverend Dr. Sherlock Rector of Winwick PRactical Meditations upon the Four Last Things viz. Death Judgment Hell Heaven The Principles of Holy Christian Religion Or The Catechism of the Church of England Paraphrased The Objections against it answered With short Prayers for the Morning and Evening annexed The Eighteenth Edition By the Reverend Dr. Goodman THE Penitent Pardoned Or A Discourse of the Nature of Sin and the Efficacy of Repentance under the Parable of the Prodigal Son The Fourth Edition corrected A Winter Evening Conference in Three Parts The Old Religion demonstrated in its Principles and described in the Life and Practice thereof A Serious and Compassionate Enquiry into the Causes of the present Neglect and Contempt of the Protestant Religion and Church of England With several seasonable Considerations offered to all English Protestant tending to persuade them to a Compliance with and Conformity to the Religion and Government of this Church as it is established by the Laws of the Kingdom By the Reverend Dr. Patrick Lord Bishop of Ely THE Christian's Sacrifice A Treatise shewing the Necessity End and Manner of Receiving the Holy Communion together with suitable Prayers and Meditations for every Month in the Year and the principal Festivals in Memory of our Blessed Savour In Four Parts The Fourth Edition corrected The Devout Christian instructed how to Pray and give Thanks to God Or A Book of Devotion for Families and particular Persons in most of the concerns of Humane Life The Eighth Edition in Twelves Advice to a Friend The Fourth Edition in Twelves A Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Non-conformist Two Parts in Octavo Jesus and the Resurrection justified by Witnesses in Heaven and Earth In Two Parts Octavo The Glorious Epiphany with the Devout Christians Love to it In Octavo The Book of Job Paraphras'd In Octavo The whole Book of Psalms Paraphras'd Two Volumes in Octavo The Proverbs of Solomon Paraphras'd with Arguments to Each Chapter which supply the place of Commenting A Paraphrase upon the Book of Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon with Arguments to each Chapter and Annotations thereupon In Octavo The Truth of Christian Religion in Six Books written in Latin by Hugo Grotius and now translated into English with the Addition of a Seventh Book against the present Roman Church Octavo Search the Scriptures A Treatise shewing that all Christians ought to read the Holy Books with Directions to them therein In Three Parts A Discourse concerning Prayer especially of frequenting the daily Publick Prayers In Two Parts A Book for Beginners Or a Help to young Communicants that they may be fitted for the Holy Communion and receive it with Profit A Treatise of the Necessity and Frequency of Receiving the Holy Communion with a Resolution of Doubts about it In Three Discourses begun upon Whit-Sunday in the Cathedral Church of Peterborough 1684. To press the Observation of the Fourth Rubrick after the Communion-Office In Twelves The End of the Catalogue
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
Gift of his Bounty wherewith he rewards his honest labours 20. For he shall not much remember the days of his life because God answereth him in the joy of his heart 20. For he that is thus highly favoured by God will not think life tedious or irksome but forgetting all his past toils and taking no care for the future spend his time most pleasantly because God hath given him his very hearts desire and he hath attained the scope of all his labours in that inward tranquility of mind or rather joy and gladness of heart wherewith God hath compensated all his pains and testified his extraordinary kindness to him ANNOTATIONS a V. 1. To prevent or cure that folly mentioned in the Argument of the Chapter he advises three things about the Worship of God The first of them is in this Verse to look to the disposition of their mind when they go to Gods House And this pious disposition of mind consists also in three things First in frequenting the House of God the place where He is worshipped Secondly in a reverent behaviour there suitable to the great thoughts we have of God and to the humble sense we have of our own meanness expressed by keeping or observing the feet i. e. taking care to put off their Shooes or Sandals as the manner was in those Countries and to go barefoot into the holy places answerable to which now is uncovering the head in our Churches c. as Mr. Mede well discourses in more places than one Book II. p. 441 546. and then lastly in a readiness of the Will to obey all the Divine Precepts as the best of Sacrifices For this is the Sacrifice of wise and good men and all other Sacrifices without this are but the Sacrifices of Fools and wicked people who are able many times to furnish the Altar with more Burnt-offerings than the best of men But they are such Fools as not to consider that this very thing encreases their guilt that they imagine God will be pleased with the Sacrifice of Beasts without the Sacrifice of themselves in intire obedience to his Will So our Translation seems to understand the last Clause of this Verse which may be thus also translated For they make no conscience to do evil It is no part of their Religion to abstain from wickedness but fansying by their Sacrifices they shall atone for that they do not fear to commit it To this purpose Maldonate expounds it more plainly than any that I have read b V. 2. Here he gives the second Advice which is about Prayer and about Vows to God or as St. Hierom seems to take it and to which Melancthon wholly confines it about the Doctrines we deliver concerning God which should be very well considered before we affirm any thing of Him The two first are most proper to the place especially the latter of them both which I have comprehended in the Paraphrase of this Verse c V. 3. The reason for the foregoing Precept of not using many words taken from the consideration of God's Greatness and our meanness v. 2. together with the inforcement of it in this Verse is thus explained by St. Hierom. He requires us that whether we speak or think of God we should not venture beyond our ability but remember our imbecillity and that as far as the Heaven is distant from the Earth so much do our thoughts fall short of the excellence of his Nature And therefore our words ought to be very moderate for as a man that is full of thoughts commonly dreams of those things whereof his head is full so he that attempts to discourse much of the Divinity falls into folly Or rather thus Our words ought therefore to be few because even those things which we think we know we see through a Glass and in aenigmate and we do but dream of that which we fansie we comprehend So that when we have said a great deal and to the purpose as it seems to us the Conclusion of our Disputation is mere folly And so much we may be certain he suggests unto us that in a multitude of words spoken unto God as I rather understand it there must needs be many of them as idle as mens thoughts are in a Dream For the third Verse sounds thus in the Hebrew For a Dream proceeds from or by a multitude of toilsome business and the voice of a Fool from or by the multitude of words That is if a man have a multitude of cares in his mind all the day they will produce strange extravagant or distracted Dreams in the Night and in like manner if a man utter abundance of words without consideration and due weighing what he saith to God many of them must needs be foolish whether they be Vows or whether they be Prayers unto him or whether they be Discourses concerning Him for we may refer it if we please to all And the sense will not much differ if that Preposition which we translate from be translated with in this manner As Dreams come with a multitude of business i. e. bring before the mind in a confused manner what we have been doing or thinking of all day so a Fools voice comes with a multitude of words i. e. he utters a great deal of incoherent confused stuff c. Or thus the voice of a Fool comes in a multitude of words And then the sense will run thus As a multitude of business tires a man and makes him but dream at last about it and therefore he had better leave off before he be unfit to attend it so when a man enlarges himself too far in his Prayers or Discourses of God he doth but babble in a Conclusion and therefore had better be shorter d V. 4. And now follows the third Advice about the performing of Vows that have been made Which is double first not to delay the performance nor put it off from time to time which is the Subject of this Verse lest we be tempted at last not to perform our Vow at all which is the second thing of which he speaks in the next words ver 5. and 6. where he cautions against excuses which men are apt to make for not being as good as their intentions Greg. Thaumaturgus hath expressed both excellently in a few words alluding to the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to complete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A promise being made by a Vow let it receive its perfection or completion by performance and that with all speed as soon as it is due For a Vow is an imperfect sort of thing till it be made good it hath only the beginning of a good thing and wants its finishing which if it have not it becomes ugly and odious For God loves not that is hates to be so dealt withall as if He did either not understand or not mind what we say to Him or would put up that affront which the poorest man cannot but resent Who
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 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
obedience he commends from two Arguments The first of which is in this Verse that they are things which concern all Mankind one as well as another of which if they be careful they have done enough to make themselves immortally happy For those Words this is the whole or the all of man may be expounded four several ways either this is all the duty of man or the duty of all men or the whole happiness of all men or their whole business unto which therefore they should devote their whole selves that is all their strength For according as St. Hierom understands it to this Man was born that he understanding God is his Creator should worship him with fear and honour and observance of his Commands And the fear of God being implanted in our minds we shall not fail to worship Him and call upon Him and expect all good things from Him and give Him thanks for them And as the best expression of our thankfulness keep his Commandments and be obedient to all his Precepts both in subduing our sinful Appetites and Passions and in exercising Charity towards our Neighbours Which will make us true in word and deed faithful in all our Contracts liberal to the Poor observant of our Governours in short make us observe all the directions of this Book in order to our happiness o V. 14. Here is the second Argument why we should seriously intend these things because the Lord and Judge of the World will one day call us to an account for what we do here and pass an impartial Sentence upon every action of our life even against every Secret as some expound these Words al col alam or upon all secret as well as open actions Which are all known to Him though now He seem to take no notice of them and shall then not only be brought to light but with an apparent distinction between good and evil the difference of which shall be certainly and notoriously manifested by the severe punishment of the one and the bountiful remuneration of the other I will imitate therefore saith Melancthon the example of Solomon and in the Conclusion recite the summ of this Book He intended to assert Divine Providence and to refute the Objections against it which are these There are great confusions in humane life a vast multitude of ungodly men and but few that acknowledge and fear God and which is worse the wicked flourish in honour and riches but the pious are afflicted and oft-times killed by the worst of men c. therefore all things seem to be carried by Chance Unto which Solomon answers Tho' for the most part such be the confusion of things yet be thou ruled by God's Word and hold the Opinion of his Providence with a firm Faith Do not fall from God because of these Scandals nor cast away his fear or thy confidence in Him nor desert thy vocation but oppose these two things to these confusions There will come a Judgment when God will take away these confusions and make an exact distinction for the wicked shall be thrown into everlasting punishment but it shall be well for ever with the righteous And in this life also God moderates these confusions for he punishes heinous wickedness supports Government preserves Governours and Order and Polities in the World Nay this is a testimony of God's presence that when the infirmity of humane Nature is so great and so many are no better than mad and furious yet God preserves his Church and I may add we have such good Books as these for our direction into Truth and encouragement in Piety THE END THE SONG OF SOLOMON PARAPHRASED WITH ANNOTATIONS By the same AUTHOR LONDON Printed by W. H. for Luke Meredith at the Star in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCC THE PREFACE THat this Book was composed by SOLOMON is no more doubted than that he was the Author of the two foregoing And that it was always lookt upon as an Holy Book treating of some Spiritual and Divine matter appears from its being placed among the rest of that kind Nor hath it been doubted of by any considerable number of men either among Jews or Christians but only by a few singular persons who ought as Theodoret speaks in his Preface to this Book to have lookt upon those blessed Fathers who placing this Song among the Divine Writings took it to be fit for the uses of the Church as men of greater judgment and more spiritual than themselves And they ought likewise to have considered as he adds that we have in effect the testimony of the Holy Ghost it self for its Divine Authority Ezra a man excelling in Vertue and full of the Holy Spirit having thought this worthy of a room among those Sacred Volumes which he gathered together after their return from the Captivity of Babylon And accordingly a great many holy men have illustrated it as he further notes with their Commentaries and Interpretations or have adorned their Writings with its Sentences such as Eusebius Origen Cyprian who wore the Crown of Martyrdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and others that were more ancient than these and nearer to the times of the Apostles It is unnecessary to mention those that followed after in future times who all took this for a spiritual Book let us only consider whether these things being so it be reasonable for us to despise so many and such great persons nay the Holy Spirit it self and to follow our own private Opinions nor hearkning to him that said The thoughts of mortal man are vain and our devices are but uncertain IX Wisd 14. or rather of St. Paul I. Rom. 21. They became vain in their imagination and their foolish heart was darkened II. Nor doth it seem hard either to find out what that spiritual matter is of which the Wise man here treats especially since all Christian Writers have from the beginning applied this Song to Christ and his Church or to give an account of the rise and Original of such sublime contemplations which I take to be this The great Prophet David having plainly foretold that a far more glorious King than his Son Solomon should one day arise as we read in the Song he made at his Marriage Psal XLV and likewise more expresly prophesied of his Divinity Royal Majesty Priesthood c. Psal CX and again resumed this Argument just before his death when he caused his Son Solomon to be crowned and to sit upon his Throne Psal LXXII it stirred up the longing desires of Solomon after the coming of this most illustrious Prince and made him study to have at least as clear a sight of Him as was possible to be attained afar off And that he might stir up the same desire in the whole Nation after his appearing he cast his Meditations on this Subject into a Song in the form of a Pastoral Eclogue In which several persons being introduced who speak their Parts it may be called a Dramatick Poem And so it
who being in fear of ravenous Birds flies into Clefts of Rocks and to secret Holes in steep places to preserve her self The Church is so often compared by Christ to a Dove in this Book that it is fit to give some account of it And Bochartus de Sacr. Animal p. 11. L. I. C. 4. takes this to be the principal if not only reason of it to signifie her to be his only Beloved and that He alone also is most dear to her For in Doves there is a wonderful love observed by many Authors between those that are once paired who never part but keep faithful the one to the other And so are a fit Emblem of the Church whom the Apostle saith he had espoused to Christ as a chaste Virgin 2 Cor. XI 2. let me see thy Countenance that Word which we translate countenance or aspect may be rendred shape or fashion denoting all the comely proportions of the Church by her likeness to her Lord Christ o V. 15. Take us the Foxes Foxes abound in Judea and are observed by abundance of Authors love Grapes and to make great devastations in in Vineyards Insomuch that Aristophanes in his Equites compares Souldiers to Foxes spoiling whole Countries as they do Vineyards Now the Prophet Ezekiel comparing false Prophets to Foxes XIII 4. it hath bed all Interpreters in a manner to understand by Foxes in this place Hereticks who appeared very early in the Church and therefore are compared to young Foxes in regard of their known craft and subtilty windings and turnings shifts and evasions whereby the more simple sort especially and such as were newly converted compared here to tender Grapes as the Church it self is to a Vine were in danger to be undone unless a timely care was taken to prevent it And therefore this Verse seems to be an Answer to the Churches Prayers flying to her Lord for refuge Who seeing her danger not to be greater from Tyranny than from false Teachers calls upon his Companions that is the Apostles Bishops and Pastors of the Church to look after them and to take them in their craftiness And that whilst they were young in the beginning that is of their appearance in the World because their vain bablings were apt to encrease to more ungodliness and their words did eat as a Gangrene c. 2 Tim. II. 16 17. Especially when the Church was but newly planted and those Seducers applied themselves chiefly to such as had but newly received the Faith or to weak and unsettled people who were easily caught by them unless great care were taken to discover their frauds and to confute their Sophistry Which was the taking of these Foxes as Theodoret expounds it And St. Bernard also who observes that he saith take to us the Foxes that is Sibi Sponsae to Himself and to his Spouse As much as to say if it be possible let them be reconciled to the Catholick Church and brought back to the true Faith If that could not be then other methods succeeded and the Apostles delivered up such dangerous Deceivers unto Satan which was a punishment that included in it bodily affliction that they might learn not to blaspheme 1 Tim. I. ult p V. 16. My beloved is mine c. As the former Verse was his Answer to the Churches Prayers so this is the Churches acknowledgment to Him for his care together with a profession of such firm adherence to Him as sutes with the name of a Dove which he had bestowed on her v. 14. he feedeth To feed viz. his Flock is to have his abode among them See VI. 2. q V. 17. Until the day break c. All that she desires further is only his gracious presence with her which she begs in this Verse He would vouchsafe her upon the Mountains that is those steep places mentioned before v. 14. where the Church was fain to Worship Him in great secret because of the present danger especially while any Disputes and Controversies remained about the Jewish Ceremonies which were a great disturbance to the Church as well as the afflictions and persecutions she endured which are compared to the night and darkness as the other to shadows turn my beloved The Word turn doth not suppose Him absent but only that He did not immediately attend or show the regard He had to her Prayers in distresses like a Roe See Chap. VIII v. ult mountains of Bether Bether is the same with Bethel these two Letters r and l being easily and often changed as Bochartus hath observed in his Geograph Sacra Part. 2. L. I. C. 33. in many instances As for Example an Island in the Persian Gulph is indifferently called Tyrus and Tylus and Tavila in Spain is the same with Tabira and Caralis in Sardinia the same with Calaris c. In another Work indeed of his de sacris Animal he takes mountains of Bether for Mountains full of Clefts Which would agree well with what went before v. 14 and might be handsomely applied to the State of the Church when there were many breaches and rents in it but the other plainer and more literal CHAP. III. ARGUMENT Here begins the third of those interlocutory Discourses which compose this famous Song part of which only is contained in this Chapter In which the Bride and her Companions speaks all but one Verse which seems to be spoken by the Bridegroom For whose coming she still longs and is introduced full of solicitude about it Which proved not in vain but was gratified with so much satisfaction in the hope of it that as He takes care it should not be disturbed so all her Companions rejoyce exceedingly in it For those are the two parts also of this Chapter In the first of which she testifies her earnest desire to find Him who filled her with joy when she had got a sight of Him in the four first Verses in the second they that attended on her after He had renewed his former charge v. 5. are transported with joy to behold the multitude of his Followers and the greatness of his Royal Glory Which is the sense of the rest of the Chapter Spouse 1. BY night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not 1. MAny have been my thoughts about Him who by what the Prophets have foretold of Him is become the Beloved of my Soul But though I have sought Him in the greatest retirements and when my mind was most composed and that one night after another though with a diligent search I have sought Him in all the holy Books yet I can find no more than predictions and shadows of Him which assure me He will come but cannot bring me to the sight and clear knowledge of Him See Annot. a 2. I will rise now and go about the city in the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth I sought him but I found him not 2. Whereupon I resolved to
Eliezer Cap. 21. which hath made some Christian Writers apply this to the care of the Church to preserve her self pure and undefiled c. But it is more agreeable to what goes before and follows after to expound it as Theodoret doth of the Church bringing forth not only the fruits of godliness and Vertue but all sorts and variety of Fruit like an excellent Garden and therefore guarded by the singular care and Providence of her Lord and Owner from Tyrants and Hereticks who like wild Beasts or Thieves would destroy or deflower her a spring shut up c. The same meaning hath a Spring shut up and a Fountain sealed that the Waters may be preserved from dirt and filth which cannot be thrown or fall into them to trouble them and make them muddy when they are so secured but they flow purely And indeed in the Prophetical Language the flourishing condition of the Church after it hath been in affliction is set forth by the planting of a Wilderness with all sorts of the best Trees and by making Fountains break forth and Waters flow therein XLI Isai 18 19. LI. 2. The LXX according to the Vatican Copy and that which Theodoret follows and the Vulgar Latine take the second comparison here to be the same with the first reading it thus A Garden enclosed is my Sister my Spouse a Garden enclosed c. just like v. 9. and v. 11. reading it seems in the Hebrew Gan a Garden where we now read Gal a Spring But this doth not at all alter the sense and therefore need not trouble the Reader It is possible that in the last Words of the Verse a Fountain sealed there may be a description of the Christian Font or Baptism to which none were admitted but such as sincerely renounced all wickedness resolving and promising to lead a holy life Which sense Theodoret may be thought to have expressed when he saith the Church is compared to a Fountain sealed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as not lying exposed to all Comers but only to those who are worthy Though his next Words seem to confine this Passage to the Mysteries in the other Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood Which they only that are already initiated in the Christian Church can partake of and not all they neither but such only as do not after their initiation wallow again in filthiness but live accurately or purifie themselves by repentance if they fall into any sin St. Cyprian makes use of this Verse to prove the Unity of the Church not only in his Book upon that Subject but in several of his Epistles saying If the Church be a Garden enclosed and a Fountain sealed how can any man enter into that Garden or drink of that Fountain who is not in the Church c. v. Epist 69 74 75. Edit Oxon. Cotovicus in his Itinerary says that there is a Fountain three Miles from Bethlehem Southward called by this name of Fountain Sealed to which he went and was told that water still runs from thence in Pipes to the place where Solomon's Temple stood But he himself intimates that herein he follows an uncertain report n V. 13. Thy plants c. By these Schelachim young Plants or Shoots and Siens as the Word signifies we may well understand those whom the Apostle calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who had newly received Christianity and are here represented as a goodly Nursery of Pomegranates A Fruit in that Country very delicious and no less useful many ways for it was of a grateful smell and had a winy Juice very refreshing and therefore much desired in those hot places Theodoret also thinks that hereby is set forth the great variety of Christians in the Church or as his Words are the many Orders of Christians that shall be saved For there is one Order of Virgins another of Widows another of married people as there are also rich and poor Masters and Servants c. who all have their several places and stations in one and the same Church as the Grains of the Pomegranate lie in their several Cells and distinct Closets as they may be called and yet are all contained in the same Shell and all compose one Body Camphire Of Copher which we translate Camphire see Chap. I. v. 14. Where it is joined with Nard as it is here Of which i. e. of Nard there were several kinds and therefore a Word of the Plural Number is here used as a Word of the Singular in the beginning of the next Verse which we in English express by the same Word Spikenard in both places o V. 14. Saffron Calamus c. Most of the names of these fragrant Shrubs or Trees which we read in the Hebrew Text are the very same with those now in use in our and most other Languages The first of them Carcom Saffron being not much different from Crocus from whence that Mountain in Cilicia called Corycus had its name where the best Crocus in the World then grew The next Canna which we translate Calamus is a sweet Cane or Reed Cinnamon also retains the same name as do Myrrhe which grew only in the midst of Arabia among the Sabaeans and Aloes which dropt from a Shrub in those Countries and was reckoned among the prime Spices as the last Words of this Verse are very well translated Chief Spices In the Hebrew the Words are the top or the head of Aromaticks which signifies the most excellent Spices Just as the top of Myrrhe XXX Exod. 23. signifies the best and purest Myrrhe and the top or head of Oil CXLI Psal 1. the most excellent Oil. I shall only note further that Frankincense Myrrhe Calamus Cinnamon called there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are thus joined together by an ancient Poet in Athenaeus L. IX Cap. 15. Where Mnesimachus in a Poem of his called Hippotrophos making a description of a great Supper which was a Marriage-Feast saith at the end of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I suppose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the attribute of smell which we commonly translate venerable and is so rendred in the ancient Glossary signifies most excellent For by that Word the LXX translate the Hebrew negidim VIII Prov. 6. excellent or princely things And so noble was the smell which these Spices gave that the Poet saith it shaked the Nostrils i. e. strongly affected them and stirred up in the Brain a brisk sense of pleasure I do not think fit to seek for any thing in the Church particularly answering to every one of these excellent Spices as Interpreters do but look upon them only as representing in general the incomparable Vertues of the Church and its acceptableness unto God Or that there are in the Church all things necessary to salvation for rare Unguents and other Compositions were made of the Blossoms Fruit or Seeds of these Shrubs conducing much
presently hearkned and obeyed his heavenly call she had avoided all these inconveniencies There are those not only among us but also in the Romish Church who apply all this laziness to the State of the Church after the time of the Great Constantine For which I see no warrant but think we may rather apply it to those Churches who presently after our Saviour's departure to Heaven left their first Love and grew cold as we read in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation For it seems probable by the VIth Chapter of this Book in the beginning of it that here he speaks of particular Societies not of the whole Body of the Church d V. 4. Yet such is the infinite Goodness of the Divine Nature he immediately represents the Messiah as not provoked by this neglect wholly to cast off his Spouse but rather stretching forth his hand to awaken her out of this security For so it follows He put in his hand by the hole i. e. at the Window or Casement as if he would draw her out of her Bed or as it may be interpreted in a threatning manner to punish her for her sloth For so putting forth the hand signifies to do some execution 1 Sam. XXVI 9 11 23. Which agrees with what follows that presently she was mightily moved thereby and more than awakened being full of solicitude and fear and grief and trouble Which shows indeed that she did not intend to deny but only to delay Him and yet He took this so ill as to put her in great fear of some danger from it as our Saviour doth in his Letters to the Churches II. Revel 5 16 22 23 c. For the Word Bowels signifies the affections and passions and the Hebrew Word hamu which we translate was moved signifies made a noise or was tumultuous and therefore denotes the passion of trouble and grief and of fear also nay of great fear and perplexity For so St. Hierom here renders it My Belly trembled as he doth in VII Ezek. 16. where it is applied to Doves to whom the Spouse was here compared ver 2. and we translate it mourning but it should be rather trembling like Doves For that is their nature XI Hos 11 all Authors observing them to be exceeding timorous and therefore so it may be translated here I was so full of trouble that I quivered like a Dove Others by putting forth the hand understand the touches He gives by his Holy Spirit which doth not contradict what I have said threatnings being employed by Him for that purpose e V. 5. And having had this glance of Him whose voice only she heard before v. 2. she starts up immediately and endeavours to correct her errour And is here represented as making such haste to open the door that she broke the Vessel of myrrh which she snatcht up when she rose intending therewith to anoint and refresh his head which was wet with Dew Or rather her hands shaked in that panick fear wherein she was and so she spilt some of the Myrrh and it ran about her Fingers By which is denoted the great speed she made to shake off her sloth now she saw her danger and the fear that came upon her lest she should lose her Beloved to whom she now resolved to express the greatest affection imaginable For it was not barely Myrrh which was one of the most excellent Spices XIX Joh. 39. but the most precious Myrrh which she took up to carry to Him So mur ober signifies which we well translate sweet-smelling Myrrh but word for word is current Myrrh Either in that sense wherein Money is called current XXIII Gen. 16. as some fansie or as Rasi thinks because the Spirit that is the odor of it diffused it self round about the place where it was that is was exceeding fragrant or as Bochart will have it was that which wept as they speak and dropt from the Tree of it self which as it was the most unctuous so was the richest and best for all manner of uses See his Phaleg L. II. C. 22. And besides this Theophrastus observes that out of Myrrh being beaten there flowed an Oil called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was very precious as I find in Athenaeus L. XV. C. 11. And accordingly the Chaldee and Aquila translate ober in this place choice Myrrh Symmachus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prime from whom the Vulgar the most approved Myrrh f V. 6. But notwithstanding her repentance she was thus far punished for her sloth that her Beloved absented himself from her for a time and she could not hear the least tydings from Him or notice of Him Which cast her into such an excess of grief and fear that she swooned away and was like a dead Body so that Phrase my Soul went forth signifies to die XXXV Gen. 18. XLII 28. and other places And recovering her self again was extremely troubled by the reflections she made upon his kindness and her insensibleness of it For which she askt his pardon and sought his favour but could receive no tokens of it g V. 7. I take Watchmen here in a good sense as before III. 3. unto which I refer the Reader And only observe that to find a person signifies sometimes in Scripture-Phrase as much as to fall upon him as we speak and that on a sudden I. Judg. 5. XXI Psal 8. CXIX 143. X. Isai 10. And so I have expounded it here and referred the smitting and wounding her to the reproaches they cast upon her For there is a smiting with the tongue as well as with the hand and that not only by Enemies unjustly XVIII Jer. 18. but by Friends out of love and charity CXLI Psal 5. For there is not a greater kindness than sometimes even to upbraid us with our faults Which is further expressed by taking away her Veil from her as much as to say exposing her to shame a Veil being thrown over Womens faces for modesty-sake as well as in token of subjection XX. Gen. 16. And so St. Hierom in his Epistle to Laeta takes this Veil or Pallium as he calls it to be pudicitiae signum a sign of chastity and therefore to take it away was to represent her as an impudent whorish Woman Greg. Nyssen adds that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. XII upon this Book the Nuptial Veil which together with the face covered the whole Body and therefore to be disrobed of it was the greater reproach because it was to disown her to be his Spouse as she professed her self h V. 8. This Verse is very plain expressing the admirable temper of a true Penitent who leaves nothing unattempted to recover the favour of her Lord for finding no comfort from the Watchmen she implores the help of all good people and yet doth not complain of what she suffered nor of the harshness of those who should have helpt to restore her and not dealt so severely with her according to that of the Apostle
to return for such infinite obligations f V. 6. His left hand c. This is a representation of the tenderest affection of an Husband to his Wife when he sees her in danger to faint and being applied to Christ and his Church sets forth his readiness to succour us in all our needs by the power of his Spirit I go not about to divine what is distinctly meant by the left hand and what by the right which I look upon as too great a curiosity in Interpreters but take them both to express one and the same thing And the hand of the Lord signifying oft-times in Scripture the power of the Spirit I have applied them to that g V. 7. I charge you c. It is dubious whether this Verse be the voice of Christ or of the Church I take it to be his who is the good Shepherd represented in this Pastoral Song Which suitable to its nature is still full of Rural Similitudes taken from the Roes and the Hinds which are most amiable Creatures as hath been observed upon VI. Proverbs with which not only Shepherds but the greatest Persons in the World have delighted themselves And that Word which we well translate I charge you I take to be only a solemn form of earnest beseeching and entreaty which all persons are wont to make by those things that are dearest to them not an adjuration which it is not lawful for any to make but only by God I have contented my self therefore with this simple Paraphrase of that Passage and sought for no mystical Interpretation as the manner is which may be found in most Interpreters Who among other things by Roes and Hinds understand the Angelical Powers to which the Cabbalists apply these Words and would have them to signifie as much as I adjure you by the Tribunal of Justice whence the wicked are punished h V. 8. he cometh leaping c. To the same sort of Creatures and to young wild Kids he alludes in this verse For they are numbred among those Creatures which are most nimble in running jumping and leaping even to the tops of Mountains as Bochartus hath largely shown demonstrating that what we translate young Hart v. 9. is the young wild Goat I seek therefore for no Mystery here neither but take the Words to be a description only of our Lord's alacrity and cheerfulness to come down from the Heavens which may be meant by Mountains to dwell among us who live here below upon the Earth Yet I shall note that they seem to be most ingenious who hereby understand his passing by Angels for so some translate the Words skipping over the Mountains and leaping as it were over their heads to take upon Him the nature of Man i V. 9. In like manner it is a very ingenious conjecture that his standing behind the Wall in this Verse may be applied to his showing Himself in those days only in the Law of Moses which was the Wall of partition between the Jews and us and his looking through the Window or in at the Window c. to his showing Himself then in Figures and Prophecies which they had of Him by which He was known but obscurely to them But I have not medled with this in the Paraphrase k V. 10 11. lo the winter is past c. In these Verses Solomon represents his voice speaking to them by the Prophets though He himself was not come and calling them to Him as if He was just appearing For by the Winter and the Rain I understand with Theodorer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the time before his coming when the Gentile World was buried in Dismal darkness and the Jews themselves saw things only through Clouds and neither of them had much of the warmth of the Divine Love l V. 12. The flowers appear c. And then here follows a description of the Spring which is set forth by three things the appearing of the Flowers which had lain as if they had been dead the singing of Birds and the voice of the Turtle Which as Aristotle observes L. VIII Histor Nat. C. 3. disappears in Winter and comes forth again when the Spring is a little advanced and therefore is here very properly mentioned in the last place among the Notes of the Spring Which being the time of all other most welcome to Shepherds for the feeding of their Flocks and for all manner of pleasures represents as the same Theodoret conceives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the joyful time after our Saviours coming When a new World appeared and there was a greater abundance of Divine Blessings especially of the Spirit poured forth which the Chaldee Paraphrast takes to be meant by the voice of the Turtle Which is a kind of Dove in the form of which the Holy Ghost descended at our Saviour's Baptism And then the singing of Birds may be applied to the Songs of the heavenly Host at his Birth Others will have this Turtle to have been the Figure of John the Baptist which is also pat enough But I have only toucht upon such things and do not think fit here to enlarge upon them But conclude this Note with this Observation that Benjamin Tudelensis in the Conclusion of his Itinerarium expresly applies these Words to the coming of the Messiah saying that they cannot be gathered to their own Land till that time of the singing of Birds come and the voice of the Turtle and till they come who preach glad tidings saying alway the Lord be praised R. Alschech also applies the voice of the Turtle to Elias glossing thus The voice of the Turtle also hath it not been heard in our Land by the means of the Prophet according to that which is said Behold I will send to you Elias the Prophet IV. Mal. 5. m V. 13. The fig-tree putteth forth c. After the Spring-time here follows a description of the entrance of Summer of which the putting forth green Figs and the blowing of the Vines nay the knotting of the Grapes were a sign In the end of which the Harvest coming hereby is denoted saith the same Father Theodoret 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the World which we expect hereafter unto which I have applied this Verse Where it may be observed that Fig-trees and Vines are fitly joined for they were wont to be planted together XIII Luke 6 7. n V. 14. O my Dove that art in the Clefts c. Some of the Hebrew Writers whose sense the Chaldee Paraphrast expresses refer this to the people of Israel flying from Pharaoh like a Dove before the Hawk that is ready to seize her but may be better referred to the Church of Christ in danger to be torn in pieces by her Pagan Persecutors and by the Jews themselves as it was in the beginning of our Religion Which forced Christians to hold their Assemblies under ground in obscure places where they sung Hymns to our Blessed Lord before the break of day and made the Church perfectly like a Dove