taken away from thee which now thou wilt not bestow upon needy people c. c V. 3. In this Verse he illustrates both the Duty and the reason of it The former by the Clouds which are a fit Emblem of Charity the second by the Trees which can bring forth Fruit no longer than they continue joined to their Root from which being separated they bear no more nor can be fixed to their Root as the Clouds may be filled with Water again So I have interpreted the latter part of this Verse which Grotius understands as if it meant no more than the foregoing Do good to men without distinction like him who when he cuts down a Tree regards not which way it falls I omit other Interpretations and shall only mention Maldonate's Gloss upon this Verse which is ingenious enough He urges us saith he to do good while we live by two Reasons First From the profit of it because we shall receive more than we give like the Clouds which receive from the Earth but a thin Vapour which they return to it in most copious Showres The second From the impossibility of being in a capacity to do good when we are dead for then like a Tree we must continue as we are when Death seizes us and never be restored to our former condition again Corranus alone as far as I can find expounds the latter part thus in his Annotations A Tree in what place soever it is planted there abides and brings forth Fruit and so ought we to help others by all manner of means in whatsoever place or time we live And he takes North and South for all Parts of the World If any think fit to apply this unto the unalterable condition wherein we must remain in the other World like a Tree cut down which if it fall toward the North cannot change its positure and turn to the South they cannot follow a fitter Gloss upon the Words than this of Luther's If the Lord find thee in the South that is fruitful and rich in good works it will be well but if in the North that is barren of good works it will be ill with thee Howsoever thou art found so thou shalt be judged and so thou shalt likewise receive d V. 4. And then follows here an Admonition to take the first opportunity of doing good and not to deferr it because now it may seem unseasonable and we fansie it may do better another time Which the Lord Bacon extends unto all other things as well as Alms. There is no greater or more frequent impediment of action saith be in the Conclusion of the First Chapter of the VIIIth Book of Advancement of Learning than an over-curious observation of decency and of that other Ceremony attending on it which is too scrupulous election of time and opportunity For Solomon saith excellently He that observeth the Wind c. We must make opportunity oftner than find it And thus that great Prince Xerxes otherwise not very prudent speaks very discreetly in Herodotus L.VII. Be not fearful of all things nor consider every thing minutely for if in the considertion of business thou wilt weigh every thing alike thou shalt never be able to do any thing And thus Melancthon understands this place As events are not in our power which he takes to be the meaning of v. 3. so he that will have certain and circumscribed events that is such and such things come to pass before he act will never attempt any thing And so a great Divine of our own expounds it If we will suspend our resolution till we can bethink our selves of something free from all inconveniencies in most of our deliberations we shall never resolve upon any thing at all God having so tempered things that every commodity hath its incommodiousness every conveniency some inconvenience attending it which many times all the wit and industry of man is not able to sever Bishop Sanderson's Sermon upon 1 Corinth X. 23. p. 245. Saint Hierom also elegantly accommodates these Words to negligent Pastors who will not preach but when the people are very desirous to hear and there is a fair Gale breathing to favour their design And gives this Advice to us Do not say this is a fit time that is unprofitable for we are ignorant what is the way and what is the will of the Spirit which dispenseth all things e V. 5. In this Verse he seems to pursue the same Metaphor of the Wind which blows uncertainly and no body knows whence nor from what causes And therefore from our ignorance of that and indeed of all other things which we are here conversant withal of our own Soul for instance which our Translators understand by the Word Ruach Spirit and of our own Body or of that vis formatrix how it goes about its Work to make this Body of ours in the Womb which may possibly be meant by Spirit XXXIII Job 4. CIV Psal 30. Solomon perswades us not to presume to know how God intends to order the course of this World in his over-ruling Providence and therefore to do our Duty and leave events to Him f V. 6. Imitating the Husbandman with which Metaphor he began this Discourse and now concludes it who not knowing which will prosper sows both early Corn and late So Symmachus understands this Verse to be an allusion to those that sow some very forward Seed which perhaps may hit when that which is sown at the ordinary time doth not Or perhaps both may succeed and bring forth Fruit to their great enriching Others take morning and evening only to signifie all times g V. 7. I have continued this Verse with the foregoing and supposed what all Interpreters do in the third and fourth Verses that the comparison is imperfect there being only the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Hermogenes speaks the Proposition of the Sentence and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which answers unto it left to be made by the Reader Which I have supplied from the sense of the whole foregoing Discourse in this Chapter Others think a new Discourse here begins for the Conclusion of the whole Book and that after all he had said of happiness he advises every one to think of another life and not expect to find it in this Or as some understand him his meaning is Now you have seen wherein happiness doth not and wherein it doth consist therefore do not either imagine there is none at all here in this World or that it is greater than really it is But take a middle course which I have shown you and look upon this life as having pleasure in it but not absolutely perfect yet such as our condition will permit begun here and to be completed in another World h V. 8. The beginning of this Verse I have expounded according to the Hebrew where the Words run thus as St. Hierom himself translates them If a man live many years let him rejoyce in all these things
denote the extreme dissatisfaction he found in all things which made a show of affording him contentment but performed nothing of that which they seemed to promise So the Word Vanity is also used for that which is false lying and deceitful LXII Psal 9. and other places where Idols are called Vanities c V. 3. Here begins the Proof of his Assertion by considering first the mind of man which runs from one thing to another without any end but finds no satisfaction remaining after all its restless thoughts And then the body of man V. 4. which as proud and lofty as it now looks must moulder into Dust and the poorest person perhaps shall tread upon its Grave For it cannot last like the Earth from whence it comes which stands for ever as a publick Theatre whereon men enter and act their Part and then go off and never appear again and when they go as some prettily rather than solidly gloss upon those Words The Earth abideth for ever they can carry none of it along with them but leave it all behind them unto those that come after who pass away also leaving the Earth where they found it d V. 5. The Sun also in a settled course observes its times of rising and setting whereas man when he goes down to the Earth cannot like the Sun come up again So the fifth Verse seems to be most naturally connected with the foregoing and in like manner the sixth and seventh Verses are to be expounded There are many Interpreters indeed who look upon the things mentioned in these three Verses only as Emblems of the instability of all humane Affairs and of the constant revolutions of the same miseries which cannot be hindred by any humane counsels but will return after all the changes whereby we think to mend our selves Upon which sense I have just touched in my Paraphrase but not followed it because it doth not seem to me to be the scope of these Verses In which man is represented by four comparisons with the Earth the Sun the Wind and the Sea to be more subject to Vanity than other things e V. 8. Which having thus illustrated he proceeds here more particularly to consider what he had said in general words V. 3. of mans vain endeavour to satisfie himself in worldly designs and contrivances in which he is tired but comes to no end of his desires How should he when his whole business here is only to do and to enjoy the very same things over and over again as all men have done before us and shall do after us v. 9 10 11. f V. 9. We may fansie indeed that we have found some new thing but this conceit proceeds merely from our ignorance as the Lord Bacon excellently discourses in his first Book of the Advancement of Learning Chap. 8. Learning and Knowledge saith he takes away vain and excessive admiration which is the very root of all weak counsels For we admire things either because they are new or because they are great As for Novelty there is no man that considers things thoroughly but hath this printed in his heart There is nothing new under the Sun nor can any man much admire a Puppet-Play who doth but thrust his head behind the Curtain and seeth the Instruments and Wires whereby they are moved As for Greatness we may say as Alexander who after his great Conquests in Asia receiving Letters of some small Fights or Skirmishes in Greece at the taking of some Bridge or Fort was wont to tell his Friends that it seemed to him that they had sent him News of the Battles of Homer 's Frogs and Mice so certainly if a man consider the Universe and the Fabrick of it to him this Globe of Earth with the men upon it and their busie motions excepting always the Divineness of Souls will not seem much more considerable than an Hillock of Ants whereon some creep up and down with their Corn others with their Eggs others empty all about a very little heap of Dust And as Melancthon well observes the same desires the same counsels the same ends the same causes of War and calamitous events return again according to that of Thucydides While humane nature continues what it is the like mischiefs will happen sometimes less sometimes more direfully g V. 12. Thus having confirmed his main Propositions by such general Arguments as reach to all things in this World he proceeds here to a more particular proof of it from his own proper experience And designing before he declared his own Opinion of the Chief Good and by what means it may be attained to confute the vain fancies of men about it he reduces them as I have shown in the Preface to four Heads And observing that some place it in knowledge and curious inquiries into all manner of things others in pleasure or in both these together others in honour and power others in riches and heaps of wealth he begins with that which is the most plausible And demonstrates from the 13th Verse to the end of this Chapter how little satisfaction is to be found in the mere speculation of things though a man arrive at the highest degree of humane knowledge h V. 13 14. Melancthon restrains these two Verses to political Wisdom in the Government of Kingdoms Which gives men a double affliction first in that the Wisest men often err in their counsels and secondly that events sometimes do not answer to the best counsels that men can follow Examples of the first are innumerable Sometime they err through ambition as Perdiccas after Alexander sometime through a false opinion of Right as Brutus sometime through over-doing busie headedness and inquietude of mind as Pericles sometime through anger as Marius And how many ways good counsels have miscarried it is too long here to remember because it is here further observable that sometime more doubtfulness and uncertainty of mind what course to take is as great a torment to the mind as any other Thus Pompey was first perplexed in his Counsels before he saw the disastrous event of his Error To conclude this All Government is so full of cares perplexities and impediments that it made Demosthenes say If he were to begin the World again he would rather die than be promoted to it And Aeschines that he was as glad when he was rid of his Office as he would have been to be delivered from a mad Dog But this I take to be too straight a sense though it be agreeable enough to what he saith v. 12. of his Kingly Office and therefore I have inlarged it further in my Paraphrase though Greg. Nazianzen also seem to have a respect to it when he thus interprets this place Orat. LIII p. 750. That all things here below are possessed with an uncouth and execrable spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so that a man cannot comprehend how absurdly all humane affairs are managed i V. 14. The word we translate vexation is found only in
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
their Language signifies protection and comfort XIX Gen. 8. For this cause they come under the shadow of my Roof i. e. that they might be secure from violence XIV Numb 9. Their shadow i. e. protection is departed from them m V. 13 14. Here follows an admirable Advice to comply with our present condition and suit our mind unto it Because we cannot bring things to the bent of our own mind and therefore had better study to conform our mind to our condition whatsoever it be whether prosperity or adversity Into which the Divine Wisdom hath divided our life and so proportioned them one to the other that none can justly find fault with his Divine disposal nor all things considered tell how to mend them and order them better So I have understood the last Clause of v. 14. in which is the only difficulty find nothing after him Which Words after him some refer unto God and make the sense to be that after Him or beside Him a man shall find nothing certain and therefore it is best to depend upon Him alone Which I have not taken notice of in the Paraphrase and therefore mention here Others refer after him unto man and that two ways which it may be fit just to set down Some translate it thus For this end that man may find out none of those things which shall befall him hereafter and so being perfectly ignorant of what is to come neither presume in prosperity nor despair in adversity Others thus which is Maldonate's Gloss that man losing in time of adversity what he had gotten in prosperity might not adhere too much to the things of this World Melancthon alone interprets find nothing in this sense that he might not betake himself unto unallowed courses but in prosperity keep himself within the Bounds of his vocation and not be carried beyond it by vain curiosity and in adversity expect the help of God in the use of such remedies as he hath ordained n V. 15. This Verse may be either joined with the precedent or with the following I have connected it with both in my Paraphrase upon it and v. 16. where I have attended to the Scope of the Wise man in this Chapter and accordingly interpreted that and the 17th Verse which will admit of several other Expositions They are commonly expounded of Publick Justice which ought to be neither too rigid nor too remiss and negligent Insomuch that Melancthon's words are non dubium est there is no doubt he speaks of Political Justice which governs the things of this life and consists in a mean between cruelty and negligence Too much severity becomes cruelty as it was in Aurelian and too much indulgence confirms men in wickedness as it was in the days of Arcadius A good Governour like Augustus takes a middle course and doth not seek that middle with too much subtilty but rather as in God le ts mercy prevail over judgment The like admonition saith he is subjoined about Wisdom for as too much severity becomes cruelty so too much Wisdom that is subtilty becomes cavilling sophistry and cheating And thus he interprets ver 17. that a Magistrate should not tolerate enormous Vices Doctor Hammond alone as far as I have read makes the 16th Verse Be not righteous overmuch c. to be the Objection of a Wordling who takes that for excess of Duty which brings any damage or worldly destruction upon him Which is answered saith he in v. 17. Be not wicked overmuch c. that is the fears and from thence the prudential but oftentimes very impious practices of the Worldling are the more probable Bath to the most hasty ruines Vid. Answ to Cawdry Chap. 2. Sect. 2. But this is not coherent in my Opinion with the rest of the Chapter and therefore I have followed rather the Opinion of Gregory Nazianzen who interprets it of heat and zeal more than needs without reason and discretion Which as it makes all the Schisms in the World so produces a great many other evils And the same passion saith he is both about righteousness and about Wisdom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. vid. Orat. XXVI p. 446. I shall omit other Interpretations which are collected by del Rio and more copiously by Hackspan Lib. 2. Miscellan c. 1. and mention only that of Grotius who expounds it of a vain affectation of Justice and Wisdom Which Interpretation is in part followed by the Lord Bacon L. VIII de Augment Scient C. 2. Parab 31. whose Discourse upon the Words I shall not send the Reader to seek but set it down intirely because it is very useful There are times saith Tacitus wherein great Vertues are exposed to certain ruin And this fate befals men eminent for Courage or Justice sometime suddenly sometime foreseen afar off But if Prudence be also added to their other accomplishments that is if they be wary and watchful over their own safety then they gain thus much that their sudden destruction proceeds from counsels altogether hidden and obscure by which both envy may be avoided and their ruine fall upon them unprovided As for that nimium overmuch which is set down in the Parable since they are not the words of some Periander but of Solomon who now and then notes the evils in mens life but never commands them it is to be understood not of Vertue it self in which there is no nimium but of a vain and invidious affectation and ostentation thereof A Point something resembling this the same Tacitus intimates in a Passage touching Lepidus setting it down as a Miracle that he had never been the Author of any servile Sentence and yet remained safe in such cruel times This thought saith he often comes into my mind whether these things be governed by Fate or whether it lies also in our own power to fleer an even course free both from danger and from indignity between deformed flattery and abrupt and sullen contumacy o V. 17. There are those who by al tirsha understand not Be not too wicked but Be not too busie make not too great a stir and bustle about the things of this World especially in dangerous times do not destroy thy self by too much toil and labour or by too much stirring when it is better to be quiet and sit still Of which I have taken no notice in the Paraphrase and therefore mention it here For though the word be not used commonly in this sense yet it is its original signification And the Advice of the Son of Syrach is something to this purpose VII Ecclus 6 7. p V. 18 19. The foregoing Advice He looks upon as so useful that he presses it further here ver 18. and promises more security from such a religious prudence as teaches us moderation and yet keeps us strict to our Duty than from the greatest Armies that men raise for their defence ver 19. For as Melancthon observes Alex. Pheraeus was slain by his Wife and his Brethren though he
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
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
beloved I raised thee up under the apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee 5. And who can chuse but admire at the power of Love which hath advanced her to such a degree of Greatness that it astonisheth those that behold it and makes them say Who is this that out of a low condition is raised to such familiarity with her Beloved that she leans upon his Arm being made one with Him and enjoying all manner of happiness in his love Which I have excited towards me saith she by the pains I took in thy service when I laboured in the Country-Plantations VII 11 12. such pains as thy Mother felt when she travelled with thee and brought thee forth out of her Womb. See Annot. e Spouse 6. ¶ Set me as a seal upon thine heart as a seal upon thine arm for love is strong as death jealousie is cruel as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame 6. Place me therefore hereafter so near unto thy heart that I may never slip out of thy mind but constantly receive fresh marks and tokens of thy love and favour Deny not this Suit which proceeds from most fervent love which can no more be resisted than Death and is as inexorable as the Grave especially when it flames to the degree of jealousie and is afraid of losing what it loves Then it incessantly torments the Soul if it be not satisfied it wounds incurably it burns and rages with such a violent and unextinguishable heat as I feel in my Breast now that it is mightily moved by the Lord. See Annot. f 7. Many waters cannot quench love neither can the flouds drown it if a man would give all the substance of his house for love it would utterly be contemned 7. Though Fire may be quenched yet Love cannot no not by the greatest difficulties nay troubles and sufferings which though they come pouring in continually are so far from being able to suppress it that they cannot abate it no nor translate it to any other from the person it loves For as it is inestimable in it self so it cannot be purchased by Money nor will they whom it possesses part with it for the greatest Estate that they might enjoy without it but perfectly scorn and reject such proffers See Annot. g 8. ¶ We have a little sister and she hath no breasts what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for 8. And as for those that want it or in whom it is but just kindled it makes us very solicitous what we shall do for them particularly for one that is as dear to us as a Sister but of a small growth in this most desirable quality and therefore not capable of that happiness which we enjoy What shall we do for her when it shall be said The time is come that she should be disposed of in Marriage and yet it shall be said withall that she is not fit for it See Annot. h 9. If she be a wall we will build upon her a palace of silver and if she be a door we will enclose her with boards of cedar 9. We will not despair of her nor cast her off but be both patient with her and do our utmost to make her such as we desire Let her but be faithful and constant and we will do for her as we do for a Wall that is low which we pull not down but build up higher and adorn also with fair and goodly Turrets or as we do with the Door of a noble House which if it be too weak or too mean we spare no cost to mend it but enclose in a Case of Cedar See Annot. i Little Sister 10. I am a wall and my breasts like towers then was I in his eyes as one that found favour 10. And our labour I foresee will not be lost for I hear her say I am such a Wall and my Breasts rise and grow big like such Turrets I am no longer of a low and despicable Stature nor unmeet for his love but from this time forth I shall be acceptable unto Him and find such favour with Him as to enjoy all the happiness which He imparts to those that are most dear unto Him See Annot. k 11. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon he let out the vineyard unto keepers every one for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver 11. Which I will endeavour to answer by my best diligence in his service and from thence still promise my self a greater encrease of happiness For though Great Persons let out their Lands to others as King Solomon doth the Vineyard he hath in Baal-hamon unto several Tenants from every one of which he receives a vast revenue besides the gain which they have to themselves as a reward of their labour v. 12. See Annot. l 12. My vineyard which is mine is before me thou O Solomon must have a thousand and those that keep the fruit thereof two hundred 12. Yet I will not commit the Vineyard which I am entrusted withal to the care and management of other persons but cultivate it my self with my utmost Industry my own eye shall be ever upon it and I will let nothing be wanting for its improvement and therefore if he receive so much profit beside the benefit that acrues to others what Fruit may not I expect from a far better Soil than his and from far greater pains and providence that I will use about it See Annot. m Bridegroom 13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens the companions hearken to thy voice cause me to hear it 13. Which coming to the ears of her Beloved He said to her in the presence of all that waited on her Thou hast taken up a worthy resolution nothing can be more acceptable to me than that thou fix thy habitation in thy Vineyard nor canst thou possibly be better employed to thy own as well as my content than about the Gardens VI. 2. committed to thy Charge and therefore ask what thou wilt of me and I tell thee before all thy Companions who are Witnesses of what I say I will do it for thee See Annot. n Spouse 14. ¶ Make haste my beloved and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices 14. I have nothing to desire but this that Thou who art my only Beloved wouldst come and accomplish all these things Make all the speed that is possible to come and save us and perfect thy loving kindness to us such speed as the swiftest Creatures make to save themselves from danger Let nothing hinder this but by thy love which makes all things sweet and easie overcome the greatest difficulties in thy way to us See Annot. o ANNOTATIONS a Verse 1. This Verse at first sight looks like a repetition of the same desire wherewith he began this Book that they might be