• O could I call thee by a brother's name,
That tender title would indulge my bliss!'

Happily we may do this: since our gracious
Redeemer hath partaken of our flesh and of
our blood, he is not ashamed to call us bre-
'thren,' while he fulfils all the tenderness and
affection implied in the character of a bro-,
ther.

2. It becomes the disciples of Jesus to avow their attachment to him in the most decided and public manner. They may kiss him and not be ashamed; because, (1.) There is no treachery in the kiss: they do not say, as Judas did, ⚫ Hail Master!' and betray him.—(2.) There is no unseemliness in the freedom-it is

an holy kiss,' and becomes a saint. The attachment of a believer to his Lord must be (like the weapons of his warfare) not carnal, but spiritual: not temporal, but divine.

3. That reverent familiarity which accompanies true piety, is not only distinct but distant from the pertness and presumption of hypocrites and enthusiasts: and therefore not to be despised.'

4. When the church is instructed, the Lord is entertained his delight is in them that fear him; and when they frequent his house for instruction, and meet him at his table, it is to him, as well as them, a feast of fat things-of 'wine on the lees well refined.'' Behold, I stand at the door and knock! If any man

hear my voice, and open the door, I will 'come in to him, and will sup with him, and he • with me.'

5. It should be our concern, when we go to the Lord's house, not only that we meet him there, but that his presence go up with us.'

is

6

WATTS.

Lastly, I would conclude these hints by a quotation from the TARGUM on this passage, which express to our purpose, and too remarkable to be omitted: When the King MESSIAH shall be revealed unto the congregation of Israel, 'the, children of Israel shall say unto him, "Be thou with us for a brother, and let us go

66

up to Jerusalem, and let us suck with thee "the senses of the law, as a sucking child "sucketh the breasts of its mother," &c.-And on verse 2. the same paraphrase adds, I will

lead thee, O King Messiah, and bring thee 'to the house of my sanctuary; and thou shalt 'teach me to fear the Lord, and to walk in

his paths, and there will we keep the feast of

Leviathan, and drink old wine,' &c. Though some expressions here allude to the dreams of the rabbins, as to the carnal enjoyments of Messiah's kingdom, they are sufficient to shew that their fathers had been accustomed, as before remarked, to refer this book to the Messiah, without scruple or hesitation.

SECTION XIII.

Chap. VIII. Ver. 5-7

Virgins. Who is this that came up from the wilderness,
Leaning upon her beloved?

Bridegroom. Under the citron tree I courted thee;
There thy mother plighted thee unto me,

Spouse.

[Even] there she that bear thee plighted thee

unto me.

Place me as a signet upon thine heart,
As a signet upon thine arm:

For love is strong as death;

Jealousy is cruel as the grave;

The darts thereof are darts of fire,
Which have the fiery flame of JAH.

Bridegroom. Many waters cannot quench love;

Neither can the floods drown it.

If a man would give all the substance of his house for love,

It would utterly be contemned.

THIS Section begins with a question from the virgins, alluding, I conceive, to the spouse's coming up from Egypt, which lay beyond the wilderness; here Solomon probably met her, and they might enter Jerusalem together in the royal palanquin, (see ch. iii. 6.) when she would naturally lean toward, or upon, her beloved'.

1 The word (n) leaning occurs only in this place, and is very differently translated. Many of the rabbins rendered it associating, joining, cleaving, from the use of a kindred word in Arabic: so the editor of Calmet, in sociability with her beloved.'. 2. Others rejoicing with her beloved,' to which incline the Vulgate and the Targum. 3. The. LXX read (εTIGTupiloμevy) strengthening' (i. e. supporting) herself on her beloved. 4. Our version and many others read leaning on her beloved, which appears to be the sense of the word in the Ethiopic. [See Gill in loc.] I confess I con

I conceive also, with Mr. HARMER and others, that the answer of the bridegroom' refers to the scene in ch. ii.3. I sat under his shadow (comparing the beloved to a citron tree) with great delight, and his fruit was sweet unto my taste.' Here we may suppose her mother to have been present, and some ceremony to have taken place, which is here alluded to.

6

The following lines appear to me to contain the reply of the spouse, desiring a constant memorial on his arm, and in his heart; but for the sake of keeping up the conversation, I have referred the seventh verse to the bridegroom.

The comparison of the fire of jealousy to the flame of God is commonly referred to lightning; but I conceive alludes more directly to the sacrificial flame, which was inextinguish-.

sider this (as many other verbs of three radicals) as a compound verb from 5 to lean, bend, and to stagger; i. e. to lean for support, like one who staggers.

1

Under the citron tree'. All the Greek fathers, and many of the Latin, attribute these words to the bridegroom, to whom they seem most naturally to belong; but the Jews having pointed thee masculine, persist in attributing them to the spouse. The verbs in this verse have been much controverted; the sense I have given appears to me natural and just; but for the sense of the several roots I must refer to the lexicons; particularly Parkhurst in S. Nearly one hundred and twenty MSS. and some editions prefix a vau emphatic to the last line of the 5th verse- Even there, &c.

* Here I conceive the masculine point affixed by the Masoreths to the pronoun thine is right.

3

The fiery flame of JAH.' More than 200 MSS. and many editions, read this in two separate words [n' nanbw] as I have rendered them; and as the sacrificial fire never was

able, while the divine presence continued in the temple.

On this section we may note,

1. That in the present state the church is coming up out of the wilderness.--It is common with the inspired and other writers to represent the present life as a wilderness or desert, i. e. a state of distress and trial, and our passage through life as a journey through, or a coming up out of this wilderness; in allusion to the passage of the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land. But here it is said she came up leaning on her beloved'which very properly represents the affiance and dependance we should place on the divine providence and grace all through our mortal pilgrimage.

2. The Lord excites, as well as rewards, the affections of his people: indeed he answers and rewards no affections but those which he excites : Under the citron tree I courted thee.'

• Look gently down, Almighty grace ;
Prison me round in thine embrace;
Pity the soul that would be thine,
And let thy power my love confine.'

WATTS.

to go out, (see Levit. vi. 12.) so the Jews have a tradition, which appears well founded, that no rains ever could extinguish it. Some of the ideas in the Song of Ibraham, repeatedly quoted above, are remarkably similar to those in Solomon.

'I die-I go down to the grave;

My heart is hot as sulphur.'