“The daughters beheld her,
"And pronounced her happy;
"The queens and concubines,
"And extolled her praises.

"Who is this looking forth as the dawn;
"Fair as the moon; clear as the sun;

INTERPRETATION OF THE NINTH IDYL.

A PLEASING Scene opens to our view in this parable: it is laid in a beautiful garden, abounding with fruits and flowers; here the fair spouse entertains her beloved, and receives from him a renewed declaration of his affection.

The state of the believer, which this imagery is intended to designate, it is not difficult to perceive: the constant usage of the same emblem in Scripture guides us to the interpretation. Thus we read, in

significations: 1. Purus fuit, moraliter et physicè. 2. Separavit, quoniam purificatio fit pura ab impuris separando. (Ezek. xx. 98.) And hence it is, by some, supposed to take the meaning of choosing, the interpretation preferred in our public translation. Parkhurst considers as the fem. of ɔ, a son, a child, an innocent ; a term of affection.

The same Hebrew word is used in the last line but one of this idyl, "Clear as the sun. On which Bishop Percy observes, is, properly, clear, unsullied, of unobscured splendour, and therefore is well applied to the glowing surface of the great orb of day and

,צבאות as synonymous with נרגלות The same author considers

translates the line, " Dazzling as all the starry hosts.."

the prophet Isaiah, "For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things which are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord thy God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations."-" The seed is fallen upon the good ground."-"The earth has drank the rain which cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, and receiveth blessings from God"." The Christian "is spirituale;" and "has his fruit unto holiness," abounding in the work of faith, in the patience of hope, or in the labour of love.

And it is to diligent and obedient children that the full assurance of hope, and the peculiar comforts of the Holy Ghost, are promised. " If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever."-" I will not leave you comfortless; I will come unto you' "_" My beloved went down to his garden, among the frames of balsams; to eat in his garden, and to gather his flowers."—" I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. Let him eat among his flowers."-" Herein

is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.""If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love."-" These things have I spoken to you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."

The same figurative language, which we have already considered in the interpretation of the seventh idyl, expresses again in this place the affection of the heavenly Bridegroom towards his faithful spouse. This is realized in the experience of the believer, when the Spirit of God bears witness to his spirit, that he is his adopted childwhen" the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him."

We have indeed, in this idyl, some additional comparisons. “Thou art fair, my partner, as Tirza, beautiful as Jerusalem, dazzling as the bannered hosts." These comparisons, however, are subject to the same reflections which have been offered on the description of the personal charms of the bride, in the idyl above-mentioned; to this description I refer; and proceed with the remainder of the allegory.

"Threescore are they the queens, and fourscore are the concubines; and there are virgins without number. One is she, my dove, my perfect one; one is she to her mother, separated to her that bare her." I have mentioned, in the preceding notes, what I suppose to be the meaning and intention of this contrast between the loves and character of some faithful pair, and the unblessed loves of the literal Solomon.

You are to suppose, in the first place, as a prototype for the heavenly Bridegroom, not the eastern

despot, with his crowded harem, but the faithful lover, who has fixed his whole affections on one only object. For of this description is the love of Christ to his Church: she has no rival, nor partner, to divide his affections. Though, indeed, believers are many, yet they are "called in one body ;" and as members of that one body, they partake of this love of Christ. And, though there are doubtless other beings who are the objects of the love of the Son of God, as well as the redeemed from among men, yet we have no grounds to suppose that they are regarded with that peculiar affection, to celebrate which is the design of this book. The church solely exists in the character of "the Bride, the Lamb's wife." The angelic beings, like John the Baptist in his ministerial capacity, may be considered as the friends of the Bridegroom; they rejoice when they hear his voice: but she that hath the bridgroom is the bride. And to which of the angels said he at any time, "Thy Maker is thy Husband'?"-" This is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh"?" This relationship, we have every reason to conclude, belongs alone, and exclusively, to" the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood """ to that peculiar people "to whom he hath purified to himself"," and "whom only he hath known of all the families of the earth P."

k Isai. liv. 5. m Acts, xx. 28.

1 Gen. ii. 23. comp. Eph. v. 30.

n Tit. ii. 14.

Amos, iii. 2.

L

Again, you observe, that as Solomon himself, in his matrimonial relations, could not supply a correct type of Christ espousing his Church; so neither could any of his threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number, afford a type of that true and conjugal affection, which the Church bears to her spiritual husband. You are therefore to suppose, for the required emblem, a woman whose character has been differently formed, and who is united to her husband by a different bond. And it must be acknowledged, that no affection subsisting among the human race can be pointed out, more strong, more constant, and more enduring, than the affection of a virtuous and tenderly-educated woman toward her husband, or the man to whom she has pledged her vows. Oh! let us seriously reflect what love have we in our hearts to Christ that will, in any sort, bear the comparison?

"The daughters saw her, and pronounced her happy: the queens and concubines, and they extolled her praises. Who is this that looketh forth as the dawn? fair as the moon; clear as the sun; dazzling as the bannered hosts?"-" All intelligent beings shall acknowledge the superior excellency of the church, when He who bought her with his own blood shall present her faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy "."" And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them; that

P Jude, 24.