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The song of songs, which [is) Solomon's.

The song of songs. — Not a light love song - as some profane persons have fancied, and have therefore held it no part of the sacred canon - but a most excellent Epithalamium, a very divine ditty, a heavenly allegory, a mystical marriage song, called here the Song of Songs, as God is called the God of gods, (Deuteronomy 10:17) as Christ is called the King of kings, (Revelation 19:16) as the Most Holy is called the Holy of holies, to the which the Jewish doctors liken this canticle, as they do Ecclesiastes to the holy place, and Proverbs to the court, to signify that it is the treasury of the most sacred and highest mysteries of holy Scripture. It streams out all along under the parable of a marriage, that full torrent of spiritual love that is between Christ and the Church "This is a great mystery," saith that great apostle. (Ephesians 5:32) It passeth the capacity of man to understand it in the perfection of it. Hence the Jews permitted none to read this sacred song before thirty years of age. Let him that reads think he sees written over this Solomon's porch, "Holiness to the Lord." Procul hinc, procul este profani, nihil hic nisi castum. If any think this kind of dealing to be too light for so grave and weighty a matter, let them take heed, saith one, that in the height of their own hearts they do not proudly censure God and his order, who in many places useth the same similitude of marriage to express his love to his Church by, and interchangeably her duty toward him, as in Hosea 2:19, 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:25, with Ephesians 5:22-24, where the apostle plainly alludeth and referreth to this song of songs in sundry passages, borrowing both matter and frame of speech from hence.

Which is Solomon's. — He was the penman, God the author. Of many other songs he was both author and instrument. (1 Kings 4:32) Not so of this, which therefore the Chaldee paraphrast here entitleth "songs and hymns," in the plural, for the surpassing excellence of it, "which Solomon the prophet, the King of Israel, uttered by the spirit of prophecy before the Lord, the Lord of all the earth." A prophet he was, and is therefore now in the kingdom of heaven, notwithstanding his foul fall, whereof he repented. For as it is not the falling into the water that drowns, but lying in it, so neither is it the failing into sin that damns, but dying in it. Solomon was also King of Israel, and surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom, (2 Chronicles 9:22) yea, he was wiser than all men. (1 Kings 4:31) And as himself was a king, so he made this singular song, as David did the 45th Psalm, "concerning the King," Christ and his spiritual marriage to the Church, who is also called Solomon, (Song of Solomon 3:11) and "greater than Solomon." (Matthew 12:42) If, therefore, either the worth of the writer or the weightiness of the matter may make to the commendation of any book, this wants for neither. That is a silly exception of some against this song, as if not canonical, because God is not once named in it; for as oft as the bridegroom is brought in speaking here, so oft Christ himself speaketh, who is "God blessed for ever." (Romans 9:5) Besides, whereas Solomon made "a thousand songs and five," (1 Kings 4:32) this only, as being the chief of all, and part of the holy canon, hath been hitherto kept safe when the rest are lost, in the cabinet of God's special providence, and in the chest of the Jews, God's faithful library keepers. (Romans 3:1-2; John 5:39) It being not the will of our heavenly Father that any one hair of that sacred head should fall to the ground.

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Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love [is] better than wine.

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. — It must be premised and remembered that this book is penitus allegoricus et parabolicus, as one saith, allegorical throughout, and aboundeth all along with types and figures, with parables and similitudes. Quot verba, tot sacramenta, So many words, so many mysteries, saith Jerome of the Revelation, which made Cajetan not dare to comment upon it. The like may be truly affirmed of the Canticles; nay, we may say of it in a special manner, as Possevinus doth of the whole Hebrew Bible, tot esse sacramenta, quot literae, tot mysteria, quot puncta, tot arcana, quot apices. so much is sacred, how many books, so much is mysterious, how many marked with vowel points, so much is secret, how many marked vowels. Hence Psellus in Theodoret asketh pardon for presuming to expound it. But difficilium facilis est venia; et, in magnis voluisse sat est: In hard things the pardon is easy, and in high things let a man show his goodwill and it sufficeth. The matter of this book hath been pointed at already; as for the form of it, it is dramatic and dialogistical. The chief speakers are not Solomon and the Shulamite, as Castalio makes it, but Christ and his Church. Christ also hath his associates, those friends of the bridegroom, (John 3:29) viz., the prophets, apostles, pastors, and teachers, who put in a word sometimes; as likewise do the fellow friends of the bride - viz., whole churches, or particular Christians. The bride begins here abruptly, after the manner of a tragedy, through impatience of love, and a holy impotence of desire after, not a union only, but a unity also with him whom her soul loveth. "Let him kiss me," &c. Kissing is a token of love, (1 Peter 5:14; Luke 7:45) and of reconciliation. (2 Samuel 14:33) And albeit καταφιλειν ουκ εστι φιλειν, as Philo observeth, love is not always in a kiss - Joab and Judas could kiss and kill, Caveatur osculum Iscarioticum, consign their treachery with so sweet a symbol of amity (1 Peter 1:22) - yet those that "love out of a pure heart fervently," do therefore kiss, as desiring to transfuse, if it might be, the souls of either into other, and to become one with the party so beloved, and in the best sense suaviated. kissed That, therefore, which the Church here desireth, is not so much Christ's coming in the flesh - that "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners had spoken in times past unto her by the prophets, would now speak unto her by his Son," (Hebrews 1:1-2) as some have sensed it - as that she may have utmost conjunction to him, and nearest communion with him, here as much as may be, and hereafter in all fulness of fruition. "Let him kiss me," and so seal up his hearty love unto me, even the "sure mercies of David." "With the kisses of his mouth"; not with one kiss only, with one pledge of his love, but with many - there is no satiety, no measure, no bounds or bottom of this holy love, as there is in carnal desires, ubi etiam vota post usum fastidio sunt. Neither covets she to kiss his hand, as they deal by kings, or his feet, as they do the pope's, but his "mouth"; she would have true kisses, the basia, the busses of those lips, whereinto "grace is poured," (Psalms 45:2 and wherehence those words of grace are uttered (Matthew 5:2-12) "He openeth his mouth with wisdom, and in his lips is the law of kindness." (Proverbs 31:26) Hence her affectionate desires, her earnest pantings, inquietations, and unsatisfiablenesses. She must have Christ, or else she dies; she must have the "kisses of Christ's mouth," even those sweet pledges of love in his Word, or she cannot be contented, but will complain, in the confluence of all other comforts, as Abraham did, "Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?" (Genesis 15:2) or as Artabazus in Xenophon did, when Cyrus had given him a cup of gold and Chrysantas a kiss in token of his special favour, saying that the cup that he gave him was nothing so good gold as the kiss that he gave Chrysantas. The poet's fable, that the moon was wont to come down from her orb to kiss Endymion. It is a certain truth that Christ came down from heaven to reconcile us to his Father, to unite us to himself, and still to communicate unto our souls the sense of his love, the feeling of his favour, the sweet breath of his Holy Spirit.

For thy love is better than wine. — Heb., Loves. The Septuagint and Vulgate render it ubera, thy breasts; but that is not so proper, since it is the Church that here speaks to Christ, and by the sudden change of person shows the strength and liveliness of her affection, as by the plural "loves," she means all fruits of his love, righteousness, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, assurance of heaven, which Mr Latimer calls the deserts of the feast of a good conscience. There are other dainty dishes at that feast, but this is the banquet, this is "better than wine," which yet is a very comfortable creature, (Psalms 104:15) and highly set by. (Psalms 4:7) Plato calls wine a music, miseriarum humanarum μαλακτικα, the chief allayments of men's miseries.

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Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name [is as] ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee.

Because of the savour of thy good ointments. — Or, To smell to, thy ointments are best. Odoratissimus es. As the panther casts abroad a fragrant savour; as Alexander the Great is said to have had a natural sweetness with him by reason of the good temperament of his body; so, and much more than so, the Lord Christ, that sweetest of sweets. He kisseth his poor persecuted people, as Constantine once kissed Paphnutius's lost eye; and departing, for here he comes but as a suitor only till the marriage be made up in heaven, he leaves such a sweet scent behind him, such a balmy verdure, as attracts all good hearts unto him, so that where this all-quickening carcase is there would "the eagles be also." (Matthew 24:28) The Israelites removed their tents from Mithcah, which signifies sweetness, to Hashmonah, which signifies swiftness; (Numbers 33:29) to teach us, saith one, that the saints have no sooner tasted Christ's sweetness, but they are carried after him presently with incredible swiftness. Hence they are said to have "a nose like the tower of Lebanon," (Song of Solomon 7:4) for their singular sagacity in smelling after Christ, and to flee to the holy assemblies, where Christ's odours are beaten out to the smell, "as the clouds," or "as the doves to their windows." (Isaiah 60:8) For what reason? they have "their senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil," (Hebrews 5:14) and "their love abounds yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment." (Philippians 1:9)

Thy name is an ointment poured forth. — There is an elegant allusion in the original between Shem and Shemen - that is, name, and ointment. And Christ hath his name both in Hebrew and Greek from ointment; for these three words in signification are all one, Messiah, Christ, Anointed. See the reason, Isaiah 61:1, "The spirit of the Lord," - that oil of gladness (Hebrews 1:9) - "is upon me, because he hath anointed, and appointed, me to preach good tidings to the meek"; 2 Corinthians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, &c. Now when this is done to the life, when Christ crucified is preached, when the Holy Ghost in the mouth and ministry of his faithful servants shall take of Christ's excellencies, as it is his office to do, (John 16:14) and hold them out to the world; when he shall hold up the tapestry, as it were, and shew men the Lord Christ, with an Ecce virum, Behold the man, that one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; (1 Timothy 2:5) see him in his natures, in his offices, in his works, in the blessed effects of all; this cannot but stir up wonderful loves in all good souls; with hearty wishes, that "if any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he may be Anathema Maranatha," (1 Corinthians 16:22) accursed upon accursed, and put over to God to punish.

Therefore the virgins love thee, — i.e., All that are adjoined to me in comely sort, as chaste damosels to their mother and mistress. The elect and faithful are called virgins for their spiritual chastity. They are God's hidden ones, as the word here used signifieth, as they are called; (Psalms 83:3) they are not defiled with the corruptions that are in the world through lust, for they are virgins; (Revelation 14:4) else the bride would not suffer them about her. (Psalms 45:14) Of Queen Elizabeth it is said, that she never suffered any lady to approach her presence of whose stain she had but the least suspicion. "These follow the Lamb wheresoever he goeth," (ib.), as the other creatures follow the panther for his sweet odours; as birds of prey are carried after carcases. "Whom having not seen, yet ye love," and can do no less, (1 Peter 1:8) "because he first loved you," and hath "shed abroad his love in your hearts by his holy Spirit." (1 John 4:19; Romans 5:5) Amate amorem illius, oh love his love, saith Bernard, and cry out with Ignatius, O ερως ο εμος εσταυρωται, My love was crucified. If the centurion in the Gospel were held worthy of respect because he "loved our nation," said those Jews, "and built us a synagogue," (Luke 7:5) what shall we say of Christ, who "loved us, and washed us with his own blood" &c.? (Revelation 1:5) "Herein was love," &c. And should not love be the whetstone of love? should we not reciprocate? shall we be worse than publicans? shall not the love of Christ constrain us? &c. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

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Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.

Draw me. — Those very virgins, though they love Christ, and are affected with his incomparable sweetness, to the slighting of earthly vanities, and all tasteless fooleries of this present life, yet are they sensible of sundry obstacles and back-biasses, which cause them to call for help from heaven, "Draw me," &c., scil., by the effectual working of thy mighty Spirit, and by "the cords of kindness," (Hosea 11:4) that irresistible grace of thine, whereby thou dost fortiter, but yet suaviter, powerfully, but yet sweetly work upon the wills of them that belong to thee; and by a merciful violence pull them out of Satan's paws, yea, bring them from the jaws of hell to the joys of heaven. (Jeremiah 31:3)

We will run after thee. — We will not only follow thee, as the straw follows the jet, or as iron the loadstone, as the seaman's needle doth the north pole, or as the hop in its growing follows the course of the sun from east to west, winding about the pole, and will rather break than do otherwise; but we will "fulfil after thee," as Caleb did; (Numbers 14:24) we will "run after thee," as David did; yea, we will so "run," (Psalms 119:32) that we may obtain, "finish our course, and receive our crown," (2 Timothy 4:7-8) whereof we shall not fail, if we run regularly, run forthright, (Proverbs 4:25) run after Christ, as the Church here promiseth to do, and not step before him, as Peter presumed to do, and therefore heard, "Get thee behind me, Satan." (Matthew 16:23) Christ is our "forerunner, gone before us into heaven." (Hebrews 6:10) We must "come after him," (Luke 9:23) press his footsteps, (1 Peter 2:21) follow him close, (Matthew 16:24; Ephesians 5:1) and, having him ever in our eye, "run with patience the race that is set before us." (Hebrews 12:1-2) Rubs and remoras {delays} we shall be sure to meet with, but that must not make us stop or step back. Christ ran with a courage, though he ran with the cross upon his shoulders all the way. "Gird up your loins," (1 Peter 1:13) and do likewise. Run to get the race, said blessed Bradford to his fellow sufferers, you are even almost at your journey's end. If there be any way to heaven on horseback, it is by the cross. Look to the joy that is set before you, as Christ did; "steal a look from glory," as Moses did, απεβλεπε, (Hebrews 11:26) "lest ye be wearied and faint," or "loosened," εκλυομενοι, (Hebrews 12:3) as the nerves are in a swoon or palsy. "Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees." (Hebrews 12:12) Lift up your feet, as Jacob did, (Genesis 29:1, marg.} after the vision at Bethel, and take long strides to Christ. Think thou hearest him say, as Cicero did once to his friend, Quamobrem, si me amas tantum, quantum profecto amas, si dormis, expergiscere; si stas, ingredere; si ingrederis, curre; si curris, advola. Credibile non est quantum ego in amore et fide tua ponam, i.e., Wherefore if thou lovest me, as I am sure thou dost, if thou be asleep, wake thyself; if thou standest stilI, set forward; if thou art upon thy way, run to me; if thou art a-running, fly to me: little dost thou think how much I set by thy love and faithfulness. Therefore haste, haste, haste. "The joy of the Lord shall be thy strength," (Nehemiah 8:10) so that thou shalt "walk and not be weary, run and not faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

The king hath brought me into his chambers. — Into the bridechamber of heaven, and hath "made me sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus," mine head and husband, (Ephesians 2:6) yea, into the inward part of the bedchamber, as the word here used signifieth, (Song of Solomon 3:4) there to have familiarity with him, that I may be filled with his graces, (John 1:16) and bring forth fruit to God. (Romans 7:4)

We will be glad and rejoice in thee. — Be glad inwardly, and rejoice outwardly; not in thy love tokens so much as in thyself. Vix diligitur Iesus propter Iesum. They that rejoice in anything but Christ, "rejoice in a thing of nought" (Amos 6:13, with Song of Solomon 1:4-6). The beginning of epistles and letters anciently was Gaudete in Domino, rejoice in the Lord.

We will remember thy love. — Or, Rehearse it. Men cannot but think and speak much of what they love and like. If David's "heart be inditing a good matter," a song of love, his "tongue" will soon be the "pen of a ready writer." (Psalms 45:1-2) And as people, when drunk with wine, wherein is excess, are apt to sing and shout; so those that are filled with the Spirit cannot but utter those magnalia Dei, the wonderful works of God, (Acts 2:11) yea, express their spiritual jollity in "psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs." (Ephesians 5:18-19)

The upright love thee. — Heb., Uprightness; the abstract for the concrete, as pride for proud, (Jeremiah 50:31) rebellion for rebellious. (Ezekiel 2:7) This seemeth to be added to exclude hypocrites, those hangers on. They seem to love God, none more, but it is from the teeth outward only; and Christ may well say to them, as she did to Samson, "How canst thou say thou lovest me, when thy heart is not with me?" ( 16:15) Their hearts are upon their covetousness, then when with their mouths they make love, (Ezekiel 33:31) as the eagle hath his eye upon the prey when he soareth highest toward heaven. They follow Christ more for the loaves than for love, (John 6:26) they "serve not God, but serve themselves" (Romans 16:18) upon him; they serve him for gain, as children will not say their prayers unless we promise them their breakfasts. Sincerity is an utter enemy to sinisterity.

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I [am] black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

I am black, but comely. — Heb., Black as the morning, or day dawning, which hath light and darkness, dimness at least, mixed together. It is not Hως ροδοδακτυλος, wherein there is more light than darkness, but κροκοπεπλος, wherein there is more darkness than light, as the grammarians distinguish. This morning light is lovely, though not pure; so is the Church comely, though not dear. The coy daughters of Jerusalem might make a wonderment, that so black a dowdy, as the Church appeared to them that saw not her inward beauty, should ever hope to have love from the "fairest among men." We read how Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses, who was "fair to God," because of the brown skinned woman whom he had married. (Numbers 12:1) For answer to whom the spouse here grants that she is black, or blackish at least: - (1.) As having some hypocrites in her bosom, that as that blasted grain (Matthew 13:25) smutcheth and sullieth the better sort; (2.) As being not fully freed from sin till after death. Sin is dejected, indeed, in the saints, but not utterly ejected while they are here. For what reason? It is in them as the spots of the leopard, not by accident, but by nature, which no art can cure, no water can wash off, because they are not in the skin, but in the flesh and bones, in the sinews and the most inward parts. Howbeit the Church is freed from the damning and domineering power of sin. And whereas (3.) She is looked upon as "black," (Job 30:30; Lamentations 4:8; Jeremiah 8:21) because of her afflictions, those fruits of sin, and seems to have lain among the pots, as the Psalmist hath it, places where scullions use to lie, and so are black and collied, yet shall she be "as the wings of a dove that are covered with silver," &c. (Psalms 68:13) Though she "sit in darkness, the Lord shall give her light." (Micah 7:8) And as black soap makes white clothes, so do sharp afflictions make holy hearts, where God is pleased to set in with his battle door, as that martyr said. Puriores caelo afflictione facti sunt, saith Chrysostom of those that were praying for Peter. (Acts 12:13-17) And "some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white," saith the prophet of those suffering saints. (Daniel 11:35) The face of the Church is never so beautiful as when it is washed with its own tears; as some faces appear most orientally fair when they are most instamped with sorrow. Christ did so. (Isaiah 52:14)

But comely. — Or, Goodly, lovely, desirable, delectable, viz., for my double righteousness, those righteousnesses of the saints, (Revelation 19:8) imputed and imparted. Hence the Church may better sing than Sappho did -

"Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit,

Iustitia formae damna rependo meae. Ingenio formae damna rependo meae." - Ovid. Epist.

As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.) Kedar signifieth black; and the Kedarens, a people of Arabia, descended from Ishmael, dwelt in black tents, made of hair cloth, and had no other houses; they also dwelt not far from the Ethiopians, or blackmoors. (2 Chronicles 21:16)

As the curtains, &c., — i.e., As his costly tapestry and other sumptuous household stuff, whereof read 1 Kings 10:1-2, &c. Josephus also makes mention of the Babylonish rich furniture wherewith Solomon's rooms were hanged. These are to set forth the Church's comeliness, as the other did her homeliness. Let none be despised for his outward meanness; for within that leathern purse may be a pearl. Christ himself was hidden under the carpenter's son and a poor outside. (Isaiah 53:2)

"Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste."

Often under the surface lies hidden the vesture of wisdom.

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Look not upon me, because I [am] black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother's children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; [but] mine own vineyard have I not kept.

Look not upon me, because I am black. — "Look not upon me," viz., with a lofty look, with a coy countenance; fix not your eyes upon mine infirmities and miseries so as to disdain me, or to disesteem me for them. Blackish I am, I confess, tanned, and discoloured. The old Latin translation renders it "brown" - lovely brown we call it; belle brunette, the French; others "somewhat black," - q.d., My blackness is not so much as you may think for; judge not, therefore, according to the appearance; stumble not at my seeming deformities. A faithful man may fall far, but the seed abideth in him; the new nature cannot be lost; the oil of God's Spirit, wherewith he is anointed, setteth the colours, which are of his own tempering, so sure on, and maketh them cleave so fast together, that it is impossible he should ever return to his own hue, to be coal black, as before. Howbeit he is subject to much affliction, anguish, and distress, as it were to the scorching of the sun; and that, with many that have not senses exercised to discern good and evil, renders him despicable; but that should not be. Of Queen Elizabeth it is said that she hated, no less than did Mithridates, such as maliciously persecuted virtue forsaken of fortune; as when a deer is shot, the rest of the herd push him out of their company.

Because the sun hath looked upon me. — By "sun" here some have understood the Sun of righteousness, whom, when the Church looks intently upon, she is bedazzled, and sees her own nothingness, in comparison to his incomparable brightness. Others by "sun" here will have original sin to be meant; which, indeed, hath brought the blackness of darkness upon the spirit of our minds, and bored out the eye of our understandings. The same original depravity they understand by the following words, "Sons of the same mother"; and by being "kindled with wrath," they understand sin increasing and raging, as it were; and by appointing the Church to "keep other vineyards," they understand the committing of the works of the flesh and the deeds of darkness with which she was, as it were, holden, so that she could do nothing else till the Lord had loosed her out of these chains. But they do best that by "sun" in this place understand the heat of persecution, and the parching of oppression, according to Matthew 13:6; Matthew 13:21, Lamentations 1:6; Lamentations 1:13-14, &c. What bonfires were here made in Queen Mary's days, burning the dear saints of God to a black coal, lighting them up for tapers in a dark night, as they did in Nero's days! After John Huss was burnt, his adversaries got his heart, which was left untouched by the fire, and beat it with their staves. The story of the Maccabees' persecutions, prophesied of in Daniel 11:32-35, and recorded in Hebrews 11:35 to the end, is exceeding lamentable. Opposition is - as Calvin wrote to the French king - evangelii genius, and ecclesia est haeres crucis, saith Luther. The Church hath its cross for its inheritance. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus," if they be set upon it so to do, "shall suffer persecution"; there is no avoiding it. (2 Timothy 3:12) When Ignatius came to the wild beasts, Now, saith he, I begin to be a Christian, and not till now. That Christian, saith Mr Bradford, hath not yet learned his A B C in Christianity that hath not learned the lesson of the cross, &c. Omnis Christianus crucianus. This the worldling cannot away with; and although he "make a fair show in the flesh," or ευπροσωπησαι, "set a good face" on it, as the word signifies, as if he had set his face toward Sion, yet when it comes to a matter of suffering, he stumbles at the cross, and falls backwards. He will not "suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." (Galatians 6:12) He looks at the Church with a vulture's eye, as though he would behold nothing in her but corruption and carrion. He makes an ill construction of her infirmities, and will not stick to say, if he have a mind to shake her off, that she is black and despicable, that she provides but poorly for her followers, that the great ones favour her as little as the lords of the Philistines did David, &c. Cicero veram religionem splendore imperii, gravitate nominis Romani, maiorum institutis, et Fortunae successibus metitur, Cicero's marks of the true religion were the largeness of the Roman empire, their spreading fame, their ancestors' ordinances, and their singular success. The Papists have the like arguments for proof of their Church. But what saith Luther? Ego non habeo aliud contra Papae regnum robustius argumentum, quam quod sine cruce regnat: I have no stronger argument against the Pope's kingdom than this, that he reigns without the cross.

My mother's children were angry with me, — i.e., Worldly men, that are of the same human race that I am; these fretted at me, as Moab did at Israel, because they were of a different religion, (Numbers 22:3-4) or as Tobiah and his complices did at Nehemiah and his Jews. (Nehemiah 6:1) It was quarrel enough to Jerusalem that it would not be miserable. Hypocrites and heretics especially are here understood, as some conceive, such as pretend to be children of the Church, and her greatest friends as the Donatists would be the only Christians, and after them the Rogatian heretics called themselves the only catholics. So did the Arians, and so do the Papists, whose anger against the true children of the Church is far hotter than Nebuchadnezzar's oven after it had been seven times heated for those three constant worthies. Hypocritis nihil est crudelius impatientius et vindietae cupidius, saith Luther, who had the experience of it, plane sunt serpentes, &c.: There is not a more cruel creature, more impatient and vindictive, than a hypocrite. He is as angry as an asp, as revengeful as a serpent, &c. He is of the serpentine seed, and carries the old "enmity," (Genesis 3:15) Cain's club. (Genesis 4:8; John 3:12) "Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the Lord be glorified." (Isaiah 66:5) Here was a fair glove drawn upon a foul hand. In nomine Domini incipit omne malum, In the name of God began all wickedness, was grown to a proverb here in times of Popery.

They made me the keeper of the vineyards. — No marvel, therefore, that I am sunburnt, since I have "borne the burden and heat of the day"; (Matthew 20:12) it hath been my task to keep out boars, foxes, and other noisome creatures; yea, it hath been my lot to be put upon some servile offices - as those poor vinedressers were (2 Kings 25:12) - not so suitable to my place and station assigned me by God; yea, although I am "dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, yet as though living in the world," I have by these impostors and impositors been made to dogmatise ( δογματιζεσθε) after the commandments and doctrines of men. (Colossians 2:20; Colossians 2:22)

But mine own vineyard have I not kept, — q.d., Being burdened with human rights and traditions, and having been the "servant of men," (1 Corinthians 7:23) I have departed from the duty that God prescribed unto me. Sane bene, "Full well truly have I rejected or slighted the commandment of God, that I might keep men's tradition." (Mark 7:9) Thus she shames and shents {hesitates} herself; she blusheth and bleedeth before the Lord for her carelessness in duty. Yea, she tells the world the true reason of her present blackness; somewhat she had to say against others, but most against herself. "After I was made known to myself," said Ephraim - scil., by looking in the glass of God's law - "I repented." (Jeremiah 31:19) Get thee this law, as a glass to look in, said Mr Bradford, so shalt thou see thy face foul arrayed, and so shamefully saucy, mangy, pocky, and scabbed, that thou canst not but be sorry at the sight thereof. Thus he. Physicians, in some kind of unseemly convulsions, wish their patients to look themselves in a glass, which will help them to strive the more, when they shall see their own deformities. It is fit we should oft reflect and see "every man the plague of his heart," (1 Kings 8:38) the "error" (Psalms 19:12) of his life, keeping our hearts soft, supple, and soluble; for softness of heart discovers sin, as blots do run abroad and seem biggest in wet paper. When the cockatrice's egg is crushed, it "breaks out into a viper." (Isaiah 59:5)

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Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest [thy flock] to rest at noon: for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?

Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth. — The sins of God's elect turn to their good - Venenum aliquando pro remedio fuit, saith Seneca, poison is by art turned into a medicine - make them cry more upon Christ, love him more with all their soul, desire more earnestly to be joined unto him, use all holy means of attaining thereunto; and that with such affection, that when others are at their rest or repast, the Christian can neither eat nor rest, unless he be with Christ.

Where thou feedest. — This Book of Canticles is a kind of pastoral, a song of a beloved concerning a beloved. The Church therefore gives, and Christ takes oft herein upon himself, the term and office of a loving and skilful Shepherd, that feeds his flock daily and daintily, feedeth them among the lilies and beds of spices, makes them to "lie down in green pastures, and leads them beside the still waters" (Psalms 23:2) - his Word and sacraments; makes them also to lie down at noon, i.e., as the chief pastor of his sheep, he wholly ordereth them in all their spiritual labours, toils, and afflictions, giving them safe repose in the hottest seasons. (Isaiah 49:10) See Ezekiel 34:13, John 10:1-2, 1 Peter 5:2, Jeremiah 30:10; Jeremiah 30:13.

For why should I be as one that turneth aside, — q.d., This would be no less to thy dishonour than my disadvantage, if I miscarry, thou wilt be no small loser by it. To urge God with the respect of his own glory lying now at stake, is a most effectual way of speeding in prayer. "If thou destroy this people, what will the Egyptians say?" (Exodus 32:12) how will the very banks of blasphemy be broken down, and they speak evil of thee with open mouth? If the Canaanites beat us, "what shall become of thy great name,." (Joshua 7:9) Interpone, quaeso, tuas preces, apud Deum pro me, et ora Christum cuius est causa haec, ut mihi adsit: quam si obtinuerit, mihi obtenta erit: sin veto causa exciderit, nec ego eam obtinere potero: atque ita ipse solus ignominiam reportabit. Please pray for me, saith Luther to a friend of his that feared how it would fare with him when he was to appear at Augsburg before the cardinal; pray for me to Jesus Christ, whose the cause is, that he would stand by me: for if he carry the day, I shall do well enough; as, if I miscarry, he alone will undergo the blame and shame of it.

By the flock of thy companions. — Why should I have fellowship with thy pretended fellows, and so incur the suspicion of dishonesty. Christians must "abstain from all appearance of evil," (1 Thessalonians 5:23) shun and be shy of the very shows and shadows of sin, Quicquid fuerit male coloratum, as Bernard hath it, whatsoever looks but ill favouredly; "providing for things honest, not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the sight of men; and avoiding this, that no man should blame us," (2 Corinthians 8:20-21) avoiding it, στελλομενοι, as shipmen shuns a rock or shelf, with utmost care and circumspection. Joseph would not breathe in the same air with his mistress, nor John the evangelist with the heretic Cerinthus, but "sprang out of the bath" as soon as he came into it. St Paul would not give place by subjection to those false brethren, "no, not for an hour," (Galatians 2:5) lest the truth thereby should suffer detriment. Constantine would not read the Arians' papers, but tear them before their eyes. And Placilla the empress besought her husband, Theodosius senior, not once to confer with Eunomius, lest being perverted by his speeches he might fall into heresy. Memorable is the story of the children of Samosata, that would not touch their ball, but burnt it, because it had touched the toe of a heretical bishop, as they were tossing it and playing with it.

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If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.

If thou know not, O thou fairest among women. — So Christ is pleased to style her, who erst held and called herself black and sunburnt. (Song of Solomon 1:5) Nothing more commends us to Christ than humility and lowly mindedness. (1 Peter 3:5) The daughter of Zion, for this is likened to "a comely and delicate woman," her enemies to shepherds with their flocks. (Jeremiah 6:2-3) False prophets also have their flocks, seducers drag disciples after them. (Acts 20:30) Faciunt favos et vespae, faciunt Ecclesias et Marcionitae, saith Tertullian; wasps also have their honeycombs; apes imitate men's actions. These conventiclers the Church must studiously decline, and not viam per avia quaerere, seek truth by wandering through the thicket of errors, as Junius saith one in his time did, who confessed he had spent twenty-two years in trying religions, pretending that Scripture, "Prove all things." The spouse is here directed by the archshepherd to repair to the foddering places, to frequent the public assemblies, to tread in that sheep track, the footsteps of the flock, the shepherds' tents. There Christ hath promised to feed his lambs (that have golden fleeces, precious souls), to call them by name, as he did Moses, (Exodus 33:12; Exodus 33:17) Cornelius Acts 10:1-2), &c., to "teach them great and hidden things, such as they knew not," (Jeremiah 33:3) to give them spiritual senses, ability to examine what is doctrinally propounded to them, to try before they trust - for all Christ's sheep are rational, they "know his voice from the voice of a stranger" (John 10:5) - to be fully persuaded of the truth that they take up and profess, (Colossians 2:2; Luke 1:1) to feel the sweetness and goodness, the life and power of it within themselves, (Colossians 1:9; Job 32:8) to hate false doctrines, and those that would persuade them thereunto, (Psalms 119:104) buzzing doubts into their heads. (Romans 16:17; John 10:5) So that, though man or angel should object against the truth they have received, they would not yield to him. (Galatians 1:8-9) They know that Satan can, and doth, "transform himself into an angel of light," (2 Corinthians 11:14) and can act his part by a good man also, as he did by Peter once and again, (Matthew 16:23; Galatians 2:11-13) and as he did in our remembrance by Mr Archer, a holy man, who yet held and broached hellish opinions. Swenckfeldio non defuit cor bonum, sed caput regulatum, saith Bucholcerus: Swenckfeldius had a good heart, but a wild head, and so became a means of much mischief to many silly, shallow headed people, whom he shamefully seduced. This to prevent, Christ hath given gifts to men; pastors and teachers after his own heart; guides, to "speak unto them the word of God," (Hebrews 12:7) to "set in order for them acceptable words, "words of truth that may be as "goads, and as nails fastened by those masters of the assemblies which are given from one Shepherd": (Ecclesiastes 12:10-11) in fine, to "take heed to themselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers, to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood," (Acts 20:28) that they might go in and out, and find pastures, such as will breed life, and life in more abundance. (John 10:9-10)

Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock. — Add endeavour to thy desire; up and be doing: for affection without action is like Rachel, that ancient shepherdess, beautiful, but barren. "Get thee forth therefore by the footsteps of the flock"; tread in the same track that good old Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Paul, &c., did, who followed the Lamb whithersoever he went. Keep to that "good old way," the way that is called holy, "and ye shall find rest to your souls." (Jeremiah 6:16) Walk in the footsteps of faithful Abraham, and ye shall one day rest in the bosom of Abraham. "Walk in the same spirit," in the same footsteps with Paul and Titus, (2 Corinthians 12:18) so shall you shortly and surely "receive the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Peter 1:9)

And feed thy kids. — The Church also is a shepherdess, as were Laban's and Jethro's daughters, and hath a little little flock of young goats, that is, of green Christians, who are to be fed with "the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby." (1 Peter 2:2)

Beside the shepherds' tents. — Turn to the undershepherds, the godly ministers, and so "return to the great Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2:25) Hold you close to these, and "hold fast the form of wholesome words," (2 Timothy 1:13) and linger not after unsound and unsavoury doctrines, so rife abroad - those murdering morsels that fat men indeed, but it is to the day of slaughter. Silly sheep do eat no grass more greedily than that which rots them. "But thou, O man of God, fly these things, and from such stand off." (1 Timothy 6:5; 1 Timothy 6:11)

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