It was a common practice among antient heretics to affect peculiar austerities. The old naturalists say, that foxes will sometimes feign themselves dead, in order to ensnare their prey: so it is with some who affect to be uncommonly dead and mortified to the world, in order to draw disciples. Another pretence made use of is, the attributing greater glory to Christ. Thus, under the notion of making him our sanctification, holiness has been discarded as legal, and Christ himself has been made, virtually, the minister of sin.

Among the circumstances which subject certain tempers to delusion, are the following.

The love of something new and beyond the vulgar ken is a great snare with weak minds. They are fond of mystery, love to penetrate into deep subjects of enquiry, and are particularly pleased to be thought wiser than their fellow Christians. The gnostics appear to have been of this stamp. The affectation of novelty and singularity is another great snare, in as much as it leads to useless and impertinent enquiries, and to be wise above 'what is written.'

Another dangerous temptation is, that of affecting to be super-evangelical and high in doctrine; an affectation that reproaches, not only the best men of modern times, but the apostles, and our Lord himself, many of whose discourses would by no means answer to the standard of these hyper-orthodox divines.

Ver. 16, 17.

Spouse. My beloved is mine and I am his;

He feedeth among the lilies.

Until the day breathe, and the shades flee away,
Return, my beloved, and be unto me

Like an antelope, or a young hart, upon the craggy
mountains.

These verses stand perfectly distinct from the preceding, and form a sense complete of themselves. The spouse expresses her satisfaction in her relation to her beloved, and the enjoyment of his affections, with a desire for their continuance.

My beloved is mine, and I am his'.' i. e. I am his spouse, and he is my husband. This relation between Christ and the church has been already explained, and it is desireable to avoid repetition; but we may enlarge a little upon the mutual affection between the parties, and their mutual interest in each other.

He is the supreme

sum of all my de

My beloved is mine.' object of my affection, the lights. • Whom have I in heaven but thee?

' and there is none on earth that I desire beside thee.' The love of God is not only supreme, but, where it eminently prevails, in a manner absorbs all other affections. Those who love God eminently, love their fellow creatures in him. In him they embrace all the tender connexions

1

From the moment that I heard the divine sentence, "I have breathed into man a portion of my Spirit," I was assured that we were his, and he ours.' Sir W Jones's Works, vol. I. p. 45.

of human life-husband and wife-parent and child-brother, and sister, and friend. All are beloved in God, when they are beloved for his sake; when all human affections are regulated by our regard to him.

"I am his." I am the object of his love. That God should be the object of a creature's love is most just and reasonable; but why should God delight himself in creatures? How wonderful that expression of the Lord in the prophet'I will rejoice over her with singing!'

Is it enquired how God and his elect come to have this propriety in each other. I reply,

(1.) By mutual choice. I have loved thee,' saith the Lord, with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee.' We love him, because he first loved us.'-(2.) By converting grace. 'I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.' They that are with the Lamb are called, and chosen, and * faithful.'-(3.) By covenant engagement. • One shall say I am the Lord's, and another shall call ' himself by the name of Jacob.'-(4.) By union of Spirit. Our first father said of his fair companion, She is bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh' but the relation of Christ and the chuch, as it is spiritual, is more intimate:

⚫ that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.

He

'He feedeth among the lilies' that is, he feedeth in the best pastures; for in such lilies

Hh

appear to have grown spontaneously, like the wild flowers of our meadows. This expression was probably proverbial, and might be of similar import with a common proverb of our own. When we say familiarly, such an one is in clover, we mean that he is enjoying himself like cattle in rich pastures; in this view it would imply that the beloved, comparing him to the antelope or the young hart, (as in the following verse) was wont to enjoy himself in the company of the bride, like the deer feeding among the lilies.

But as the expression is equivocal, and may be taken either actively or passively, it will signify either he feeds himself, or he feeds his flock: we may therefore, with R. SoL. JARCHI, understand it as synonimous with the expression of the Psalmist, He leadeth me into green pastures.' -Either sense will admit a useful application.

If the bridegroom be compared to the antelope feeding among the lilies,' it will refer to the pleasure and delight the Lord takes in the company of his church. The same sentiment is more clearly expressed in other passages of this song -'O how pleasant art thou, O love, for de' lights!'

If the bridegroom be considered in his pastoral character, then it applies to the Lord's gracious care and attention to his people. If this latter sense be preferred, perhaps the whole verse may bear this explanation:- The Lord is my shepherd, and I am one of the sheep of his pasture;

I shall not want, for he will supply, not only 'the necessary supports, but even the comforts ' and luxuries, as it were, of the divine life.'

In the preceding scene the bridegroom has been 'supposed absent; at the nearest he was standing behind the wall, or shewing himself through the lattices. The spouse now desires his speedy return-with the swiftness of the antelope, or young hart', upon the craggy mountains; and she implores his stay with her until the returning dawn3.

In improving this verse we may observe,

1. That the church, in her present state, is subject to the vicissitudes of day and night; i. e. alternate seasons of light and darkness, prosperity

1 'Thou wert swift, O Morar, as the roe on the desert.' Song of Selma, in Ossian's Poems.

2 Craggy mountains.'- Mountains of Bether,' say our translators and others, taking Bether for a proper name, but what place this was can only be conjectured. Most critics, therefore, prefer taking the word according to its radical idea, for mountains of division,' as in the margin of our Bibles; or rather divided, decussated, cleft, and craggy mountains. So the LXX, opn xwxwv, mountains of cavities. Buxtorf says, In montibus sectionis, i. e. sectis, disparatis.

3 The sense of this verse appears to be obscured by the poetical position of the words. Reduced to simple prose, the text would read, Return, my beloved, like an ante'lope or a young hart upon the craggy mountains; and remain with me until the day breathe, and the shades 'flee away.' Unless we chuse to give an unusual import to the particles wy, and render it Ere that the day breathe,' &c. i. e. return, my beloved, before the morning. The radical idea of , which is perpetuity, might justify this; (so ere and ever are connected and confounded in our language) but I confess I want examples.