' death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to 'come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 'love of God which is in Christ Jesus.'

5. This love is unmerited and inextinguishable-It is unmerited: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would 'utterly be contemned.'-It is inextinguishable: Many waters cannot quench love, neither can 'the floods drown it.' So PHILOSTRATUS, speaking of love, says, 'What new kind of conflagration is this? I am ready to call for water, but there is none to bring it; for a quencher, but a quencher for this fire cannot be found. If ' one bring it from the fountain, or take it out of 'the river, it is all the same; the water itself is 'burnt up by love.'

6. It is the first and supreme desire of the believer to be remembered by the Lord-to enjoy the affections of his heart, and the protection of his hand; and the Lord has graciously assured his church, I have engraven thee on the palms of my hands thy walls [the walls of Jerusalem] are continually before me.'

Spouse.

SECTION XIV. [Evening.]

Chap. VIII. Ver. 8-10.

We have a sister who is little, and her breasts are not [grown ;]

What shall we do for our sister in the day that she is spoken for?

Bridegroom. If she be a wall, we will build on her turrets of

Spouse.

silver;

If she be a door, we will enclose her with boards

of cedar.

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers: Thence was I in his eyes as one that findeth

peace.

THE first verse of this paragraph Mr. HARMER considers as the language of Solomon's former Jewish wife, provoked to Jealousy by his marriage with Pharaoh's daughter, whom she represents as little, and too young for her station: but this is highly inconsistent with what is said of her stature, portiiness, and corpulency, which are repeatedly commended in the course of the poem. I therefore conceive the allusion to be literally to a younger sister of the queen, for whom she wishes Solomon to make some provision, perhaps by recommending her in due time to one of the neighbouring princes, his allies or tributarics: and this is what I suppose him to promise in his reply.

If she be a wall,' if she be adapted to rear and support a family, we will provide for her in marriage, that she may bear an offspring like turrets of silver; it being usual to erect a number of turrets or little towers upon the walls of cities, for the various purposes of ornament, observation and

defence. So the Psalmist, Walk about Zion, and go round about her; tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, and consider her 'palaces.'-Or perhaps here a promise may be intimated of a handsome dowry, which, to be paid in silver, would form a mass like a tower or palace'.

If she be a door,' that is, if she be capable of bearing children, she shall be honoured like the door of a palace; she shall bring forth a royal offspring, and thus shall she be provided for in a manner suitable to her rank and circumstances: her virtue shall be honoured and respected.

Christian interpreters have unanimously applied the character of this little sister to the Gentile church, which may be called the sister of the Jewish, with at least as much propriety, as Sodom and Samaria are called sisters of Jerusalem2. And she was a younger sister, because at this time, and even for several ages afterward, she was not arrived to maturity; though under the the gospel they become "fellow heirs," and are united in the same privileges. Nor is it of any weight that the Gentiles were not at this time a church, since He who seeth the end from the

Mr Harmer (p. 358) explains the terms wall and door. as implying that the alliance between Solomon and Pharaoh's daughter would be a defence to Judea, and open a more familiar intercourse between that country and Egypt; and I would not deny but these ideas might be expressed under those metaphors, though I have preferred another illucidation.

2 Ezek. xvi. 46.

beginning,' 'if they were.'

'calleth the things that are not as

6

So he hath said, Other sheep ' have I which are not of this fold,' when as yet those sheep had no existence, at least under the character of sheep..

The situation of this sister church is, that she was little and immature, but when the period arrived that she should be spoken for in marriage, i. e. when the fulness of time came for the calling of the Gentiles, then was she to be provided for in a manner suitable to her circumstances. The Gentile church is a wall, and hath been adorned with innumerable turrets-turrets of silver. It is said of the new Jerusalem, that it hath twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; and the like may be said of these turrets; they bear the names of evangelists and apostles and the first preachers of the gospel ; the watchmen upon the walls of this spiritual city.

The Gentile church may be considered as a door-an open door-a door open night and day, admitting on every side inhabitants to the celestial city. Or if the term imply, as I have supposed, that she was to be a mother, the portico of cedar may imply that she was to be the mother of a noble or royal offspring, and to have an establishment suitable to her rank.

But how will any of these remarks apply to the case of individual believers? or what useful lessons or observations do they suggest?

1. The Lord bestows whatever he requires. When he calls the Gentiles to be a church, he furnishes them with all the requisite gifts and graces; and when he calls a sinner by his grace, he gives him grace to come. The same voice that says, ' Arise and walk,' gives strength and ability to obey.

2. Our divine Benefactor suits his blessings to our circumstances. The wall he crowns with towers, and incloses the door with pannels. To the weak he gives strength, to, the poor wealth, and to the deformed beauty.

to̟

3. The Lord's blessings are worthy of himself. If he erects turrets, they are of silver; if he cases a door, it is with boards of cedar. But O, what metaphors can describe the dignity and excellence of the blessings of his grace!

But we must consider the reply of the Jewish church, she was already matured, already married she was a wall, and her breasts like tow

ers' thence was she acceptable in his eyes, as one that findeth peace, i. e. perhaps, as a peacemaker-as one that findeth means of restoring peace and harmony, in the close of a long, expensive, and sanguinary war.

To this place I have deferred a remark or two on the breasts of the church, which have been often alluded to and described in the course of this poem.

1. The truths of the gospel are as nourishing to the soul as mothers' milk to their infant offspring.