Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

whole person is every way admirable and de

sirable. Such I consider as the out-line of the description, literally viewed; the inquisitive reader will refer to the notes for my authorities, and others will pass on to the allegorical application, which will be confined to a few hints, selected with great attention, and offered with much diffidence.

The first part of the description naturally reminds us of Him who was fairer than the children of men,' and higher than the angels; who was lifted up' on the cross for an ensign' to the Gentiles,' and who is the captain of our salvation--the elect of God, and the head of men and angels.

6

As the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar was designed to represent the glory of his kingdom, so may this part of our description represent the excellency of his government, who is King of kings and Lord of lords: whose kingdom is everlasting, and of whose dominion there shall be no end. The eyes are the index of the heart; and, in this description, plainly indicate wisdom, purity, gentleness, and love: his lips drop words of love and kindness, and his breath (or spirit) communicates life and

usual [among the poets of Persia and Turkey] to allude to the miraculous power of Isa's [Jesus's] breath, which could give health to the infirm, and restore the deceased to life. These (allusions) are by no means ironically or irreve rently intended.' [Or. Col. vol. I. p. 42) Hafiz, for instance, in one of his odes, refers to the breath of the Messiah (Messiæ halitum habens) which was able to recal the dead to life. Nott's Odes of Hafiz. p. 63. note.

healing. The other parts of the description must not be too minutely allegorized, as only generally indicating the perfection and elegance of the august person described, whose rank is marked in the splendour of his dress, and the costliness of his ornaments.

[ocr errors]

The concluding sentence, however, which sums up the whole, merits our more particular attention, He is altogether desirable.' This may be considered as a summary of the above description. First, he is desirable for the dig nity of his person, and the glory of his kingdom, but faintly represented by the most precious gold-pure, permanent, and glorious. Speak we of his array? the sapphire sky is but his robe, and the stars are his gems of royalty. If we review the softer graces of his character, His eyes are glory mixed with grace, In his delightful, awful face, Sit majesty and gentleness.'

WATTS.

Whenever he speaks, either pleading as our advocate with the Father-or teaching us by the medium of his word,

• Persuasion dwells upon his charming tongue
And eloquence divine.'

The Spirit he breathes on his elect conveys spiritual and eternal life, with all the blessings that accompany it.-In short, his person and character comprize every thing amiable or desirable-whence he is called the desire of all nations'.'

1 Hag. ii. 7.

[ocr errors]

He was the desire of the antient patriarchs. To Adam he was revealed as the seed of the woman,' who was to break the serpent's head. Enoch prophesied of his coming in' all his glory. Abraham desired to see his day; he saw it and was glad. David rejoiced in spirit when he said, The LORD said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine 'enemies thy footstool.'

[ocr errors]

6

[ocr errors]

ISAIAH saw his glory and spake' very frequently of him.' MALACHI closed the canon of the Old Testament with the promise of his speedy coming; yea, to him give ALL the

prophets witness: and when he came, good old SIMEON was foremost among those who waited for his salvation, and embraced him with rapture.

He was the desire of all nations-not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, and that in two respects; for they had a general expectation of some great deliverer, and (though they. knew it not) he was the very Saviour that they wanted. Even SOCRATES was all anxiety, on the grand point of acceptance with God, and advised his pupils to wait for a great unknown teacher then to come'.

This subject must not close with the cool language of enquiry and observation. The spouse concludes with rapture-This is MY beloved, and this is MY consort, MY spouse, MY

1

See Historic Defence of Experimental Religion, vol. I. p. 154, &c.

2 The word here used is the masculine of that above rendered consort.

Lord.' Reader, let us pause a moment and say, Is this all-desirable Jesus our beloved, and our friend? If so, we may sing with the sweet. evangelical poet, I have so often cited:

All over glorious is my lord;

• Must be beloved, and yet ador'd:

His worth, if all the nations knew,

• Sure the whole earth would love him too.'

Chap. VI. Ver. 1-3.

Virgins. Whither is thy beloved gone,
O most beautiful of women?
Whither is thy beloved turned aside?
And we will seek him with thee.

Spouse. My beloved is gone down into his garden,
Unto the beds of aromatics;

To feed in his garden, and to gather lilies.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine:
He feedeth among the lilies.

This short passage is encumbered with no difficulties in its literal sense, and may be dismissed with a very brief remark or two.-1. The commendations given to Chrift by his church have a tendency to excite the enquiries and affections of others.-2. The spouse concludes her beloved was gone down into his garden, because there she knew was his delight; for the Lord delights in the plantations of his grace. But neither of these ideas can be better expressed than in the lines of our favourite paraphrast:

• When strangers stand, and hear me tell
• What beauties in my Saviour dwell,
Where he is gone they fain would know,
That they may seek and love him too.

• My best beloved keeps his throne
On hills of light, in worlds unknown:
But he descends; and shews his face
In the young gardens of his grace.

WATTS.

Bridegroom.

SECTION X.

Chap. VI. Ver. 4-9.

Beautiful art thou, my consort, as Tirzah,

Comely as Jerusalem, formidable as bannered [towers.J

Turn away thine eyes from me,

For they have overcome me.

Thy hair is like a flock of goats

Which [come up] sleek from Gilead;

Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep
Which ascend from the washing;
All of them bearing twins,
And none of them miscarrying.
Like the flower of the pomegranate,

Are thy cheeks behind thy veil.

Threescore queens are they, and fourscore concubines,

And virgins without number,'

An only one is my dove, my accomplished one;
The only one of her mother,

The darling of her that bare her.

The daughters saw her, and they blessed her;
The queens and concubines, and they praised her:
Who is this that looketh forth as the dawn,
< Beautiful as the moon, splendid as the sun,
And awful as the streamers ?'

THIS passage opens a new scene, and the time is probably the evening.

The spouse

Q q

« ElőzőTovább »