man whose duty and circumstances permit him at least occasionally, to go forth into the field and to lodge in the villages; and not merely to lodge there; but who rises early to enjoy the sweets of morn; and not to enjoy them only but to improve them by meditation and reflection, without which, indeed, he can hardly be said to enjoy them.

3. A Christian father, Theodoret, derives hence a very useful hint on the duty of ministers to propagate the gospel, among the heathen, and to watch its effects where it has been already propagated. 'Let us (says he) take care of the mean'est and most abject souls, who have lain long neglected, which are tropically called fields and villages. And again it behoves us to use all * suitable diligence in visiting those who have al* ready received the word, whether they bring forth more than leaves; and especially whether any beginnings (buds) of charity (or love) appear among them.

4. The expression, 'There will I grant thee 'my affections, may imply that prayer and medi. tation, accompanied with a diligent attention to our respective duties, are the ways in which we shall best discover our attachment to our divinę beloved.

Chap. VIII. 1-4.

Spouse. O that thou wert as my brother,

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That sucked the breasts of my mother!
Should I find thee in the street,
I would kiss thee, and not be despised.
I would carry thee, I would bring thee
Into the house of my mother, who would instruct

me;

I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine,

Of the new wine of my pomegranates.

[To the Virgins.]

His left hand is under my head,

And his right hand embraceth me.
I adjure ye, O daughters of Jerusalem-
Why should ye disturb, or why awake
The lovely one, until it please [him?]

This passage I consider as the continuation of the preceding conversation. The spouse had invited the beloved to partake an entertainment she had provided for him in an adjacent village, where she promises to give every proof of her affection. But here the modesty of her sex seems to check the expression of her attachment, and she suggests a wish that her relation to him were rather that of an infant brother than a husband; that she might be at liberty to express her affection in the strongest and most public manner, without incurring the charge of forwardness, or indecorum1.

She then anticipates such a scene, and sup. poses herself in his embraces, as in a former sec

tion; on which I would only remark here, the wish that her relation to Solomon were of the na ture I have stated, farther precludes the possibi lity of any indelicacy in the ideas of the writer, in the chorus, which is here repeated to conclude the section'.

One expression in this short paragraph is indeed doubtful from an ambiguity of the original, which instead of 'who would instruct me' might be rendered, thou shouldst instruct me2;' and I confess I have some hesitation which to prefer, as the authorities are pretty equally divided.

1 There is a material difference, however, in the expression. Instead of ]אם if ye awake,' &c. as in chap. ii. 7. iii. 5. it is here put interrogatively Why should ye disturb? Why should you awake?" &c. Five MSS. indeed add, by the antelopes, and by the hinds of the field;' which words are also read in the Arabic and Alexandrian copy of the LXX; but the Vatican LXX. adds only, by the hinds of the field, which makes it probable these words are borrowed from the former passages. About one hundred MSS. prefix a vau to the word head, but I think very unaccountably.

2 The verb )תלמדני( being here the future in pihel (as the Jewish grammarians call it) may either be the third person feminine, she would teach, or as the second masculine, thou shouldst teach;' but Dr. Hodgson and the editor of Calmet render Talmudni as the proper name of the queen's mother, though I conceive without sufficient reason.

The LXX. here introduce a clause from chap. iii. 4, and Mr. Green, who transposes the second verb, reads the passage thus,

' I would lead thee into the house of my mother, • I would bring thee into the apartment of her that con

ceived me,

That thou mightest be my guide.'.

but I confess I am Jealous of mere conjectural emendations.

(

If the teaching here mentioned be referred to the mother, the question occurs, 'In what would * she instruct her daughter?" and the answer is, In the duties of her new relation; but if the verb be taken in the second person, as I am much inclined to admit, the expresson must be understood more generally, thou shouldst instruct me,' i. e. be my preceptor.

The spiced wine is thought to allude to a custom of the parties drinking wine from the same cup in one part of the marriage ceremony, and we know that spiced wine was a great delicacy in the east.

In the allegorical application of these verses we may observe,

1. That believers wish to enjoy the most in timate relation to, and communion with their Lord.

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1 Spiced wines were not peculiar to the Jews. Hafiz • speaks of wine "richly bitter, richly sweet." The Romans lined their vessels (amphora) with odorous gums, • to give the wine a warm bitter flavour, and it is said the Poles and Spaniards have a similar method to give their ,wines a favourite relish'. Nott's Odes of Hafiz, note. p. 30.

* The word )עסיס(, rendered by our translators juice, is properly new wine,' or must: and the new wine of pomegranates is, either new wine acidulated with the juice of pomegranates, which the Turks about Aleppo still mix * with their dishes for this purpose; or rather wine made * of the juice of pomegranates, of whch Sir J. Chardin ' says they still make considerable quantities in the east.' See Harmer's Observations, vol. I. p. 377, 8.

] For רמני many MSS. read רמנים or רמונים.[

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O could I call thee by a brother's name, ' that tender title would indulge my bliss!'

Happily we may do this: since our gracious Redeemer hath partaken of our flesh and of our blood, he is not ashamed to call us brethren,' while he fulfils all the tenderness and affection implied in the character of a brother.

2. It becomes the disciples of Jesus to avow their attachment to him in the most decided and public manner. They may kiss him and not be ashamed; because, (1.) There is no treachery in the kiss: they do not say, as Judas did, Hail Master!' and betray him.-(2.) There is no un seemliness in the freedom-it is an 'holy kiss,' and becomes a saint. The attachment of a believer to his Lord must be (like the weapons of his warfare) not carnal, but spiritual: not temporål, but divine.

3. That reverend familiarity which accompanies true piety is not only distinct but distant from the pertness and presumption of hypocrites and enthusiasts; and therefore not to be despi.

'sed.'

4. When the church is instructed, the Lord is entertained: his delight is in them that fear him; and when they frequent his house for instruction, and meet him at his table, it is to him, as well as them, a feast of fat things of wine on the lees ' well refined.'-' Behold, I stand at the door and 'knock! If any man hear my voice, and open 'the door, I will come in to him, and will sup 'with him, and he with me.'

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