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awful threatening by the mouth of this inspired writer:

'Because I have called, and ye refused,

'I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded :— I will also laugh at your calamity ;

I will mock when your fear cometh1.'

And though this threat, in its full terror, applies only to the finally impenitent; yet is it, in a certain extent, applicable to all who refuse to listen to the calls of God in his word and providence. Those who turn a deaf ear to his commands may reasonably expect him to refuse to listen to their petitions. If we trifle with his grace he will withdraw his smiles-he will hide his face in anger till he humble and recover us.

Her disappointment greatly distresses and distracts her. First, her soul failed, or fainted at his word; but then speedily recovering, she loosely throws her veil over her night dress, and runs after him, like one distracted with love, into the city. This, we are to remember, is a dream; but there is a harmony in its circumstances, and this conduct sufficiently accounts for her treatment: for

4. When she was found in the streets the watchmen very properly stopt her, drew aside

1 Prov. i. 24, 26.

21727277, literally, her soul went out of her at his word-perhaps some cutting parting word. So Mrs. Rowe :

Tir'd with my cold delay, farewell, he cries,
Those killing words my fainting soul surprise.

Or the expression may be elliptical- She fainted [at the remembrance of] his word." So Gill, and others.

her veil, and insisted on knowing who she was ; but they went farther, and meeting, we may suppose, with no satisfactory answer, they treated her very roughly they smote, they hurt her. In the parallel vision we have considered the watchmen of Jerusalem as the ministers of the church, and we have no reason here to seek another interpretation. It cannot be denied, however, that in the present instance they are represented as treating the fair stranger with too much roughness and severity; a hint that may not be without its use, if duly attended to by those whom it concerns. The character of a gospel minister requires firmness and plain dealing; but not roughness, rudeness, or unnecessary severity.

Lastly, she charges with a message the virgin daughters of Jerusalem, if they should meet with her beloved. This may be considered as a kind of chorus, which, while it makes a poetical conclusion to the vision, leads to the grand object of this section, the description of the beloved; and appeals from the harshness of the guard to the tenderness of the daughters of Jerusalem.

But you, bright maids of Salem, I adjure
'By your own chaste affections, if you find
My lord, with all your tender eloquence
Relate the anguish of my love-sick heart."

MRS. ROWE.

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Virgins. What is thy beloved more than [another] beloved?
O most beautiful of women!

What is thy beloved more than [another] beloved,
That so thou dost adjure us?

Spouse. My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chief among ten thousand.

His head is wrought and pure gold:
His locks are bushy-black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves by canals of waters-
Washed in milk-sitting by the full [pool.]
His cheeks are as beds of aromatics-
[As] towers of perfumes.

His lips lilies dropping liquid myrrh :

His hands, rings of gold set with the tarshish :
His body, bright ivory covered with sapphires :
His legs, pillars of marble upon pedestals of gold :
His aspect, like Lebanon, noble as the cedars :
His mouth sweetness itself; yea, he is altogether
desirable!

This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem.

As the first verse is merely introductory, we shall immediately consider the outlines of the description, which contains the following particulars:

First, his countenance, alluding perhaps to that of David when a youth, is said to be white and ruddy'-beautiful and healthful; elevated,

1 Sadi, the Persian poet, describing a celestial appearance, says, it was a youth whose colour resembled roses sprink'led over pure snow by the playful virgins of Circassia.'His locks were black as ebony.' [Heron's Letters on Literature, p. 436.] Again the same writer, describing a young man, says--He had just arrived at the opening blossom of youth, and the down had but newly spread itself over the flower of his cheek. [Sulivan's Fables from Gulistan, p. 3.]

brilliant, splendid:-like the standard of an army or to drop the figure, he is the chiefthe choicest among ten thousand';-His head, with the royal crown, is compared to a jewel of gold of immense value-His locks are repre

The chief among ten thousand I have preserved this rendering, as it is universally allowed to preserve the writer's general idea. The original term is by most of the translators and critics rendered vexillatus, a standardbearer, or rather one distinguished by a standard-.e. he is distinguished from others by his charms, as much as a commander in chief is distinguished by his standard and attendants.

Under his standard marshall'd are

Ten thousand youths, but none so fair.'

I know that Mr. Harmer has suggested a different interpretation, namely, that of shone upon by 10,000 lamps;' but I consider it as unsupported, and far less elegant than the above. I have no objection, however, to adopt the suggestion of the ingenious editor of Calmet, [Continuation, p. 114.] who considers the prince as himself the standard, observing that standards were, in the East, a kind of fiery beacon, and quotes Shakespeare's character of Hot spur to illustrate his idea.

His honour stuck upon him, as the sun

'In the grey vault of heaven; and by his light
'Did all the chivalry of England move

To do brave acts.. O wondrous him!'

2 There are two words for gold here used-one [] supposed to mean stamped, or standard, and the other [] pure, solid gold. But the former word appears to me to signify gold wrought by the hand of the jeweller, (see Prov. xxv. 12.) and particularly in the form of a coronet or ancient crown: thus Psalm xlv. 9. Upon thy right hand 'did stand the queen in [n] gold of Ophir,' i. e. in a crown of that gold; so in this place I suppose the crown, mentioned in chap. iii. 11. particularly alluded to; and that the expression, stripped of its poetic dress, means simply, that he wore a royal crown, which we know was of pure gold, Ps. xxi. 3.

PP

sented bushy and wavy as the palm tree'; black and shining as the raven :-His eyes are compared to doves by channels of waters-to doves washed with milk-(or milk-white doves) sitting by the full pool, or pools2 :-His cheeks, covered with their manly down, to a bed, or rather beds, of aromatics; and to towers or vases of smoking perfumes3-His lips are compared to the su

1 So the original word (nn) evidently means, and is thus explained by Michaelis. Bp. Percy adds, on the authority of a traveller, that, the hair may be very aptly 'compared to the fine wavy young leaves of the palm, on 'their first bursting forth from the spatha or sheaths in which they are contained.' (New Tr. p. 97.) The jettiness of the hair sufficiently proves that the former expression of a golden head could not refer to the use of gold dust for powder, which indeed cannot be proved of so high antiquity. Neither could it apply to tinging the complexion with henna, because he is described as white and ' ruddy.'

On examining the original word (px) translated variously rivers, torrents, waterfalls, &c. I am convinced it means rather canals, artificial streams; in order to correspond with which, I supply pool, or pools, as several of Kennicott's MSS. I see read, or have read, the adjective () in the plural. In referring this term not to the eyes of the beloved, but to the doves, I follow respectable authorities, as Bps. Patrick and Percy, and Mr. Harmer; and adhere to the oriental style, in a passage already cited (p. 108.) from the Gitagovinda, where the poet compares the eyes of his mistress to a pair of water-birds of azure plumage, that sport near a full-blown lotos on a pool, in the season of dew! The phrase washed in milk however, I consider as describing the doves as milk-white, which, though not so common as the grey pigeon in the east, were not the less valuable or esteemed.

3 The word beds is plural in several MSS. the LXX. Aquila, and Vulgate; and the word cheeks' being plural

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