the Gospel and reforming of the Church by the ministry of Luther and other late divines.
Chap. vi. describes the state of the Church reformed by the ministry of Luther and other late divines, and the calling in of the Jews.
Chap. vii.-viii. 4, describes the estate of the Jewish Church when they shall come to be converted unto the Lord.
Chap. viii. 5-14, describes the solicitude which the Church of Judea and Assyria cherished for the growth and establishment of the good people in Egypt, the destruction of the Turks, the union of all Christians, the coming of the Lord, &c.
1650. John Trapp, however, adhered to the more general
view, and regarded this Song as "a treasury of the most sacred
and highest mysteries of Holy Scriptures, streaming out all
along, under the parable of a marriage, that full torrent of
spiritual love that is betwixt Christ and the Church." . . . "The
form of it is dramatical and dialogistical; the chief speakers
are, not Solomon and the Shulamite, as Castellio makes it, but
Christ and his Church. Christ also hath associates (those
friends of the bridegroom), viz., the prophets, apostles, pastors,
and teachers, who put in a word sometimes; as likewise do the
fellow-friends of the bride, viz. whole churches or particular
Christians."[1]
1688. Hennischius not only adopted the view of Brightman and Cocceius, but even exceeded it, and called his commentary upon this book,[2] "The Apocalypse in the Canticles." He found in the Song of Songs seven periods of the Church described, answerable to the states of the seven Asiatic Churches in the Revelation of St. John.
