Page:The Song of Songs (1857).djvu/95

 Rev. Cant.

1. The Church at Ephesus       ii. 1-7      i. 5-17          33-370

2.       ,,     Smyrna             8-11     ii. 1-17        371-707

3.       ,,     Pergamos          12-17    iii. 1-11        708-1045

4.       ,,     Thyatira          18-29     iv. 1-v. 1     1046-1383

5.       ,,     Sardis        iii. 1-6      v. 2-vi. 2    1384-1721

6.       ,,     Philadelphia       7-13     vi. 9-vii. 14  1722-2059

7.       ,,     Laodicea          14-22   viii. 1-14       2060 and onwards.

1693. The profound scholarship and exquisite taste of Bossuet, though a Roman Catholic Bishop, would not allow him to follow these extravagant theories. Presuming that the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of Pharaoh is the primary object of this Song, and that the nuptial feast among the Jews was hebdomadal, Bossuet divides the poem into seven parts, corresponding to the seven days of the supposed duration of the wedding. The following is his division:—

Chapter.

1st day       i.-ii. 6.

2nd day    ii. 7-17.

3rd day     iii.-v. 1.

4th day     v. 2-vi. 9.

5th day   vi. 10-vii. 11.

6th day  vii. 12-viii. 3.

7th day  viii. 4-14.

1700. Bishop Patrick, however, would not admit any literal meaning, but found, almost in every word, some delightful mystery. Even the words, "Thy navel is like a round goblet which wanteth not liquor; thy belly is like a heap of wheat set about with lilies," (chap. vii. 2,) at which so much umbrage has been taken, this pious prelate says, may mean "the which the Church administers to her children; being represented by the former, and  by the other part of the figure."