Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
Ver. 9. Thou hast ravished mine heart, &c.] Thou hast caught it, and carried it from me, so that I am least master of it; for Animus est potius ubi amat, quam ubi animat, a The heart is the place where it loves, and not where it lives. The Hebrew is, "Thou hast behearted me" (as we say, one is beheaded, behipt, &c.). Thou hast robbed me of my heart, and laid thyself in the room; thy love is fixed in the table of my heart, so the Chaldee expoundeth it. Excellently spake he, b who called the Holy Scripture Cor et animam Dei, the heart and soul of God: and another c father is bold to say, Cor Pauli, est cor Christi, Christ and Paul had exchanged hearts as it were. For, "we have the mind of Christ," 1Co 2:16 saith he, - communication of Christ's secrets. And surely when the saints hide Christ's words in their hearts, as his mother Mary did, when they give themselves wholly up to it, as the Macedonians did, so that the word of Christ, "indwells richly in them in all wisdom," Col 3:16 and he by his Spirit putteth "his laws into their minds," so that they assent unto them, and "into their hearts," Heb 8:10 so that they consent unto them, and have the comfort, feeling, and fruition of them, then is his heart ravished with his own handiwork; then is he so far in love with such a soul, as that, Esther like, she may have anything of the King. "The King is not he that can do anything against you"; Jer 38:5 Christ saith seriously so. His heart is become a very lump of love toward his sister, as nearest unto him in consanguinity, his spouse is nearest also in affinity, Sanctior est copula cordis, quam corporis. Christ is endeared to his people in all manner of nearest relations. For whosoever shall do the will of his Father, the same is his brother, and sister, and mother; Mat 12:50 "And in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him." Act 10:35
With one of thine eyes.] With that single eye of thine, Mat 6:22 that looks on me singly abstracted from all other things, and affects thine heart with pure love to me for myself, more than for my Love Tokens; that eye of faith that looks up to my mercy seat, yea, that pierceth heaven, as St Stephan's bodily eye did, he being "full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Act 7:55 Heaven is so high above the earth, that it is a just wonder that we can look up to so admirable a height, and that the very eye is not tired in the way. But faith hath a visive faculty peculiar to itself; it is the evidence of things not seen, Heb 11:1 while it "looks not at the things which are seen" - scil., with the eye of sense - "but at the things that are not seen," viz., but by the eye of faith, 2Co 4:18 whereby Moses "saw him who is invisible." Heb 11:27 Let as many as would "behold the King in his beauty," study Moses' optics, get a patriarch's eye, "see Christ's day afar off," as Abraham did, and "set him at their hand," as David. Psa 16:11 "So shall the King greatly desire their beauty," yea, set them at his right hand with the queen, his spouse, in gold of Ophir. Psalms 45:9 ; Psa 45:11 But then Christ must see their chain of obedience, as well as their eye of faith, even the whole chain of spiritual graces linked one to another. These are the daughters of faith, and good works, the products of them, are the fruits of faith. As chains adorn the neck, so do true virtues a true Christian; these as chains are visible and honourable testimonies of a lively faith, which works by love. These make the true Manlii Torquati See Trapp on " Son 1:10 "
a Augustine.
b Greg. in Rev. iii.
c Chrysost.