Tuesday 6 December 2016

Six Excellent Christological Sermons from the book "The Song of Songs"

I would like to commend "Five Excellent Sermons" by men who have preached on "The Song of Songs" from a Christological position.

John Flavel (1628-1691): This puritans preacher was a favourite from his writings with Archibald Alexander, one of the foremost theologians that the American content has produced, in my view. This sermon is found in Volume 6 of the Works of John Falvel published by the Banner of Truth.

A Coronation Sermon: Preached at Dartmouth to Celebrate the Coronation of William III and Mary II on 11th April 1689.
The text from The Song of Songs was 3:11 "Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart".

Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813-1843). These sermons are found in the book by the Banner of Truth "Memoirs and Remains".

Song of Songs 2:2-3 "Christ and the Believer".
"As a lily among brambles, so is my love among the young women. As an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. With great delight I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste".

Song of Songs 2:8-17 "The Voice of the Beloved", preached the first day he was in St Peter's Church in Dundee.
"The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains".

Song of Songs 3:4 "Holding Christ Fast".
"Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me".

Song of Songs 4:12 "The Church a Garden and Fountain".
"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed".

Song of Songs 5:6-7 "The Church Coming Up from the Wilderness".
"I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls".

May these sermons help us all to rediscover the glories of Christ and the church in this amazing book of holy Scripture!

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