Song of Solomon 1:17

The beams of our house [are] cedar, [and] our rafters of fir.

Ver. 17. The beams of our house are cedar,] Not my, but our house, as before, our bed, and after, our galleries. All is common between the bridegroom and the bride - bed, board, house, all. It should be so between married couples, who should not have several purses, interests, &c., but both bring in what they have or get to the common hive. The Church is Christ's house, and every faithful soul is God's building; 1Ti 3:15 Heb 3:6 he "plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, that he may say to Zion, Thou art my people." Isa 51:16 The great Architect of the world doth as wonderful a work in converting a soul to himself as he did in setting up this goodly edifice of the universe. This stately structure of the new creature he makes of the best materials, cedar, cypress, boratine, &c. A mud wall may be made up of dirt, straw, stones of the street, &c.; not so a stately palace, a marble monument. Solomon's temple was built of cedar wood; so was the temple of Diana of the Ephesians, as Vitruvius testifieth: the devil will needs be God's ape. He knew that cedar is a tree strong and durable; and for the dryness of it, the timber chawneth not, rotteth not; yea, it hath a property to preserve other things from putrefaction. A late writer observeth of it that viventes res putrefacit et perdit, putridas autem restituit et conservat. a The Church is also stable, and cannot be ruined; it is founded upon a rock; the elect cannot be finally deceived the faithful ministers, by preaching law and gospel, kill the quick Pharisee, and quicken the dead publican; Romans 7:9 2Co 2:16 they "declare unto man his righteousness," Job 33:23 and show him how he may be "found in Christ" (viz., when sought for by the justice of God), "not having his own righteousness," Php 3:9 those filthy garments, Zec 3:4 but the bride's "fine white linen, and shining," Rev 19:14 and after a few turns taken here with Christ in the terrace or galleries of the Church militant made of fir, he shall have places given him in heaven, to walk among "those that stand by"; Zec 3:7 that is, among the seraphim, as the Chaldee paraphrast expounds it.

a Hinc. Horat., Cedro dignum, et cerite cera. - Scribon. in Physic., lib. ii.