The Holy Ghost hath been pleased to say so much concerning this bird in his sacred word, that I think it a duty, as well as a pleasure, to enquire somewhat concerning a bird so particularly recommended to our notice.
In the law, we find many offerings appointed of the turtle; and before the law, Abraham was directed to the use of, the turtle in sacrifice, by the Lord himself. (See Genesis 15:9) But what I would yet more particularly desire the reader to regard concerning the turtle, is the application of it in a figurative way to several characters in Scripture. The church calls herself, the Lord's turtle dove, (Psalms 74:19) and begs the Lord as such to keep her from her enemies; and Jesus calls the church his dove, (Song of Solomon 2:14) as if in answer to this cry, and bids her see her security, for that she is in the cliffs of the rockperhaps, meaning the secret decrees of JEHOVAH, or, in Christ, the rock of ages, or probably both.
But some have supposed that by the turtle is meant God the Holy Ghost, whose voice is said, (Song of Solomon 2:12) after the long winter of the Jewish dispensation, to be heard in our land. And no doubt the voice of the Holy Ghost might truly be said to be heard, when by the preaching of the gospel salvation was proclaimed in the name, and by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
While speaking on this subject, I hope I shall be pardoned when I add, that all representation off God the Holy Ghost by the pictures and paintings of a dove are improper, and disgrace the subject they are intended to honour: neither are they Scriptural, nor founded in any one authority of the Lord.
I am not to be told that the custom hath arisen from the subject of our Lord's baptism, where it is said that "when Jesus went up straightway out of the water, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him." (Matthew 3:16) But this by no means becomes the least authority for the representing the Holy Ghost as a dove; for the passage expressly saith, that the Spirit of God was seen by Jesus descending as a dove descends, that is, hovering over a thing, and at length resting upon it: so the Holy Ghost descended, and rested upon Christ. But if the passage had meant to say, that the Holy Ghost descended in the shape and form of adore, the words would have been very different. Every one, that knows the original, knows that the words are (osei peristeran), which is, as the words are rendered in our Testament, like a dove; but if it had been meant to say, that the Holy Ghost came down in the shape and form of a dove, the words ought to have been, osei peristeras. There is a most essential difference between the two.
In the descent of the Holy Ghost at the day of Pentecost, we find the representation very much to the same purport, and if compared with this of St. Matthew, will serve to throw great light upon it. "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." (Acts 2:3) Now here the words are, like as of fire, (osei puros) not really fire, but like as of fire. So in the former instance, like a dove; not really a dove, but like it; for it was indeed, and in truth, the Holy Ghost that hovered over the person of the Lord Jesus, and rested upon him, as a dove when descending hovers over a thing, and at length resteth upon it. This plain illustration of the passage, will fully prove the meaning of the evangelists, and, of consequence, shew how unscriptural, irreverent, and improper, it must be to paint the invisible and eternal Spirit in the figure of a dove.
And I beg the reader before he dismisseth the subject, that he will take with him the consideration what a blessed, full, and unanswerable testimony this passage, concerning Christ's baptism, affords to the glorious doctrine of our holy faith. "There are three which heart record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one." (1 John 5:7) Here was Jesus in the act of being baptized; here was the Holy Ghost descending like a dove, and lighting upon him; and here was the voice of God the Father from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:16-17) Reader, I beseech you to carry this precious testimony about with you wherever you go, as among the sweetest credentials of your holy religion. It will serve, under the Lord, to act as an antidote against the poisonous and pestilential vapours of the present adulterous and sinful generation.