The following comes from:
A Confession of Faith of Several Churches of Christ in the County
of Somerset, and of some Churches in the Counties neer adjacent (1656)
XLVI.
And that a church so believing,
and so walking, though despised and of low esteem, is no less in the account
of the Lord and King, than though
BLACK, yet comely, Cant. 1:5
FAIREST, without spot, Cant. 4:7.
PRECIOUS, Isa 43:4.
BEAUTIFUL, Cant. 7:1.
HOLY, without blemish, Eph. 5:27.
PLEASANT, Cant. 1:15.
WHOSE soul loveth Christ, Cant.
1:7.
RUNNERS after Christ, Cant.
1:4.
HONOURABLE, Isa. 43:4.
THE desire of Christ, Cant.
7:10.
COMPLEAT in Christ, Col. 2:10.
LOVERS of the Father, John 16:27.
THE blessed of the Father, Matt.
25:34.
KEPT by the Lord, I Pet. 1:5; Isa.
27:3.
GRAVEN on the psalms of his hands,
Isa. 49;16.
TENDER to the Lord as the apple of
his eye, Zech. 2:8.
TAUGHT of the Lord, Isa. 54:13.
ONE that hath obtained mercy, I
Pet. 2:10.
ONE that hath a redemption, Eph
1:7.
THE gates of hell shall not prevail
against it, Matt. 16:18.
IN that church be glory unto God
by Jesus Christ, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Eph 2:21. (William
Joseph McGlothlin, Baptist Confessions of Faith [Philadelphia: American
Baptist Publication Society, 1911], 214-15, emphasis in bold added)
Notice the use of the Song of Solomon (“Canticles”) and how the
work is interpreted through the lens of ecclesiology. Here are the relevant
passages quoted in full:
Draw me, we will run after thee:
the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in
thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. (Song
1:4)
I am black, but comely, O ye
daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
(Song 1:5)
Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon: for
why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions?
(Song 1:7)
Thou art all fair, my love; there
is no spot in thee. (Song 4:7)
How beautiful are thy feet with
shoes, O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work
of the hands of a cunning workman. (Song 7:1)
I am my beloved's, and his desire
is toward me. (Song 7:10)
