a canonical book of the Old Testament, otherwise called the Song of Solomon; by the Jews the Song of Songs, Canticum Canticorum. The book of Canticles is usually supposed to be an epistle-lamium composed by Solomon, on occasion of his marriage with the king of Egypt's daughter. But those who penetrate further into the mystery, find in it the marriage of Jesus Christ with human nature, the church, and good men. On this principle the Canticles is held to be a continued allegory, wherein, under the terms of a common wedding, a divine and spiritual marriage is expressed. This song contains the adventures of seven days and seven nights; the exact time allowed for the celebration of marriage among the Hebrews. The Jews themselves, apprehending the book liable to be understood in a gross and carnal manner, prohibited the reading of it before the age of 30, and the same usage anciently obtained in the Christian church. Among the ancients, Theodore Mopsuestanus rejected the book of Canticles as not divine. Divers rabbins have also questioned its being written by inspiration. It is alleged, that the name of God is not once found in it. Mr Whiston has a discourse express to prove that the Canticles is not a sacred book of the Old Testament. He alleges it indeed to have been written by King Solomon the son of David; but asserts that it was composed at the time when that prince, blinded by his concubines, was sunk in lust and idolatry. This he chiefly infers from the general character of vanity and dissoluteness which reigns through the Canticles: in which there is not, according to Whiston, one thought that leads the mind towards religion, but all is worldly and carnal, to say no worse. For the mystic sense, he asserts it to be without foundation; and that the book is not cited as canonical by any writer before the destruction of Jerusalem. Mr Whiston will have it to have been taken into the canon between the years 77 and 128, when allegories came into vogue, and the rabbins began to corrupt the text of Scripture. Grotius, Nierembergius, the Dutch divines who criticised F. Simon, Menetrier, Basnage, and some others, seem also to take the Canticles for a profane composition, on a footing with the love pieces of Catullus or Ovid. But this opinion is refuted by Michaelis, Majus, Witsius, Nat. Alexander, Outrein, Francius, and others. Mr Whiston's arguments have been particularly considered by Itchener, and also by Dr Gill. R. Akiba finds the book of Canticles more divine than the rest; the whole world, according to this rabbin, is not worth that day when the Canticles was given to Israel; for, whereas all the hagiographers are holy, the Canticles is the holy of holies.