Forbshearts of his chosen, tells us that the Word of God hath three degrees of operation in the first it falleth to mens ears as the sound of many waters, a
mighty great, and confused sound, and which commonly brings neither terror
nor joy, but yet a wondering and acknowledgement of a strange force, and
more than humane power, this is that effect which many felt hearing Christ,
when they were astonished at his doctrine, as teaching with authority; what
manner of doctrine is this? never man spake like this man: the next effect is
the voyce of thunder, which bringeth not only wonder, but feare also: not only filleth the eares with sound, and the heart with astonishment, but moreover
shaketh and terrifieth the conscience: the third effect is the sound of harping,
while the word not only ravisheth with admiration, and striketh the
Conscience with terrour, but also lastly filleth it with sweet peace and joy.^26
Interestingly, Ambrose duplicates this same reference earlier in Prima.^27 Moreover,
this reinforces the great importance the Puritans placed upon the transforming power
of Scripture. More specifically the Puritan commentaries on the Song of Songs
further strengthen this understanding of ravishment. John Cotton exegetes Song of
Songs 4:9 declaring, “ravishment is a force put upon a person loving, whereby he is
more for the person beloved, then for himself. And when the heart is ravished, the
person is willingly and heartily taken up with affection and attendance to another
more than himself.”^28 James Durham’s An Exposition of the Song of Solomon was
another very popular commentary. John Owen penned the dedication, confirming his
appreciation for the devotional language of love in spiritual marriage in Canticles that
he had previously employed in his Communion with God.^29 Durham declares that
ravished describes “Christ’s unspeakable love, as it were, [and] coins new words to
discover itself by, it is so unexpressible.” He continues to enlarge its meaning by
asserting “[t]he word is borrowed from the passionateness of love, when it seizes
deeply on a man, it leaves him not master of his heart, but the object loved hath it.”^30
(^26) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 490.
(^27) Ambrose, Prima in Prima, Media, Ultima (1654), 63.
(^28) Cotton, Brief Exposition of Canticles, 97.
(^2930) See chapter 2.
Durham, Exposition of Song of Solomon, 225.