Consequently this leads some contemporary scholars to contend that the
Puritan allegorizing of the Song of Songs was due to their squeamishness regarding
sex and attempt to minimize it.^57 However, others maintain the opposite and Williams
declares:
[f]or the vast majority of Puritan writers interpreted Canticles as an allegory of
the love between Christ and the individual believer. This hermeneutic was not
chosen chiefly to de-eroticise the Song, but to increase its spiritual value, for it
was the very sensuality of its language which made it such an apt descriptive
tool for ecstatic enjoyment of God. Puritan mysticism was communicated
using a profoundly sensual and eve n erotic love-language.^58
McGinn recognizes the same principle within the broader context and asserts that,
“erotic imagery of kisses and breasts, was one of the central scriptural foundations in
the history of Christian mysticism.”^59 Therefore, it is illuminating that the Puritans
turned to Proverbs 31 as their favorite text for wedding sermons not the Song of
Songs.^60 Perhaps in their mind the Song of Songs had been elevated for more
exclusive use in speaking of their relationship with Jesus in spiritual marriage rather
than their earthly marriage.
Puritan Celebration of Godly Marriage and Sex
The Puritans often spoke of their earthly marriage as godly marriage.^61
Richard Godbeer asserts that the Puritans drew inspiration for their godly marriage
(^57) Scheper, “Reformation and Song of Songs,” 558. (^)
(^58) Williams, “Puritan Enjoyment of God,” 194-5, cf. 184, 196.
(^5960) McGinn, “Mysticism and Sexuality,” 46. cf. McGinn, “Language of Love,” 205.
See for example the four volumes of wedding sermons published as Conjugal Duty:
Delightful Wedding 61 - Sermons in the Dr Williams’s Library.
The primary sources will be introduced throughout this section. The secondary
literature on godly marriage is extensive. Some useful sources include: Haller and
Haller, “Puritan Art of Love”; Frye, “Puritanism on Conjugal Love”; Leites, “Duty to
Desire”; Ryken, Worldly Saints, 39-55; Todd, “Spiritualized Household”; Packer,
Quest for Godliness, 259-73; Doriani, “Puritans, Sex, and Pleasure”; Fletcher,
“Protestant Idea of Marriage”; Williams, “Puritan Enjoyment of God,” 159Peters, Patterns of Piety. - 173; and