James Durham
Napthali Press
Hardback
392 pages

"Clavis Cantici" by James Durham. For many centuries, the Song of Songs was a favourite Old Testament book for Christian preachers. Yet in modern times, it has become rare for preachers to tackle this book, with many feeling uncertain how to approach it. Or, when it has been "preached" on, it has been distorted by carnal and prurient interpretations. One way or another it has become a closed book to much of the visible church, being described as "<Actinic:Variable Name = 'resembling'/> locks to which the keys have been lost." James Durham's Clavis Cantici (The Key to the Song) seeks to provide just those means to open this book, rich in spiritual imagery and teaching, to Christian readers. In these pages, Durham presents the traditional Reformed understanding of the Song of Songs as an allegory of that "divine mystery," setting out "the mutual love and spiritual union and communion that is between Christ and His church, and their mutual carriage towards one another" in the hills and valleys of the Christian life. This chaste and Spirit-taught view reveals this part of Scripture to be an experiential diagnostic of the Christian's walk with God. As M'Cheyne put it, "There is no book of the Bible which affords a better test of the depth of a man's Christianity than the Song of Solomon."