Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 30 November, 2025
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
The Greatest Song Ever (8)
Christ Praises and Promises His Spouse [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Song of Solomon 1
Text: Song of Solomon 1:9-11
I. The Striking Comparison
II. The Lovely Affirmation
III. The Trinitarian Promise
Psalms: 100:1-5; 2:1-8; 147:3-11; 103:1-7
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Comfort of Assurance [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I John 5
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 1
I. Regarding Jesus Christ
II. Regarding Eternal Life
III. Regarding Providential Care
Psalms: 22:1-5, 10-12; 2:6-12; 49:14-20; 91:9-16
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Matthew Henry on Song of Solomon 1:9-11: “His gracious purpose [is] to add to her ornaments; for where God has given true grace he will give more grace; to him that has shall be given. Is the church courageous in her resistance of sin, as the horses in Pharaoh’s chariots? Is she comely in the exercise of grace, as with rows of jewels and chains of gold? She shall be yet further beautified (Song 1:11): We will make thee borders of gold, inlaid, or enamelled, with studs of silver. Whatever is wanting shall be made up, till the church and every true believer come to be perfect in beauty; see Eze. 16:14. This is here undertaken to be done by the concurring power of the three persons in the Godhead: We will do it; like that (Gen 1:26), ‘Let us make man; so let us new-make him, and perfect his beauty.’ The same that is the author will be the finisher of the good work; and it cannot miscarry.”
John Gill: “Horses have been and are much delighted in by princes; and there is no reason to question but that those which ran in Pharaoh’s chariots were so by him; Solomon’s fancy and inclinations ran so strongly this way, and he took so great a delight in those creatures, that he broke through a divine command, Deut. 17:16, compared with I Kings 10:29; to satisfy and indulge his carnal pleasure; and many other princes have run prodigious and excessive lengths this way. Julius Caesar set up a marble effigy of his horse in the temple; Antonius Verus erected a golden image for his. Nero clothed his with a senator’s robe, and told him out a weekly stipend; Poppea Sabina, Nero’s wife, had golden shoes made for hers; Caligula used to invite his to super, and held out his golden cups to him; he would have made him a consul, as he afterward made himself a priest, and his horse his colleague; Alexander the great built a city in honour of his Bucephalus; Cimon the Athenian buried his mares by his own sepulchre; and Commodus the emperor buried his horse in the Vatican. These instances, though vain and sinful, and not to be imitated, yet show how much some princes have delighted in this sort of creatures. Now, as these creatures were the delight of princes, and, perhaps, of Pharaoh, so are believers the delight of Christ; he first makes them beautiful, and then delights in that beauty which he has put upon them; ‘the lord taketh pleasure in his people, he will beautify the meek with salvation;’ his heart is often ravished with his won grace in them, and his soul delights in that which he himself has given them; there is nothing in them of their own which can render them acceptable to him, and yet they are his jewels, the apple of his eye, and the delight of his heart” (An Exposition of the Song of Solomon [Marshallton, DE: The National Foundation for Christian Education, n.d.], p. 42).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Monday night catechism classes:
5:00 PM: Felicity & Sophie (Juniors NT)
5:45 PM: Grace, Jonas, Liam & Sammy (Beginners NT)
6:30 PM: Eleanora, Hannah, Jorja, Penelope & Xander (Seniors NT)
7:15 PM: Jason, Maisie & Sebastian (Heidelberg Catechism – Book 2)
The Council meets tomorrow evening at 8 PM.
Tuesday Bible study will meet this week at 11 AM to consider the latter days of Paul and Barnabas at Antioch of Pisidia during the first missionary journey (Acts 13:46-52).
The Belgic Confession class on Wednesday at 7:30 PM will discuss Christ’s unexpected coming.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. Haak is entitled “The Concealed Time of the Lord’s Return” (Mark 13:32).
Iron Sharpens Iron Interview: Chris Arnzen and Rev. Stewart will discuss Martin and Katie Luther’s courtship, marriage and influence on Friday, 12 December (7-9 PM).
Rev. J. Engelsma will give a lecture on “Biblical Masculinity” on Wednesday, 14 January, at 7:30 PM in the CPRC.
The congregational dinner is being planned for Friday, 16 January.
Offerings: £1,381.45.
Translation Additions: 1 Dutch, 1 French, 2 Hungarian, 1 Indonesian, 2 Polish and 8 Urdu.
PRC News: Byron Center PRC called Rev. Barnhill to be missionary-on-loan to the Philippines. Calvary PRC has formed a trio of Revs. Eriks, DeBoer and Engelsma. Hope PRC (Redlands, CA) will call from a duo of Revs. D. Holstege and DeBoer. Southwest PRC has extended a call to Rev. DeBoer.
More Quotes on the Song of Solomon
Joseph Benson (1749-1821): “The most excellent of all songs. And so this might well be called, whether we consider the author of it, who was a great prince, and the wisest of all mortal men; or the subject of it, which is not Solomon, but a greater than Solomon, even Christ, and his marriage with the church; or the matter of it, which is most lofty, containing in it the noblest of all the mysteries contained either in the Old or the New Testament; most pious and pathetical, breathing forth the hottest flames of love between Christ and his people, most sweet and comfortable, and useful to all that read it with serious and Christian eyes” (Commentary on the Old and New Testaments).
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847): “It would bespeak not only a more pious but a more philosophic docility, to leave that book in undisturbed possession of the place which it now enjoys, where it might minister, as in ages heretofore, to the saintly and seraphic contemplations of the advanced Christian, who discovers that in this poem a greater than Solomon is here, whose name to him is as ointment poured forth, and who, while he luxuriates with spiritual satisfaction over pages that the world has unhallowed, breathes of the ethereal purity of the third heavens, as well as their ethereal fervour.”
E. W. Hengstenberg (1802-1869): “An important link in the chain of the Messianic hopes is formed by the Song of Solomon. It is intimately associated with Ps. 72, which was written by Solomon, and represents the Messiah as the Prince of Peace, imperfectly prefigures by Solomon as His type. As in this Psalm, so also in the Song of Solomon, the coming of the Messiah forms the subject throughout, and He is introduced there under the name of Solomon the Peaceful One” (Christology of the Old Testament, vol. 1, p. 112).
George Burrowes (1811-1894): “In the glorious temple of revelation, a place which the Lord our God has chosen to cause his name to dwell there, even in brighter glory than in the temple of the material world, does this book stand, like one of the apartments in the temple on Mount Zion, small indeed, but exquisitely finished, the walls and ceiling of something richer than cedar, richer than bright ivory overlaid with sapphires, and filled with specimens of truth brought down from heaven by the Holy Spirit, and here deposited for the comfort and delight of those who love the habitation of God’s house, and the place where his glory dwelleth” (A Commentary on the Song of Solomon [London: Forgotten Books, 2012], pp. 85-86).
Robert Murray McCheyne (1813-1843): “No book furnishes a better test than does the Song of the depth of a man’s Christianity. If his religion be in his head only, a dry form of doctrines; or if it hath place merely in his fancy, like Pliable in Pilgrim’s Progress, he will see nothing here to attract him. But if his religion have a hold on his heart, this will be a favourite portion of the word of God.”
Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890): “Solomon is a type of him of whom it can be said, ‘a greater than Solomon is here’ (Matt. 12:12). Referred to Him the antitype, the earthly contents receive a heavenly import and glorification. We see therein the mystery of the love of Christ and His church shadowed forth, not, however, allegorically, but typically.”
Andrew Robert Fausset (1821-1910): “She by turns is a vinedresser, shepherdess, midnight inquirer, and prince’s consort and daughter, and He a suppliant drenched with night dews, and a king in His palace, in harmony with the various relations of the Church and Christ. As Ecclesiastes sets forth the vanity of love of the creature, Canticles sets forth the fullness of the love which joins believers and the Saviour. The entire economy of salvation … aims at restoring to the world the lost spirit of love. God is love, and Christ is the embodiment of the love of God. As the other books of Scripture present severally their own aspects of divine truth, so Canticles furnishes the believer with language of holy love, wherewith his heart can commune with his Lord; and it portrays the intensity of Christ’s love to him; the affection of love was created in man to be a transcript of the divine love, and the Song clothes the latter in words; were it not for this, we should be at a loss for language, having the divine warrant, wherewith to express, without presumption, the fervour of the love between Christ and us … Love to Christ is the strongest, as it is the purest, of human passions, and therefore needs the strongest language to express it: to the pure in heart the phraseology, drawn from the rich imagery of Oriental poetry, will not only appear not indelicate or exaggerated, but even below the reality” (Critical, Experimental and Practical Commentary).
Adelaide Newton (1824-1854): “The general character of this book in contrast to Ecclesiastes is very striking. Ecclesiastes from beginning to end tells of the vanity of the creature—Canticles of the sufficiency of the Beloved … One verse in St. John’s Gospel gives the contrast perfectly. Ecclesiastes is the first half of the verse ‘Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again’; Canticles is the latter half of the verse ‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.’ Thus the book is full of Jesus. But it is Jesus in a special character. He is not seen here as ‘Saviour,’ nor as ‘King,’ nor as ‘High priest,’ nor as ‘Prophet.’ … No! It is a dearer and closer relation than any of these—it is Jesus as our ‘Bridegroom’; Jesus in marriage union with His Bride, His Church” (quoted in A. M. Hodgkin, Christ in All the Scriptures [London: Pickering & Inglis, Ltd., 1973], p. 127).
James Hudson Taylor (1832-1905): “Well may this book be called the Song of Songs! There is no song like it. If it is read aright, it brings a gladness to the heart far beyond the joy of earthly things as heaven is higher than the earth. It has been well said that this is a song which grace alone can teach, and experience alone can learn. Our Saviour, speaking of the union of the branch with the vine, adds, ‘These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full’ (John 15:11). And the beloved disciple, writing of Him who ‘was from the beginning,’ who ‘was with the Father, and was manifested unto us,’ in order that we might share the fellowship which He enjoyed, also says, ‘These things we write unto you, that your joy may be full’ (I John 1:1-2, 4)” (Union and Communion, or Thoughts on the Song of Solomon [Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark Ltd, repr. 1929]).
Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892): “This book of the Canticles seems to us to belong to the secret place of the tabernacle of the Most High. We see our Savior’s face in almost every page of the Bible, but here we see his heart and feel his love to us.”
