When the spouse hath gone thus far in the description of
him, she concludes all in this general assertion: “He is wholly desirable,
— altogether to be desired or beloved.” As if she should have said, — “I
have thus reckoned up some of the perfections of the creatures (things of
most value, price, usefulness, beauty, glory, here below), and compared
some of the excellencies of my Beloved unto them. In this way of allegory
I can carry things no higher; I find nothing better or more desirable to
shadow out and to present his loveliness and desirableness: but, alas! all
this comes short of his perfections, beauty, and comeliness; ‘he is all
wholly to be desired, to be beloved;’ ” —