September 5

My garden. - Song of Solomon 5:1.

THE church is here compared to a garden. A garden has a very interesting aspect; and there are four gardens which may furnish us with ample materials for reflection and meditation. First, The garden of Eden, where man was formed, and where man fell.

Second, The garden of Gethsemane, where the Saviour oft resorted with his disciples, where he was “sore amazed and very heavy,” and “his soul was exceeding sorrowful even unto death,” “his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground;” where his favoured disciples “could not watch with him one hour,” where an “angel from heaven appeared strengthening him,” where he healed the ear of Malchus, and where he caused the soldiers, and Roman soldiers too, to “go backward and fall to the ground.”

Thirdly, The garden of Calvary, belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, where the Saviour was buried in a new tomb, wherein was never man laid, and from which he arose the third day, “the Resurrection and the Life.”

Fourthly, The Church. Now, the three former gardens were real gardens; the latter is a garden metaphorically considered only;-a spiritual garden, a garden for the soul and for eternity.

Observe, therefore, that a garden is a place selected, enclosed and fenced to keep it from intrusion; and that this is ordinarily compared with the surrounding common ground. And so we sing, and sing truly, too,-

“Zion’s a garden wall’d around,

Chosen and made peculiar ground,-

A little spot enclosed by grace

Out of the world’s wide wilderness.”

A garden is a spot formed and arranged by labour and skill in distinction from what is natural; for there is nothing in the natural soil but weeds: all in it besides is sown or planted. And in the church we have the fruits of the Spirit, which “are love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” “We are,” says the apostle, “his workmanship, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

A garden requires much careful attention. Something is always required to be done, in planting, or sowing, or weeding, or pruning, or propping, or preserving, or watering. And says God of his church, under this image, “I the Lord do keep it;” so that it has divine care. “I will water it every moment.” And, lest any hurt it, “I will keep it night and day:” nor will he ever relax his vigilance over it. And herein is the safety of believers, who are “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” A garden is a place of pleasure and delight. We are told that “the Lord God taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy;” that “the prayer of the upright is his delight;” that their prayers are sacrifices with which he is “well pleased:” that their service is the odour of a sweet smell. In a word, it is also a place of profit too. It yields not only flowers but fruits.

The church is always “filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.” Some gardens yield the owner his chief income. God derives his principal revenue of honour from his church. He has, therefore, said, “I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory, the people from whom I derive my glory principally.” And indeed God is more honoured by the ordinary actions of real Christians than by all the religious services of all the unregenerate men upon the earth.