September 6

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished and the pomegranates budded. - Song of Solomon 6:11.

HE enters his garden to walk there; he enters it to enjoy his pleasant fruits there, for they are all his own. He loves to hold intercourse and communion with his saints. But here he speaks of entering it for another purpose, for the garden is his own, and it is so valuable that he will not treat it with neglect, or overlook it. No; “I went down,” says he, “to see the fruits of the valley;” for the garden is low, and the church is lowly. “I went down to see the fruits of the valley.” He comes into his garden especially to examine the state of his church.

He looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any that seek after him. He said to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation,”- causing them all, as it were, to pass before him. And in the parable of the marriage-feast, we are told the king came in to see the guests, and saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment. Why, he is continually inspecting his church. And how qualified is he for this! “His eyes are as a flame of fire;” distance and darkness are nothing to him.. “The darkness and the light are both alike to him.” “The darkness shineth as the light.” “Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.” There is no disguise that can screen from his penetration.

And what is his aim when he comes to examine? Not to ascertain who are learned, but who are “wise unto salvation;” not who are rich, but who “are rich towards God;” and whether “our souls prosper.” Yes, he “comes down to see the fruits of the valley,” to look after the reality of these fruits, to observe the degree of these fruits, whether we “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” according to the time of our standing, and the advantages with which we have been favoured. And our Saviour said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”

Observe, it is not said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear fruit,” but “that ye bear much fruit.” A husbandman does not call in his neighbours to go out and see and admire his field, or his meadow, if he has only an ordinary crop: no, but it is when he has an unusual one; then he says, “Come; did you ever see any thing like this?” Well, so it is here; and when his people increase with all the increase of God, when they are “filled with all the fulness of God,” then their profiting will appear unto all, and “herein will their Father be glorified, that they bear much fruit,” and so will they abundantly appear “to be his disciples.”