The Pulpit Commentary — Song of Songs — Section 112

1,ring forth fruit before the awful word goeth forth, "Every tree that bringeth not fort.h good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fil'e." The trees in the Lord's garden differ much from one another. There are pomegranates with their pleasant fruit, henna with its fragrant flowers, spikenard with its costly perfume, frankincense for sacred uses ; all manner of sweet spices-Dlyl'rh and aloes, which tell of the bitter healing cup of sorrow, which point to death and burial. 'l'he saints of God differ much from one another. Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, St. Peter, St. John, St. Paul, have each his own place in the garden of the Lord. All bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, but in different forms and degrees; one we call the apostle of love, another the apostle of faith, a third the apostle of hope; "but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will" (1 Cor. xii. 11). It is the Lord himself who givet,h the Spirit. Mary Magdalene, on the first Easter Day, supposed him to be the gardener (John xx. 15); and in a very true sense he is the Gardener of the garden enclosed. Aud here we may l'emember that it was in a garden that he suffered that dread agony, when his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. That blood taketh away the sins of the world; it waters the garden enclosed with its cleansing stream. And again we are told that" in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden. a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus " (J obn xix. 41 ). The Lord suffered in a garden; he has purchased with his own blood the Church to be his own, his garden enclosed. But the Church is also "a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;" shut 'lp in a sense, sealed with the Master's signet, as his own sacred tomb was sealed in the garden of Joseph, but yet (ver. 15) "a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon." The fountain is sealed, for it is the Lord's; it hath "this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. _And, Let every one that nametb the Name of Christ depart from iniquity" (2 Tim. ii. 19). But its living waters go forth to fertilize the Lord's garden. The healing waters which the Prophet Ezekiel saw in his vision issued out from under the threshold of the temple; they brought fruitfulness wherever they went " because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary " (Ezek. xlvii. 1, 12). In a true sense the whole world is the Lord's field: "The field is the world" (Matt. xiii. 38); and the Church has the Lord's commandment, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark xvi. 15). The well is the Lord's; it is sealed with his seal ; but the living waters of that sacred well must issue forth, that "the wilderness and the solitary place may be glad for them : that the desert may rejoice and blossom as the rose" (Isa. x..xxv. 1). And as the Church, the bride of Chrisr, is for him" a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed," so :nust every Christian soul be wholly his. "We are Christ's," St. Paul says. "Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's;" and again, "God, whose I am, and whom I serve" (Acts xxvii. 23). Each Christian soul must keep itself as "a garden enclosed" (" barred," or" bolted," is the literal meaning of the Hebrew word). We must strive earnestly to keep out earthly passions, earthly ambitions, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. We must keep the gate barred against the entrance of the evil one. And we must take heed that the house be not left empty; it must be kept for "a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. ii. 22). We must strive to keep out worldly cares, coming to God in all our troubles, whether great or small, that so the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, may keep (guard, protect) our hearts and thoughts through Christ Jesua. The garden must be barred; the peace of God must rule there (Cul. iii. 15); and it must bring forth fruit, the blessed fruit of the Spirit, which is "love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- ness temperance" (Gal. v. 22). The tree that beareth not fruit must be hewn down at 1a'.st; it cum bereth the ground; "every branch that bearetb not fruit is taken away." How carefully, then, we ought, every one of us, to watch for the fruit of the Spirit in our daily life, to soe in diligent self-examination whether we are exhibiting these holy graces in our Christian walk and conversation; and if, alas I we find them not, bow earnestly we ought to pray, with fervent, untiring supplication for the help of the Holy Spirit of God to work within us, to assist our prayers, to make intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, to lead us nearer to Christ, that we may ever- more abide in him, without whom we can bear no fruit, without whom we can do nothing I The garden needs the living water; the saint of God is a fountain sealed.  (Jl!. IV, 1-ltl.] 'THE SONG OF SOLOMON. 101