EDINBURGH:

PRINTED BY THOMAS TURNBULL, CANONGATE 1805. CHAPTER 4.

VERSE 12. A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. CHRIST, having admired his church’s faith and love, her language and her dress; proceeds to give farther commendations of her, and makes use of new metaphors to describe her by; in which he represents her as a wellwatered and fruitful garden.

First, He says, she is, ‘a garden inclosed:’ the titles he gives her, ‘my sister, my spouse, have been explained in verse 8,9. I shall only here inquire why she is called a garden, and that an inclosed one. And she is said to be a garden,1. Because a garden is a piece of ground distinguished and separated from others for the owner’s use: the church of Christ is distinguished and separated from others by electing and redeeming grace; by efficacious calling grace saints are also made to differ from others, and do in their lives and conversation live separate from them; and being set apart for God’s own use, service, and glory, are a peculiar people to himself. 2. In a garden is a variety of flowers, herbs and plants: in Christ’s church are many members, and those of different sorts; they have gifts differing from one another, and grace also; some have greater gifts, and larger measures of grace than others have; Put in them all there are many of those sweet flowers and precious plants. 3. In a garden, flowers, herbs and plants, do not grow up naturally of themselves, but are either set or sown; nothing but weeds grow up of themselves; so in Christ’s garden, the church, and in the members of it, the graces of the Spirit do not grow up of themselves; they are sown, planted, and raised up by the Spirit of God; for in their hearts naturally grow nothing but the weeds of sin and corruption. 4. The ground must be dug and prepared far the setting of plants and herbs therein: the hearts of God’s people before conversion are like fallowground; God is the husbandman, and they are his husbandry, this ground must be dunged, as well as dug, before it becomes good ground, or ever these flowers, herbs, and plants will grow there, which method Christ takes with his garden, and the several parts thereof. 5. To keep a garden in order, requires a deal of labor and care; the stones must be gathered out, the plants must be watered, the trees pruned, the ground dunged, and the fences kept up: all this, and much more, does Christ to his garden, the church; he gathers out those things which offend and hinder the growth of his plants; he watches over them night and day, and waters them, every moment; he lops off the fruitless branches, and prunes those that are fruitful, that they may bring forth more fruit, and keep up the fences thereof, that ‘the wild boar of the forest’ may not enter in, and destroy his garden. 6. Gardens are places where persons delight to walk: Christ walks in his garden, the church; in the midst of his golden candlesticks; you frequently hear of him in this song, that ‘he is gone down into his garden, to feed’ there, and ‘to gather lilies;’ nay, he not only takes his walks, but takes up his residence in his church. 7. A garden is usually but a small piece of ground; and so is Christ’s church, in comparison of the wilderness and waste places of the world; it is a little flock, a small remnant, a few that shall be saved. 8. A fruitful and pleasant place; and so is the church, when compared with the world, ‘which lieth in wickedness,’ and is overrun with the briars and thorns of sin.

Also the church is said to be a garden inclosed, (1.) For distinction-sake: the church is by God distinguished from others; the fence with which it is inclosed, and by which it is made to differ from others, is the free, special, and distinguishing grace of God. (2.) For protection: Christ’s church, as it is distinguished by God’s grace, so it is protected by his power; he is ‘a wall of fire round about it, and the glory in the midst of’ it; a noble fence indeed! a glorious inclosure! Jerusalem with all its mountains, and Zion with all its bulwarks, were not so well fenced as this. (3.) For secrecy: it is hidden from, and is not seen and known by the world; it is like a garden that is walled around, and closely locked and barred f1 , whose flowers emit a sweet and fragrant odor, but are not seen; the saints, though they are exceeding useful in the world, yet are not known by the world; but are hid and shut up till the resurrectionmorn, when it shall appear what they really are, for at present it does not. (4.) It is compared to a garden inclosed, or locked and barred; for so the word properly signifies, because it is not pervious to every one, neither ought it to be; every one has not a right to enter there, it should remain inclosed, bolted and barred, to all but those who believe in Christ; none ought to walk here but those who come in at the right door, Christ Jesus and every one that climbs up, and gets into this garden any other way, is reckoned by Christ as a thief and a robber. (5.) It is said to be a garden inclosed or locked up, because it is only for Christ’s use; therefore, in verse 16 she desires him to come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruit:’ for this garden is only, his, and the fruits of it for his use alone: in chapter <220501> 5:1 agreeable to her request, he tells her, that he was come into his garden, had gathered the fruits of it, and had eat; it being his sole property, which others had no right unto, he keeps it inclosed, locked and bolted. The.allusion perhaps is to a garden near Jerusalem, which Adrichomius calls hortus regius, the king’s garden, which was shut up, and was only for his use and pleasure; which is much more likely than what Mr Maundrei relates f4 , that at a little distance from Bethlehem, are pools of water; and below those runs a narrow, rocky valley, inclosed on both sides with high mountains; which the friars will have to be the inclosed garden alluded to.

Secondary, He says that she is ‘a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed:’ I put these two together, because they seem to intend much one and the same thing; though perhaps the one may be more strongly expressive of the church’s fullness and excellency than the other; a fountain may intimate a larger quantity of water than a spring, and sealing signify a stronger security than bare shutting; but are both designed to inform us, that Christ’s garden was well watered, and that there is, no danger of the herbs, flowers, and plants withering and perishing.

The Septuagint render the first of these expressions as before, kh~pov kekleisme>nov , ‘a garden inclosed, or shut up;’ and so do the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions, reading ˆn for ln ; Cocceius translates, ‘a heap locked up;’ and thinks the church is compared to a heap of spices or fruits, which are locked up in a private place, that they may not be spoiled nor stolen away from the owner: Christ’s church congregated together is a heap, but not a confused one; it is like an heap of spice or fruit laid in order; nor is it a heap of any thing, but of sweet-smelling spices and pleasant fruits, such as are mentioned in verses 13,14 to which add also, it is an heap that is valued and cared for, and therefore kept up safe under lock and key. The other version of ‘a spring shut up,’ is more usually received and acknowledged, both by Jewish and Christian Expositors, which also our Translators follow. Now the church is said to be a spring and fountain from whence waters flow, to water all the plants in Christ’s garden; which are either, 1. The graces of the Spirit, which are in her as ‘a well, and rivers of living water, springing up unto eternal life,’ John 4:14. and 7:38,39 and are called waters, because they are of a fructifying and reviving nature; the plants in Christ’s garden being watered with these, revive and lift up their heads, become green, flourishing and fruitful; the souls of God’s children drinking them in, and being filled with them, become like a watered garden, whose springs fail not. Or else, 2. The doctrines of the gospel: the gospel is thought to be the fountain, spoken of in Joel 3:18 which should ‘come forth of the house of the Lord, and water the valley of Shittim:’ it is with its gracious truths that the faithful ministers of the gospel water Christ’s garden; the spirit of grace does it efficaciously, they do it ministerially; Paul plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; the doctrines of grace oftentimes flow in the ministry of the word, like floods of water upon the dry and parched ground, which soften, moisten, and make it fruitful; souls are refreshed, grow, and flourish thereby; their graces are revived, quickened and drawn forth into exercise, and every thing looks gay and beautiful, as in a fruitful and pleasant garden. Now we are not to suppose that the church is so properly this spring or fountain, as Christ and his Spirit are; she has not an indeficient supply in herself, she receives all from another; but because of the abundance of grace, and the means of it, which Christ is pleased to grant unto his church, therefore he calls her a spring and fountain; though she has grace enough to ascribe all the glory to him, and own him to be the alone spring and fountain from whence she is supplied, as in verse 15 will be made more manifestly to appear. Moreover, the church is said to be ‘a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;’ springs and wells of water being highly esteemed, and much valued in those hot countries, were highly preserved; they used to roll a large stone at the mouth of them, and, for farther security, seal it; as that stone was which was laid at the month of the lions den, in which Daniel was cast; and that at the sepulcher in which Christ was buried: now these fountains were shut up and sealed, not only that the waters might not be bemudded by beasts, but also that they might not be converted to the use of others; thus it is reported, that, among the Persians f6 , were such fountains that only the king and his eldest son might drink of; it being a capital punishment for any others to do so: and perhaps Solomon might have such a spring and fountain in his garden, which was shut up and sealed, and kept for his own private use, to which the allusion is here made; either at Jerusalem, or at Ethan, where he had a pleasure-house; which, for the delicate gardens, walks and fountains, and the fruitfulness of the place, he took great delight in f7 : and near the pools at some distance from Bethlehem, supposed to be his, is a fountain, which the friars will have to be the sealed fountain, here alluded to; and to confirm which, they pretend a tradition, that Solomon shut up these springs, and kept the door of them sealed with his signet, to preserve the waters for his own drinking: and Mr Maundrel f8 , who saw them, says, it was not difficult to secure them; they rising under ground, and having no avenue to them, but by a little hole, like to the mouth of a narrow well. And if we apply this to the doctrine of the gospel, it intends, 1. The secrecy and hiddenness of them to the men of the world; ‘for if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whom the god of this world hath blinded,’ says the apostle, in 2 Corinthians 4:3,4 it is an hidden gospel to some, a book sealed both to the learned and unlearned, who are in a carnal and unconverted state: from many it is hidden, as to the external ministry of it; and to others it remains a secret, in the midst of the clearest light, and most powerful ministrations of it; it is shut up in parables, and appears to be nothing else but dark sayings to a mere natural man. 2. That they are peculiarly intended and designed for the elect of God: it is for their sakes he has sent it into the world; and for their sakes he will continue to keep it there, maugre all opposition, until every one of them are called by powerful and efficacious grace; ‘I endure all things,’ says the apostle, 2 Timothy 2:10, ‘for the elects sake, that they may also obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory;’ that is, I preach the gospel: and in doing it, undergo all the sufferings I do, purely upon their account; that salvation may be brought unto them, and they brought at last into the eternal possession of it: and as it is sent into, and continued in the world for their sakes, so it is only blessed to them for conversion and consolation: though the gospel is preached to others, as well as to them, yet it does not Become profitable to them, because it is not mixed with faith by them; for whilst it is the ‘savor of life unto life’ to some, it is the ‘savor of death unto death’ to others; and though these waters of gospeldoctrines flow to, and fall upon others; yet it is but like water that falls upon a rock, that quickly glides away, and makes no impression; and not like streams of water which run about the plants, and soak to the very root.

The elect of God are only savingly converted, refreshed, and comforted by gospel-doctrines; they are peculiarly designed for them, and eminently blessed to them; they are only for their use, and are to them ‘a spring shut up, and a fountain sealed.’

And if we apply it to the grace of the Spirit, it denotes, 1. That it is hidden, unknown, and is not communicated to any but to the elect of God: the natural man knows not the things of the Spirit, namely, the grace of the Spirit in regeneration and effectual vocation; these things are mysteries to him; he is a stranger to them, and unacquainted with them; they are only communicated to, and wrought in those to whom God would make known the exceeding riches of his grace: thus things are said to be shut and sealed up, which are kept secret and hidden, and are not conveyed to the knowledge of persons, as in Esther 8:16; Daniel 12:4-9. 2. That it is safe and secure: the grace of God’s people is shut up and scaled; it can never be taken away from them; their life, and all their grace, and the fullness of it, ‘are hid with Christ in God’; and what is given forth unto them, and wrought in them, is an immortal seed and that good part which cannot be taken away. 3. It may intend the confirmation of it to the saints; so things are said to be sealed, when they are ratified, confirmed and made sure; grace and glory are both so to the saints; the Spirit is the author of their grace, and the earnest and pledge of their glory, by whom they are ‘sealed unto the day of redemption.’ 4. It may signify Christ’s special property in his church, and her inviolable chastity to him; and this I take to be the most proper sense of all these expressions; she is ‘a garden inclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed;’ she is Christ’s garden and none but his; Christ’s spring and fountain, to which none has a right but himself; she is his spouse and bride, and no other’s; and being espoused unto him, as a chaste virgin, by mighty grace is kept so. The Jewish writers generally understand it of the modesty and chastity of the daughters of Israel; and this sense seems to be abundantly confirmed from Proverbs 5:15-18. ‘Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well,’ etc. Let thy fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

VERSE 13,14.

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, camphire with spikenard. Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

CHRIST having compared his church to a garden, and observed that it was well watered, having in it a spring and fountain; he proceeds to shew the fruitfulness of it, that it abounded with the choicest trees, the most pleasant fruits, and the chief of spices. In explaining these words, it will be proper, I. To inquire what are intended by the church’s plants.

II. Why these plants are said to be ‘an orchard of pomegranates.’

III. Take notice of the several trees, fruits, and spices here mentioned, and what may be meant by them.

I. Who are meant by the church’s plants. The Targum and Jarchi expound it of the young men in Israel; and it is nor. unusual in scripture to call children plants; see <19C803> Psalm 128:3 and <19E412> 144:12, therefore, by her plants, may be intended the members of the church, her children, young converts, believers in Christ, who are ‘planted in the house of the Lord, and flourish in the courts of our God:’ these are not mere education plants, who spring up in churches, and join themselves to them, because their parents did; and espouse religion, because they were brought up in it: these are not mere outward profession-plants, who have a name to live, and are dead; have lamps, but no oil in their lamps; and have a form of godliness, fruit but deny the power thereof, such plants as these are fruitless ones; they are like the barren fig-tree, from which three years successively fruit was sought, but none found; if ever there was any appearance of fruit on them, it never came to any thing, but withered away; and whatsoever fruit they do bring forth, it is to themselves, and not to God; like Israel of whom it is said, Hosea 10:1 that he is ‘an empty vine, and brings forth fruit, to himself:’ and the reason of this is, because they have not the root of the matter in them; nor are they engrafted into, and rooted in Christ Jesus; and therefore are like the stony ground-hearers, who heard and received the word with joy, but it did not last long, because they had no root in themselves; and such being none of the Father’s planting, shall be plucked up, according to what Christ says, Matthew 15:13.

Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up;’ and shall be bundled together, as fit fuel for the fire, like the unfruitful and withered branches, or like the tares in the end of the world: but these plants in the text, are such who, 1. Are by divine grace transplanted from the wilderness of the world, they are Christ’s vines, which he brings out of Egypt; his fir and myrtle trees, which he causes to spring up instead of briars and thorns; these he either takes out of the wilderness, or else makes it a fruitful garden by planting them there; he calls them out of the world, and translates them into his own kingdom, whereby he enlarges his church, and of a garden makes it an orchard. 2. Who have the grace of the Spirit planted in their hearts; who works in them every sort of grace, which he raises, cherishes, and at last brings to perfection. 3. Who are engrafted into Christ Jesus: by nature they belong to, and grow upon the wild olive: but are by grace broken off from that, and are engrafted into the true olive, Christ Jesus; they are planted into the likeness of his death, and into the likeness of his resurrection, and so receive the benefits of both; they abide in him, as the branch in the vine, and, receiving sap and nourishment from him, become fruitful souls. 4. They are such who have received the ingrafted word; it has been planted in them, and powerfully impressed upon them; they have received it in the love of it; it has effectually wrought in them, and brought forth fruit in them from the very day they heard and received it. 5. Such as these who are transplanted from the wilderness of the world, and are planted in Christ, and have had his word and grace planted in their souls, have a right to be planted ministerially in his church; and being planted there, will grow and flourish. Now such plants as these are choice and select ones; they are plants of renown, and pleasant ones to God and Christ; they are planted in a fruitful soil, and by rivers of water, therefore their leaf is always green; neither do they cease from yielding fruit; hence they shall never be plucked up; neither sin, nor Satan, nor the world can do it; and Christ Jesus never will; for they are his Father’s planting, in whom he is, and will be glorified, and then is he so when they bring forth much fruit.

II. These plants are said to be an orchard, or like unto an orchard of pomegranates. The word for plants, is by the Cabalistic doctors f10 , rendered waterings or rivulets; which, being derived, make her a garden of pomegranates, as full as an orchard is of them: and it may be rendered gardens f11 ; particular churches, which make an orchard, or are like one; even a paradise, .as the word is rendered by the Septuagint, and in other versions f12 ; it is generally thought to be a Persiac word; see Nehemiah 2:8. but Hillerus derives it from drp to separate; it being a garden separate and inclosed, as before one like Eden’s garden, exceeding pleasant and delightful; and not like an orchard of any sort of trees, but of pomegranates; of which there were plenty in the land of Canaan; called ‘a land of pomegranates,’ Deuteronomy 8:8 many places in it had their names from thence, Joshua 15:32 and 19:13 and 21:24. And the church f14 , with her plants, may be called so, in allusion to the garden of Eden, the earthly paradise of our first parents; where the ‘Lord God made to grow every tree that was pleasant to the sight, and good for food;’ in the midst of it stood the tree of life, and out of it went a river to water all the garden, and was on all accounts exceeding pleasant and delightful: in Christ’s garden, the church, are planted all manner of trees of righteousness, which are both pleasant and profitable; God, stands the tree of life, in the midst of this paradise of Christ Jesus; but with this difference from the tree of life in Eden’s garden; for Adam might not put forth his hand, and take of that; but of this, whosoever will, may pluck and eat, and happy is every one that does so: here runs a river of boundless love and grace, the streams whereof water and refresh all the plants herein; and upon all accounts is an Eden of pleasure, a paradise which Christ has made for his own pleasure and delight F15 , and for that reason bears this name: but these plants are not only said to be an orchard, but an orchard or paradise of pomegranates, that is, in which pomegranates grew in great plenty. The church, like the land of Canaan, is a land or orchard of pomegranates; and the church’s plants, believers in Christ, who are planted and grow there, may be compared to pomegranates, that is, not to the fruit and shell, as in verse 3 but to the trees,1. Because there are various sorts of them f16 , which bear fruit differing from each other; which may denote the difference there is in saints, by reason of their gifts and graces; they have grace and gifts differing from each other; one has more grace and larger gifts than other’s have; they are not all of an equal size and bigness; they have not all a like measure of the Spirit, and yet they are all pomegranates, trees of righteousness, of the right planting. 2. Pomegranate-trees in some countries are very large; and so they were in the land of Canaan, as appears from 1 Samuel 14:2 and perhaps may here denote such who excel others in gifts and grace; who are officers in churches, and are set over others in and by the Lord; as by the other trees, fruits and spices, after mentioned, may be intended lesser saints, who are of a lower form in the church of Christ. 3. They are very fruitful trees: the fruit they bear, as it is full of a delightful juice, so of grains or kernels; which may denote the saints being full of grace, and all the fruits of righteousness and good works, as the Targum and Jarchi observe here. 4. They grow up straight and upright, and so denote the saints uprightness, both in heart and life; they are men of upright hearts, and of upright conversations; are looking upwards to, and growing up into their head, Christ Jesus. 5. They do not grow any where, in any soil; the wilderness, through which the Israelites traveled, could not furnish them with any, though the land of Canaan could when they came thither: these plants or trees of righteousness, do not grow any where; they are not to be found every where; they grow in Christ’s garden; in his house they are planted, and in his courts they flourish.

III. Here are several other trees, fruits and spices, which are said to be in this garden or orchard; for it is added, with all pleasant fruits; that is, whatsoever is valuable, precious, and desirable, such as those after mentioned; as camphire with spikenard; both these have been observed in chapter 1:12,14. but are here mentioned in the plural number, cypresses, or cyprusses with nards f17 ; the camphire, or cypress, on the account of its fruits or berries; and the spikenard, because there are various sorts of it, as nardus Italica, nardus Celtica, and nardus Indica, which last is the right spikenard; and it may be, because the leaves which grow out of the root, are like a bunch of ears of corn: saffron; it is no where else mentioned in scripture; we call it by this name from the Arabic, zaffran; it is called so on account of its yellow and golden color; its nature and usefulness are well known among us; according to Schindler f18 , it seems to have been read carcos, the same with crocus, which has its name from Corycus f19 , a mountain in Cilisia; so Pliny, lib, 21. c. 6. where it grew, and was the best; it is properly joined with spikenard, since itself is a spice, and is called spica Cilissa f20 ; it bears a blue flower, in the midst of which are three stylets, or little threads, of a fine red color, which are what is called saffron: calamus and cinnamon; both these were ingredients in the holy anointing oil, Exodus 30:23, both grow an India, and in Arabia f21 , and in Ethiopia; calamus is the sweet cane, mentioned in Isaiah 43:24, it grows in India and Arabia; and is said to scent the air, where and while it is growing, with a fragrant smell; and cinnamon is the middlemost bark of a tree, that grows in Ceylon in the East Indies; it is mentioned in Proverbs 7:17, as the harlot’s perfume, and in Revelation 18:13, as part of the wares or merchandise of the whore of Babylon: some say f22 , what we call cinnamon is the cassia of the ancients; Herolotus fabulously relates, what, from the Phoenicians, is called cinnamon, are stalks or barks, which the Arabs say, are found in the nests of certain birds. ‘With all trees of frankincense, myrrh;’ frankincense chiefly grew in one of the Arabias, hence called thurisera; and is said to come out of Syria; it was used in the holy perfume, as was myrrh in the anointing oil, Exodus 30:23-34 which is a gum, from a shrub in Arabia, of a bitter taste, but fragrant; and with both these the church is said to be perfumed, chapter 3:6 and aloes; either the ling-aloes, so the Targum here, of which mention is made in Numbers 24:6. called agallocbium, an aromatic plant, which grows in India and Arabia, and is of a sweet odor, as Isidore says; or the herb aloes, which is of a bitter taste, but of a sweet smell, and with which garments were perfumed, Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17 together with all chief spices, or precious ones; Solomon’s gardens might be furnished with these from Arabia Felix, where all sorts of spices grew, hence called aromatifera, the spice country: and be they what they will, they are all to be found in Christ’s garden, or what is answerable to them. Now by these may be meant, the several graces of the Spirit, which are to be found in all those who are plants or members in Christ’s church; which are called by these names, and compared to these fruits, herbs, and spices,1. Because the graces of the Spirit are many, and therefore many herbs and spices are mentioned; see Galatians 5:22. 2. They are various, of different sorts; for as it makes for the pleasantness of a garden or orchard to have many trees, plants, herbs, and flowers, so to have them of different sorts; for if there were never so many, and all of one sort, it would not be so delightful: the church of Christ, and believers in Christ, as they have many, so they have various graces; there are faith, hope, love, etc. faith is a grace differing from hope, and hope differs from faith, and love from them both. 3. They are rare and excellent: the herbs and spices here mentioned, such as spikenard, safiron, camphire, cinnamon, etc. are not to be found everywhere; they do not grow in every garden; they are very rarely to be met with: the graces of the Spirit do not grow any where, in any heart; there are but few that have them; they are exceeding rare, valuable and precious. 4. These herbs and spices are all of them of a sweet smell: and so are the graces of the Spirit to Christ; they are a sweet perfume to him; the smell of these ointments is preferred by him to all spices, in verse 10. 5. Some of these herbs and plants cheer the heart, and revive the spirits, as saffron, cinnamon, and camphire: the Spirit of God, in his operations of grace, and in exciting and drawing forth grace into exercise, wonderfully cheats our hearts, revives our spirits, and keeps us from fainting and swooning fits: in the multitude of our thoughts within us, his comforts delight our souls. 6. Some of them preserve from putrefaction, as myrrh and aloes; and therefore were used in embalming dead bodies, John 19:39 the grace of the Spirit is of such a nature; it is by this our dead souls are quickened, by this they are kept in life, and are preserved from putrifying and rotting in sin. 7. Some of them are green in winter-time; as saffron and the aloe: grace is always dive, and ever green, even in winter-storms and tempests, though it does not always appear so to us; it is an immortal seed which never dies. 8. Some of these grow up higher and taller than others; the calamus, f30 cinnamon, myrrh, and ethers, grow up taller than the spikenard and saffron: now these may intend the graces of faith, hope, and love, which rise upwards in their actings on the Lord Jesus Christ; and the latter, the graces of humility, meekness, lowliness of mind, etc. 9. All these emit the most fragrant odor, when they are either cut, bruised, or burnt; so do the graces of the Spirit, when they are exercised and tried in the furnace of affliction,10. They are all, one way or another, more or less medicinal, and are healthful to the bodies of men; and so are the graces of the Spirit to the souls of men. Solomon understood the nature of all sorts of herbs and plants, and no doubt these are aptly chosen to set forth the graces of the Spirit by; and had we but his wisdom, we should know better how to apply them.

VERSE 15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. CHRIST having commended his church as a well watered garden, and declared her fruitfulness; she breaks forth in these words, and ascribes it all to him, saying, ‘O fountain of gardens, and well of living waters,’ etc. as the words are rendered by some: though others take them to be the words of Christ; but rather are the church’s. It is true, as if she should say, I am a garden, and a garden inclosed by thy sovereign grace, where the streams and flows of thy grace run and water all my plants, and make them so fruitful as they are: but I am not the spring, the fountain from whence they flow it is thou who art the fountain of gardens, from whence I am supplied, and am put into, and kept in the flourishing condition I am; it is not owing to myself, but it is by thy grace I am what I am; and therefore I will ascribe all the glory to thee.

So that the church here acknowledges Christ, I. To be ‘a fountain of gardens’.

II. ‘A well of living waters.’ And, III. His grace to be like ‘streams from Lebanon.’ There seems to be a respect to several places called by these names: there was one called ‘the Fountain of Gardens,’ which flowed from Lebanon, six miles from Tripoli, and watered all the gardens about, whence it had its name, and all the country that lay between those two places: and there was another, called ‘the Well of living Waters,’ a little mile to the south of Tyre; it had four fountains, from whence were cut various aqueducts and rivulets, which watered all the plain of Tyre, and all its gardens; which fountains were little more than a bow’s cast from the main sea; and in which space six mill, were employed: and there is a rupture in mount Lebanon, as Mr. Maundrel says, which runs up in seven hours traveling; and which on both sides is steep and high, and clothed with fragrant greens from top to bottom; and every where refreshed with fountains, failing down from the rocks, in pleasant cascades, the ingenious work of nature: and Rauwolff, who was on this mountain in 1575, relates; ‘We came, says he, into pleasant groves, by delightful rivulets that arose from springs, that made so sweet a noise as to be admired by king Solomon,’ Song of Solomon 4:15.

I. She acknowledges him to be ‘a fountain of gardens.’ By gardens may be intended, either particular believers, whose souls are made like watered gardens, whose springs fail not; or rather, particular churches: Christ has mere gardens than one; every particular church is a garden; such were the churches at Rome, Corinth, Colosse, Philippi, Thessalonica, and the seven churches of Asia; but though there have been, and still are many gardens, yet there is but one fountain, from whence they are supplied, and by which they are all watered, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the church here owns; in him all fullness of grace dwells, and from thence believers ‘receive grace for grace;’ he is the fountain from whence it all flows, all justifying grace flows from this fountain; in him alone is our justifying righteousness before God; by him are all the elect justified, and that from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses; in doing which abundance of grace is displayed, both in bringing it in and applying it to the ungodly sinner; all which grace flows from this fountain: all sanctifying grace flows from hence; a holy nature, as well as a justifying righteousness, we have from Christ; he is both our sanctification and our righteousness; to him we must look for, and from him we must receive the one as well as the other: all the streams of pardoning grace take their rise from hence; Christ shed his blood to obtain the pardon of sin, and he has obtained it thereby for all his people; so that now as forgiveness of sin is according to the riches of God’s grace, it is also upon the foot of justice, being founded upon redemption through the blood of Jesus; hence God’s justice and faithfulness are concerned in the pardon of sin, as well as his grace and mercy displayed; Christ is ‘the fountain opened,’ to wash in ‘for sin and for uncleanness;’ it is his blood alone which ‘cleanseth from all sin’ whatever:

He is the fountain of all the blessings and promises of the everlasting covenant; of all that light and life that we are made partakers of; of all that strength and wisdom that are given forth to us, to act for him in our several stations of life; and of all that joy, comfort, and peace in believing, which our souls are at any times possessed of: He is the fountain of all fructifying and persevering grace, by which the plants in his garden become fruitful, and continue to do so: in short, he is the fountain from whence all his churches are supplied not only with grace, but with the gifts of the Spirit; he is ascended on high, ‘that he might fill all things;’ he is filled himself as man and mediator, with the Spirit without measure; he has received ‘the promise of the Father,’ and plentifully sheds it abroad among his people; he fills his churches with members and officers, and all these with suitable gifts and graces for their respective places; all comes from this ‘fountain of gardens.’

II. She declares him to be ‘a well of living water:’ we read, in Isaiah 12:3 of wells of salvation, in the plural number, which intend the same as here; and are so called to denote the fullness, completeness, and excellency of salvation in Christ: Christ is a well that is, 1. Large and deep; like that which Isaac called Rehoboth, either from the largeness of it, or the liberty he had then obtained in enjoying it; or like Jacob’s well, which was very deep, at which Christ met the woman of Samaria: the fullness of grace in Christ has its heights and depths, its lengths and breadths; it is bottomless and unfathomable, it is immeasurable and incomprehensible. 2. Christ is a full well: we read, 2 Peter 2:17 of some that are wells without water; but such an one is not Christ; he is a full welt, and not full of any thing, of any sort of water, but of living water; he is fur of grace and truth,3. This well was dug by, and filled alone with sovereign grace; it pleased the Father; it was an act of his sovereign grace, that Christ should be the mediator, and that all fullness of grace should dwell in him as such; when he treasured up in him before the world began: the Lord, says Wisdom, Proverbs 8:22. possessed me; with what? with all fullness of grace; and when did he do this? in the beginning of his way, before his works of old; O boundless, sovereign grace! 4. Faith is the grace with which we draw from hence: it may indeed be said to us, what the woman of Samaria said to Christ, John 4:11. ‘Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep:’ we have nothing of our own to draw with; but Christ, who has opened our eyes, as the Lord did Hagar’s, to behold himself, the well of living waters, gives us faith, whereby we draw out of the wells of salvation, and receive from this overflowing fountain grace for grace. 5. The waters we draw from hence are living ones; such Christ told the woman of Samaria he could, as undoubtedly he afterwards did give unto her, even living water. Christ is a well, and a well full of living waters; which are so called, (1.) Because grace given forth, from Christ’s fullness to dead sinners, makes them alive; these waters are like the waters of the sanctuary, in Ezekiel’s vision; which, wherever they come, not only keep alive those that are so, but quicken such who are dead in trespasses and sins, and in this respect excel them: we are told, Proverbs 10:11 that the mouth of a righteous man is a well of life; certainly Christ’s mouth is so, when he says to sinners, whilst in their blood, live; his grace may then be said to be living water. (2.) Grace given forth from Christ’s fullness, revives and quickens saints when dull, lifeless and fainting; it comforts their hearts, and makes them cheerful, lively and active. (3.) Grace maintains and supports life in believers: we have our life alone from Christ; he is the author of it, and with him it is hid, secured, and preserved; it is by his mighty grace that our souls are upheld in it; from his fullness we have all the communications of it; and because he lives, therefore we do, and shall live also. (4.) It is this grace of Christ’s that gives saints a right to, prepares them for, and will end in eternal life; justifying grace gives them a right to eternal life; sanctifying grace makes them meet for it, which is in them ‘a well of water springing up into everlasting life,’ John 4:14. (5.) These are called living waters, because they are ever running f37 ; and so opposed to standing waters, which are dried up in the summer season: Christ’s grace is perpetual, everlasting and inexhaustible; like himself, it is ‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever;’ the fullness of grace in Christ, and the communications of it, are like those living or ever-running waters, mentioned in Zechariah 14:8. ‘And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them towards the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea; in summer and in winter shall it be;’ that is, at all times and seasons of the year shall these waters flow: the saints before and after the flood, the saints before and under the law; the saints under the Old Testament, and the saints under the New, have all received from this fountain and fullness of grace in Christ; all the grace that angels have, and all that men have or shall have. all comes from hence; and yet it is an everrunning, overflowing, and inexhaustible fullness, And this I take to be the principal reason why it is called ‘living water.’

III. The church here acknowledges the grace of Christ to be like streams from Lebanon: mount Lebanon gave rise to Eleutherus, etc. and as these took some rivers, as Jordan their rise and streamed from thence, so does grace from Christ, ‘whose countenance is as Lebanon,’ chapter 5:15, who is intended here from this high, goodly, pleasant, fruitful, and fragrant mountain, flow all the streams of divine grace to our souls. Now by this expression are intended, 1. The discoveries and breakings forth of grace to those who are the objects of it: the river of God’s love ran under ground from eternity; so that those who are interested in it, and are the objects of it, know nothing of it, till it breaks forth in effectual vocation; when it comes pouring in unto them, like streams from Lebanon. 2. This expression may denote the rapidity, force, and power of divine grace; as the streams from Lebanon fall with great rapidity: grace comes like a mighty torrent, and carries all before it; throws down the strong holds of Satan, and is a match for the corruption of nature; for when this works, nothing can let; all mountains become a plain; all obstacles and impediments are removed out of the way; and nothing can stand before it, when the exceeding greatness of its power is exerted; it is irresistible, invincible, end always victorious. 3. This phrase maybe expressive of the abundance of grace which flows from Christ: there are aboundings of sin in our nature; but grace, streaming from Christ, abounds overall; where sin abounded, says the apostle, Romans 5:20 ‘grace did much more abound;’ it flows into, and it overflows in a believer’s heart; the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, uJperepleofaith and love which is in Christ Jesus: there is an abundance of grace given forth to a single believer; how much then must it be that is given forth to them all! and how large that fullness which is in Christ! 4. Though this grace flows in abundance to poor sinners, yet it is in measure; grace is in Christ without measure, but in us in measure; it is in him as in a fountain, but is given forth to us in streams; and these streams should lead us to the fountain from whence thor flow; for though we should rejoice in, and adore grace for the streams, yet we should not rest contented, without often going to the fountain itself. 5. The communications of grace are called streams, and said to be as streams from Lebanon, because they are exceeding grateful and delightful to souls; even as streams of water were in those hot countries: the streams which flow in this river of divine grace make glad the city of God; a spring of water to a thirsty traveler in the Arabian deserts, cannot be more welcome and delightful than the discoveries of grace, those streams from Lebanon, are to a believing soul; and therefore Christ is said to be ‘as rivers of water in a dry place, anal as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,’ Isaiah 32:2. 6. It intends the continued supplies of grace to believers: grace is always running, streaming, flowing to them; could rue communications of grace be stopped, were those streams from Lebanon to cease; they would soon be in an empty, miserable, and wretched state and condition; but this ‘river of the water of life is proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb;’ it ever did, and so it does still, and ever shall; ‘my God will supply all your need,’ etc. Philippians 4:19. 7. It intimates unto us the freeness of it; it is like the streams from Lebanon; it runs freely; whosoever will, may come and take of this water of lit e freely. The first of these expressions in the text, denotes the fullness of grace in Christ; the second, the perpetuity and inexhaustibleness of it; and this third, the exceeding freeness of it. VERSE 16.

Former part. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. — CHRIST having taken notice of the fruitfulness of his garden, the church, in verse 12-14, and she, in verse 15, having acknowledged that it was all owing to himself, who is the fountain of gardens; he, in this verse, that nothing may be wanting to continue and increase the fruitfulness thereof, calls to the north and south winds, the one to awake, and the other to ‘come and blow upon his garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.’

The reason why I take these words to be the words of Christ, and not of the church, as some, are, 1. Because the language seems best to suit with him; who has created the winds, and gathered them in his fist, and holds them there; who opens his hand and lets them loose, and can and does recall them at his pleasure; Who has his storehouse and magazines of them, and, when he pleases, brings them forth out of his treasures; who, in the days of his flesh, gave a surprising instance of his power over them, in rebuking the wind and sea, and commanding a calm, when the disciples, with others, were in imminent danger; which occasioned the men to say, ‘What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him!’ he can shut up and let loose the winds, when he thinks fit; he has them at his command, and uses them as he pleases; so that it may be truly said of him, what the heathen poet f41 said of his Jove: Protinus AEoliis aquilonem claudit in antris, Emittitque notum ; madidis notus evolat alis. 2. It does not appear so agreeable that the church should petition Christ to let loose the north wind upon her; especially, if by it we understand, as I think we must, some rough dispensation of providence, as afflictions, temptations, etc., which though Christ knows they are wholesome and useful to his people, and he makes them so, and therefore in his wisdom and grace sends them; yet they are not desirable to the saints; they do not pray for them. 3. The person here speaking, claims a right and property in this garden, on which the south wind, is to blow. Now the church is not her own garden, but Christ’s, as she in the following part of the verse acknowledges; therefore it appears to be Christ who here speaks, and says, ‘blow upon my garden.’ Taking them then to be his words, I shall now consider what he says. And, I. He calls to the norm wind to awake, ‘Awake, O north wind.’

Which some understand as a command, to remove and be gone, and blow no longer upon his garden: in <19A725> Psalm 107:25 we read that God commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind; it is in the Hebrew text, dm[yw ‘and causeth the stormy wind to stand;’ so that the raising of the wind, and continuing it, in that language was called a causing it to stand; and perhaps a recalling it was, as here, called an awaking or raising it up, in order to be gone: and there are some reasons which may be alledged why it may be supposed that it was not the design of Christ, that the north wind should blow, but rather that it should not, 1. Because it was now spring time; ‘the wither was past, the rain was over and gone; the flowers appeared in the earth, the fig-tree put forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes gave a good smell.’ Chapter 2:11-13, and therefore it was time for the north wind to cease blowing. 2. It being a cold and nipping wind, would be hurtful and injurious to the plants in his garden, mentioned in verses 13,14, and therefore it may be supposed that he would not have it blow. 3. The verb yjwph blow, is in the singular number, and seems to be only in construction with the south wind; and therefore is alone ordered to blow, and not the north wind. 4. Winds diametrically opposite to each other f43 , as the north and south be, cannot blow together under one and the same horizon with a continued blast; for if they blow with equal force, they will hinder each other from blowing freely; and if one is more powerful than the other, the weaker will be obliged to join the other, or else subside; though winds contrary may blow together obliquely and sideways; but the more oblique they are, the greater tempest they raise, which cannot be supposed to be Christ’s design here: and now, when he orders the north wind to awake, arise, and be gone, he intends every thing that may be noxious, hurtful, and injurious to his garden. Though others think the meaning of this phrase, ‘Awake, O north wind,’ is, arise, exert thyself, and blow, together with the south wind, upon my garden; and so the Jewish writers think, f44 , that both winds are designed to blow. The north wind, though a cold and nipping wind, yet Pliny says f45 , that it is the most wholesome wind that blows: and the scripture informs us, that though out of the north comes forth the cold; yet also from it proceeds fair weather; Job 37:9-22, and Solomon tells us, that the north-wind drives away rain, Proverbs 25:23. and then by the north wind, as I hinted before, we may understand rough dispensations of providence, as temptations, afflictions, etc. which Christ is pleased to suffer to come upon his people, and which he brings them under, for their good and his glory: and this shews, (1.) That none of these things come upon the saints without Christ’s knowledge, permission, or appointment; there is not a wind blows upon them without his will and order: afflictions do not come out of the dust, nor trouble spring out of the ground, but are sent from heaven to the saints as covenant mercies; no temptation comes upon them, but what is common to man; and Christ takes care that they are not tempted above that they are able to bear, and in his own way and time gives them deliverance from it. (2.) These are all for their good; it is, if need be, they are in heaviness through manifold temptations; all adverse and rough dispensations of providence, all afflictions, work together for their good; they are all in mercy to them, otherwise he that holds the wind in his fist, would not suffer the blustering north wind to blow upon them. (3.) They serve to make the spices flow out; that is, they are useful for the trial, exercise, and increase of grace; tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; that is, tribulation exercises and tries these graces, and makes them to appear more bright and glorious: the manifold temptations the saints are attended with, are suffered to come upon them, ‘that the trial of their faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ,’ 1 Peter 1:6,7.

II. He calls to the south wind, to come and blow upon his garden. The church is compared to a garden, in verse 12, and why it is so, has been there shewn. Here Christ claims a property in it; and it is his, 1. By choice; he chose this spot of ground, and preferred it to all others, for this purpose and use. 2. By gift; he asked it of his Father, and he gave it to him; ‘thine they were, and thou gavest them me,’ John 17:6. 3. By purchase; he has bought it, and at a clear rate; not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the invaluable price of his own precious blood. 4. By his powerful and efficacious grace, has distinguished and separated it from the wilderness of this world. 5. He uses it as his own; he purchased and set it apart for his own use and recreation, and here delights to walk;’ he is frequently to be found, seen, and heard of here: and this being his own garden, which he himself chose, his Father gave him, which he has purchased with his own blood, distinguished by his grace, and where he delights to take his walks; he therefore calls upon the south wind to blow upon it. And by the south wind, and blowing of it, I apprehend, is intended the Spirit of God, in his powerful operations, and special influences of grace, in and upon the hearts of God’s people; and shall now consider how he may be compared, First, To the wind in general. The Spirit of God bears the same name, and several of the properties thereof are applicable to him. 1. The wind, as our Lord says, John 3:8, bloweth where it listeth; the Spirit of God is a free agent; he works how and where he pleaseth; he acts freely in the first application of grace to a poor sinner; and so he does in all the after actings, operations and influences of it, as well as in the donation of those gifts, which he bestows upon men for different purposes; for though there ‘are diversities of gifts, differences of administrations, and diversities of operations; yet all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit; dividing to every one severally as he will,’ 1 Corinthians 12:4-11. 2. The wind blows imperceptibly; thou hearest, as Christ says in the abovementioned place, ‘the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; and so is every one that is born of the Spirit:’ the workings of the Spirit of God in regeneration are invisible and imperceptible to the natural man; he can no more discern the Spirit’s grace, than he can see the wind when it blows; he can no more tell from whence this grace comes, and how it is acted, than he can point at the treasures of wind, and tell from whence they take their rise, and why they blow sometimes one way and sometimes another; why sometimes only in a gentle breeze, and at other times rise to violent storms; why sometimes their drive on in a direct line, and at other times have a circular motion: and as he cannot account for these things, no more can he for the operations of the Spirit; for he neither knows his person nor his grace. 3. It blows powerfully and irresistibly; there is no stopping of it; it blows when, where, and how it listeth, for any thing that man can do; none but he who has created the winds, and gathered them in his fist, can rule them at pleasure; and, when he lets them loose, and gives them a command, they carry all befor