Spurgeon: June PM
* 06/18/PM
"I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse."
--Song of Solomon 5:1
The heart of the believer is Christ's garden. He bought it
with His precious blood, and He enters it and claims it as His
own. A garden implies separation . It is not the open common;
it is not a wilderness; it is walled around, or hedged in. Would
that we could see the wall of separation between the church and
the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear
Christians saying, "Well, there is no harm in this; there is no
harm in that," thus getting as near to the world as possible.
Grace is at a low ebb in that soul which can even raise the
question of how far it may go in worldly conformity. A garden is
a place of beauty , it far surpasses the wild uncultivated
lands. The genuine Christian must seek to be more excellent in
his life than the best moralist, because Christ's garden ought
to produce the best flowers in all the world. Even the best is
poor compared with Christ's deservings; let us not put Him off
with withering and dwarf plants. The rarest, richest, choicest
lilies and roses ought to bloom in the place which Jesus calls
His own. The garden is a place of growth . The saints are not
to remain undeveloped, always mere buds and blossoms. We should
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. Growth should be rapid where Jesus is the
Husbandman, and the Holy Spirit the dew from above. A garden is
a place of retirement . So the Lord Jesus Christ would have us
reserve our souls as a place in which He can manifest Himself,
as He doth not unto the world. O that Christians were more
retired, that they kept their hearts more closely shut up for
Christ! We often worry and trouble ourselves, like Martha, with
much serving, so that we have not the room for Christ that Mary
had, and do not sit at His feet as we should. The Lord grant the
sweet showers of His grace to water His garden this day.