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Your soul is, or should be, the Beloved's vineyard, God's fruitful field, God's garden and your own. The history of this garden of gardens falls into four chapters —

I. THE COMMON GROUND. That beautiful garden was once a bit of heath or moorland, over which the beasts ranged. In its natural state it was worthless. About one hundred years ago the finest garden in the world was the palace-garden of Versailles. But when the French king chose the spot it was a marshy moor. It cost twenty-five years of toil and forty millions of money to change it into the royal garden. And every garden was a waste till the busy hand of cultivation clothed it with various beauties. And are not greater wonders wrought in the soul reclaimed front the outfield of the world?

II. THE GROUND CULTIVATED, OR THE GARDEN.

1. It must first be inclosed. "A garden inclosed is my spouse," says Solomon. Of every Christian soul we may say, as Satan said of Job, "Thou hast made a hedge about him."

2. The soil must next be broken up. What hard and rough work is the digging, the trenching, and the uprooting! But as the confusion in our gardens in spring does not discourage us, so we should not be discouraged by those sorrows that belong to the cultivation of the soul.

3. Then without wise sowing all the gardener's pains would be lost. Fill mind and memory with the delightful truths of the Bible, and let them sink deep, that, seed-like, they may swell, and sprout, and bring forth fruits and flowers of choicest perfume and colour. And you must be ever tending them, for to let your garden alone is to spoil all.

4. The gardener's utmost art would be in vain without the sunshine, the shower, and the quickening breath of spring. That philosopher, famed for his contentment, was right, who, when asked by a friend to show him the splendid garden of which he was always boasting, led him into a bare, rocky space behind his house. "Where is your garden?" the friend asked. "Look up," said the philosopher, "heaven is a part of my garden". Every good gift in the garden really comes from above; for should God command the clouds to rain no rain, the earth would soon be as iron. Heaven shields, broods over, and enriches every fruitful sod. It is a great truth that Paul planteth and Apollos watereth, but God giveth the increase. Turn, then, your whole being fairly towards the sunshine of God's grace, and pray that the garden of your soul may always be as ready to receive heavenly blessing as is the garden around your dwelling.

III. THE GARDEN NEGLECTED. A neglected garden is one of the completest pictures of desolation in the world: it is desolation's throne in the deserted village.

IV. THE GARDEN WELL KEPT. Solomon gives a picture of what your soul should be, and Isaiah of what it should not be. Everything had been done for the Beloved's vineyard, and in return He received only wild grapes (Isaiah 5.). But the garden in the Song was stocked with all rich and beautiful things. It gave pleasure to every sense: its fine forms and colours gladdened the eye, its ripe fruits gratified the palate, its exquisite perfumes gave delight, and its leaves yielded an additional joy by their agreeable shade. A holy soul is compared to such a garden. It is the most beautiful thing in the world, a paradise of heaven on earth. "How can my soul be a fruitful garden of God?" do you ask. The answer is, by good cultivation; and that is the work of God and man. For "we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry" (1 Corinthians 3:9) All your powers should be gladly devoted to this God-like work of keeping your own vineyard. I remember visiting in spring a poor widow residing in a miserable corner of the city. Her soul was a garden of God. On the window-sill she had some flowers in jelly-dishes and spoutless teapots — a touching proof of that love of the country which city life wakens in all but the broken-hearted. I took notice of the flowers. "Yes," she said, "I take many a bit lesson from them; if I neglect them for a day or two, they hang their bit heads and wither. And my soul does the very same if it is not always watered with the grace of God." God help you so to cultivate the garden of your soul as that you shall bring much fruit to His praise!

(James Wells.)

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KJV: A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

WEB: A locked up garden is my sister, my bride; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.