Song of Solomon 4. 12-5. 1. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spout, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphyr with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. Awake, O north wind, and come thou south. Blow upon my garden that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. So the title and theme, Christ's Garden. So we've been considering in this song of all songs, considering through the months, particularly around our... Celebrating the Lord's Supper, gathering around the table together with Christ, we're considering from this portion of God's Word as regards the love of Christ for his bride, for the Christian, for his church, and that love, that will, that is in the hearts of every true believer and in the hearts of the people of God together. And in chapter 4 we considered how Christ, we see in what we read, Christ declaring his love, his delight in his people, in those whom he has saved through himself, and the image Obviously throughout this song of a bride, of a spouse, also a sister, showing something of the adoption of believers into the family of God. And then now in these verses, also the image of a garden. image of a garden. What we see in these verses is that we're to think of the believer and the church as the garden of Christ, as Christ's own garden. I want to consider this in three parts. Firstly, enclosed. Enclosed. A garden enclosed, verses 12 to 15. We see that Christ describes his bride as a garden enclosed, a garden barred or locked. We can think of, in this description, of concealment, of protection, you know, hedged about or a wall about it, of fruitfulness and life. You can think of one of those, you know, a well-set-out garden walled and with lovely trimmed and maintained hedges and gardens, flowers and and fruits and all sorts of smells and sights. That's the image that we're to have here. And Christ is saying, my bride is to me like this garden. It belongs to me and it's that place where I would go for enjoyment. And as we think of this as a description of the believer, particularly, and of the church, we can see three things about this enclosed garden. It's a picture of holiness, of life, and of fruitfulness. A picture of holiness. The garden belongs to Christ alone. It belongs to the Lord alone. It's enclosed. It's His. And we see that throughout this passage in the language used also through verse 16 and into chapter 5 verse 1. So a garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse. And then when there is the voice of the beloved, let my beloved come into his garden. It's his. And then he replies, I am coming to my garden. It belongs to Christ. And the believer belongs to Christ. He is bought, paid for this garden in full. belongs to Him and none are to enter but Him. It's for the believer and the heart of the believer is for His pleasure. And so we need to think of holiness. That the believer has been called out of the world and set apart by God to be holy. Psalm 4 verse 3, but know that the Lord has set apart Him that is godly for Himself. for himself. God would call out of the world and to belong to him. And this language of a garden is used as belonging to the Lord. It's used in other parts also of the scriptures. In Jeremiah 31 verse 12. Therefore they shall come and sing in the heights of Zion and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord for wheat and for wine and for oil and for the young of the flock and of the herd and their soul shall be as a watered garden and they shall not sorrow any more at all. So here is the Lord's blessing and a watered garden provided for. Also Isaiah 58 verse 11. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. So here is holiness set apart by the Lord, and to the Lord, and for the Lord, for His pleasure. And as even in Jeremiah and Isaiah, it speaks of a watered garden and being watered and sustained. We see that theme also in Song of Solomon. The garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. Down to verse 15, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. And so here is life, here is the sustaining of life, springs, a fountain, and we have to think of in the imagery of scripture, that well of water. within, welling up into eternal life, everlasting life, as Christ said to the Samaritan woman when he met her at the well. John 4 verse 14, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. This life, the source of the life and the beauty, indeed the very life of the garden itself, is from God, and it is the Spirit of God. In John 7, in verse 37, In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. the fountains and springs. Picture the Spirit who gives life and that life shows itself then to holiness, life and fruitfulness. Picture of fruitfulness, thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, campfire with spikenard, spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. Here is fruitfulness and beauty, lovely tastes and smells. And we are to think as we seek to understand the imagery of the fruit of the spirit. Where do the fruits on the trees and the spices and the smells come from? They are only there because of the fountain that is in the midst of the garden and the living waters. That's how they are alive and producing these things. and so that in the heart of the believer there would be fruit, fruit unto God, fruit of holiness and righteousness. And the Bible would often describe And the believer is bearing fruit, being sustained by God and bearing fruit unto the glory of God. So, Psalm 92 verse 12. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him. And the source of this fruit is, of course, the Spirit of God. And we think of, we can go to Galatians chapter 5, in verse 22 and 23. A full but not exhaustive list of those things that the Spirit works in the believer. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. So this is what we, in this description of Christ's beloved, of His bride as a garden, this is what we are to see. We see Christ describing that which belongs to Him, that which is planted by Him, established by Him, protected by Him, it's enclosed, and that which receives life by the Spirit of God and bears fruit fruit to the glory of God. And we have here another description of the grace of God. A description of what God does in the heart of a sinner. Because what are we naturally? If we would try and describe ourselves in agricultural or such terms, naturally, in our sin. What would we be? We'd be a barren wilderness. We'd be a bare rock. We'd be dry and parched. We'd be chaff. Different ways that the Scriptures describe those outside of Christ. There'd be no beautiful hedge or wall around it. Broken walls and hedges torn down. What we have here is the work of God's grace, God, and we can think of just many different descriptions in the word. Think of that Christ purchasing a field for himself at the cost of his own of his own life, purchasing that field, tilling that field, planting the seed of his word and enabling that that seed will grow and bear life and come up and bear fruit. If we think of the parable of the sower, fruit, some 30, some 60, some 100. There is, we are naturally a barren wilderness, a bare rock. but there is a fountain placed within us, a fountain springing up unto everlasting life, that fountain that begins, as it were, when we come to the fountain, as Zachariah says, a fountain that's been opened for sin and for uncleanness. There is cleansing from our sin, there is washing, there is forgiveness of our sins. that life is found when we come to Christ, when we trust in Him, when we forget all thoughts of preparing ourselves, of teaching ourselves wisdom, of making ourselves holy, of seeking ourselves to satisfy the justice of God by our own righteousness. but rather that we are looking to Christ, whom Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.30, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That is, the planting of this garden, this garden is planted when a believer turns to Christ, when a sinner turns to Christ in faith, is enabled to believe by the Holy Spirit. And so we would see God begin this work, the planting, the growing, the hedging, the fruitfulness. And so a question for us, and we've been considering through Song of Solomon, and Christ holds out to us himself and asks if we love him, if we desire him, we'll come to that shortly, but also holds out a picture of what a picture of those who believe upon Him and of their life and of their hearts. And so we're to be asking, well, is this me? Do I know this cleansing? Do I know this being set aside? Do I know this source of life within and the fruit that would be born by the Spirit at work? within. Do you know the cleansing that comes at the fountain that's been opened for sin and for uncleanness? That is, have you confessed your sins and are you trusting upon Christ for your salvation? And if you profess so, if you profess to trust upon Christ, does then this passage describe you? Is your soul, could your soul be described as the garden of Christ? That place where he would come for enjoyment, for communion. That place where there would be fruit born to his glory that he would want to pick as it were and taste and enjoy. And we ought to understand as we're asking the ultimate question as to whether we belong to Christ, that then if we do profess Christ, to examine in ourselves as to these things, to be understanding that there are, as Christ says in the parable of the sower, that there is in the heart that receives, that's been prepared to receive the word, and where the word springs up and there is life, that there are various amounts of fruit, various types of fruit. There's in some, there's 30 and some 60 and some 100. And so we're not to be comparing ourselves with others, but with God's Word and to be asking, are these things in me? And also we can ask about this congregation or any congregation. If Christ says, because we understand that when Christ speaks of his bride, that he's speaking of those who belong to him as individuals but also of his church. Could we say that his congregation is Christ's garden, a well-watered garden. Is this a place, is this congregation a place in our public worship, in our lives together where Christ would want to come and to dwell and to enjoy himself in that sense, a place of refreshment and joy and fruitfulness that He would delight to be among us as we worship Him. In this picture of a garden Christ holds out, we see the work of grace and also we see Christ Paul to be holy as He is holy. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 Just 19 and 20. Different symbolism, but the same truth. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So a garden, a temple as it were, the Spirit dwelling within, and bought with a price, a longing to God, therefore glorify Him. Then secondly, invited, verse 16, now is the voice of the Bride. Awake, O north wind! And come, thouself, blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits. So in terms of the story, as it were, that the bride has been described as a garden, a fruitful garden with sweet-smelling spices, and now asking, calling upon the winds to, in that sense, send out the spices that the one that she loves will come to her. And so we see the believer asking the Spirit of God to stir up stir up the believer in righteousness and holiness and fruitfulness so that Christ will want to come in that sense, to commune, to be with us. Let the lover, let my beloved come to his garden. I want him to be here. want them to be here with me. Desire of the believer for communion with Christ. Awake O north wind and come thou south. We see in, if we turn to John chapter 3 verse 8, the Spirit is described, the work of the Spirit described as the wind, the wind bloweth where it listeth, where it chooses. And thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Now this is true as regards to regeneration, that we cannot convert ourselves, we cannot make ourselves to be born again, we cannot regenerate any other, whether it be our children, or our friends, or any. God must work, and God will work, and God the Holy Spirit will work as He wills, as He lists, but we are to be asking asking that He would work in us, that He would work in those we desire to be with us in Christ. The Spirit will work. He is sovereign, sovereign God. He'll work as He pleases. And yet we are exhorted and encouraged to ask for the Spirit, for His work of regeneration, for His work of holiness, In Luke 11, verse 13, Christ says, Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Now, we will only ask if the Spirit enables us, if He gives us that desire and heart for God. But God would have us to be asking, to be asking for others, to be asking for ourselves. If we'd be in that situation, if you'd be in that situation where you are so aware of your sins, where you're so aware of your inability of being able to bring yourself to God, and of the necessity to come to God, but you know you cannot, that God would have you to go to Him, asking that He would enable you, knowing that you can't, but that you need Him to work. asking God to draw you, to renew you by His Spirit. And so also for the believer that we are unable to walk this way of holiness. We're unable to put away sin, to do what is right by ourselves. We need that God would work by His Spirit and so we're to be asking for the Spirit, asking that He would blow upon us in that sense, stir us up to love and good works as Paul says in Hebrews 10. In Psalm 43 verse 3, a similar prayer O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me, let them bring me unto Thy holy hill and to Thy tabernacles. What are we asking for in that prayer? But for God to teach us by His word, by His Holy Spirit, to enlighten our hearts. He who made light to shine out of darkness, to enlighten our dark eyes, to open our eyes, and to lead us in the ways of truth and righteousness. And so here is the cry of the believer for Christ. Let Him come in spirit, enable me, make me holy that Christ would want to be with me and to dwell with me and to abide with me. And so, again, a question for each of us, and for each of us all the time, but also mindful of the Lord's table being set before us next week, God willing, as we would be examining ourselves as to faith in Christ, a love for Him, and so forth. Do you desire fellowship with God? Do you want Christ to be with you? Do you want to be close to Him? Or are you happy in the world and with the things of the world? Are you happy just going along doing your own thing? Do you lament the lack of intimacy with Christ? The lack of communion and close fellowship with Him? The hindering of that communion because of your sin and slackness? because of distraction and those things that would keep us from Christ and spending time in His Word and in prayer. In the believer, there will be this desire. If you have this desire, however weak it might be, a knowledge of your sin and failings, and yet a desire to be closer to Christ and on His terms. I mean, there are many who might want to receive some blessing, to have the joy, but on their own terms, but not on His terms, with that godly sorrowing over sin. And that's an evidence also of Christ working in you, the Spirit at work. The saints will always be mindful of their failings, of their sins, but desiring that Christ would come and that the Spirit would so enable that there would be unhindered communion with Christ. Now, as we ask God also for His Spirit to come and to work, remember that it is not We're not called to be passive, to passivity. There are those who would say, well, holiness, we can't make ourselves holy, only we must have the spirit. That's the spirit of sanctification. He must make us holy. So all we have to do is ask God and wait for the spirit to do it. But no, we are to be asking and seeking and knocking. praying and working. Because how does the Spirit work? He works with His Word. He's given the Word and He works in enlightening the eyes and the minds and the hearts of those reading His Word and meditating upon it. So what are your desires? Are your desires for Christ? or for the world? What do you want to be spending your time doing? Do you want to be spending your time with Christ or in the things of the world? Obviously there is work for us to do in this world and we are to be doing that to the glory of God. We're not just talking about sitting in secret or in public worship all the time. We have six days to labor. The Sabbath is the Sabbath day for the worship of God particularly, but as to even if we think of our leisure time in that sense, leisure time in our minds or for our bodies, what would you be doing? Would you have Christ and time with Him? Again, an indicator of the state of our hearts. Christ says in Matthew 6 verse 21, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And so, as we think of where is our heart? What are we desiring? What are we longing for? That shows us what our treasure is. If our treasure is Christ, our heart will be for Him. If our treasures are in the world, our heart will be towards those things, and our time will be towards those things. Our desires, our life. can read from Psalm 42 in verse 1 to 3. Again, another set of imagery that's showing the same desire for Christ to come and to be with Christ. As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat, day and night, while they continually say unto me, where is thy God? We see here the psalmist mourning over lost communion with God, desiring the presence of God, thirsting for God. We would often, we would mourn and grieve over things or people that we have lost, separations from friends, partings, whether permanent or more brief. Do we have such desire, such mourning, even tears for Christ? Thirdly, consider the Believer's Christ Garden in chapter 5 verse 1. You'll find it there again. You see, the garden entered and enjoyed I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. And so again, Christ, in his description, combines all these three images again, garden, sister and spouse. And what's described in a sense, we could think of it as like, in a sense, a garden party here is a feast being enjoyed in the garden. And there is Christ and there is the bride delighting in love for one another. It's a picture of love and of blessing, of communion, delighting. There's reconciliation as it were. As in chapter 2 verse 16, my beloved is mine and I am his. He feedeth among the lilies. And we have here this response and declaration of Christ showing us also that God hears and answers prayer, that those who call upon Him in truth He is near to, that those who seek Him will find Him. Yes, in His time, according to His will, But he says, ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened to you. And that's as regards communion with Christ, as regards salvation, that if we would discern ourselves not to be among those who are saved, who are not believing upon Christ, to be seeking Him until we would know it to be so. seeking that assurance of His love, resting in His promises. And if we would be in situations, times when we have been, even as believers, feeling far off from God, if we would be feeling His hand heavy upon us and chastisement for sin, and trials and tryings that we would be continuing, holding on to Him, pressing on. He is in answer's prayer. We are told there are many promises as regards seeking the Lord and finding Him. Psalm 37 verse 4 and 5. Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give thee the desires of thy heart. You desire him, you delight in him, you want to be near to Christ, he will give you that desire. And so James, the apostle James in chapter 4, verse 8, we see that this seeking and delighting and desiring God is on his terms. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up. Drawing near to God. means leaving behind that which God hates. If we would have, there is then in this passage in the description of the garden in beauty and fruitfulness, holiness and life in the invitation that resides and desires that reside in the heart of every believer in the answer of Christ and His coming to commune with those He loves, there is an incentive here to holiness. Because if we want God to draw near to us, to walk closely to Him, We must be seeking, we must be hating what He hates. Seeking to get rid of that which He hates. Now we cannot do this of ourselves. It's not a matter of preparing ourselves so that God will accept us. We cannot, we can never, like Lady Macbeth with that blood on her hands that she could not wash off. We can never wash ourselves clean. Our sins are as scarlet, but God can make them whiter than snow. We must come to God in the name of Christ. We can only do this putting away sin through faith in Christ. It's impossible for us, but through Christ who strengthens us, we can do all things. that is also put in a way of sin, and holiness is most necessary. Most necessary. We're not saved by good works, we cannot be, but saved unto good works. It is the pure in heart that will see God. Paul says in Hebrews 12, 14, follow holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Our right to heaven is attained by Christ, His righteousness. Holiness is that. We will only be in heaven in that holiness that the Spirit will work in us. God receives sinners. Christ received and ate with sinners, but not because of their sin, but rather in spite of it. Christ did not receive sins and God does not receive sinners, so that they will remain in their sins, remaining unchanged, but in order to conform them to the image of Christ, to make them holy, like Christ, to make them like Christ in every way, in knowledge and righteousness and holiness. In 2 Corinthians 6, at the end of the chapter There is very clearly set down the necessity of being separate from the world and from sin, not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. and so on. And there are the promises set forth of belonging to God, verse 18, that God says that He will be a father unto you and ye shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Paul continues in chapter 7, verse 1, having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. So there is salvation with God. There is forgiveness of sins. There is the hope of glory and the promise of perfection in glory. And having those promises, don't slack off, don't presume perfect holiness in the fear of God. Seek to be holy as He is holy. And so in Christ entering the garden and enjoying the feast, there's an invitation to communion with Christ. Here is where I will be. I will be with those who desire me, who long for me, who seek to ask and seek and knock. He was an invitation to be seeking Christ, to be calling upon Him in the secret place, taking up His Word, meditating upon it, taking up the Psalms, even ourselves, taking ourselves to Him in prayer. Also, an invitation to communion with Christ in public worship, to be knowing the things that Christ says of what it says here of our souls being as a watered garden. Christ speaks of his bride being the garden enclosed. This is true of his church, of his bride. the Church of Christ, and that as we come together in public worship, as we gather about His Word, that Christ promises to be among us, that He promises to teach us, to feed us, that He Himself is leading us in worship also by those He has appointed. And particularly, in the word, he would come and speak to us. In the preaching, we would hear his voice, as it's faithful. And at the table, we would sit with him. Yes, this is imagery here. I've gathered my myrrh with my spice. I've eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I've drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, oh friends, drink. Yeah, drink abundantly, oh beloved. but at the table we commune with Christ. He is spiritually the meal that we are taking to ourselves, the bread of life, eating by faith His body and drinking His blood by faith, trusting upon Him and seeking that He would strengthen our faith, but also we are with Him. Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 verse 16 says the blood of the cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the body of the blood of Christ the bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ so sharing in the blood and body of Christ but also that he is with us there is communion with Christ also in that invitation in Revelation 3 verse 20 Christ there in so many words here in imagery says behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him and will sup with him and he with me Now it's not only or perhaps even primarily speaking about the Lord's table, but Christ is there. He's saying, if you will draw near to me, I'll draw near to you. Put away your sin. Seek holiness. I will come in to my garden and feast with you. And there's a picture of joy and a great blessing. but also that we would be looking forward to, by faith and in hope, to communion with Christ in glory. Looking forward as we would look to that time when all our sin would be removed from us, that we would be with Him in the heavens, that we would be with Him in the new heavens and the new earth, Revelation chapter 7. There's a description of perfect communion with Christ in heaven, with Christ and the souls of believers. Verse 14. 15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And we look forward to, from the new heavens and the new earth, to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We will sit with the people of God and feast and rejoice, as it were, for all eternity. So, we see here in Song of Solomon, seeking to understand it in light of the scriptures, understanding the imagery here. A description of the believer, particularly of the church, as Christ's guardian. belonging to Christ, set apart by Christ, bearing fruit unto Christ, enlivened and enabled by the Holy Spirit, desiring His presence and calling upon God and seeking that the Spirit would work to enable holiness and to that Christ would want and desire, as it were, to abide with the believer, and also the incentive that Christ, he comes to his garden. He will come. Those who call, he answers. Those who delight themselves in the Lord, he will And so we ought to be thinking about these things as regards ourselves and to be examining ourselves. Is my soul the garden of Christ? Is He at work in me? Is the Spirit at work in me? Yes, there will be much in the way of remaining sin, doubts, fears, distractions, but is there something of the work of the Spirit, something of faith in Christ, something of love for Christ, something of a desire for Christ. It's a knowledge of sin, but also a hatred, a sorrowing over that, and a wanting to be near Christ. Because if that's the case, if this is true of you, in however small way it is, however little your faith be, however little your holiness, if it's there, then you ought to be at the table. You ought to be there, because Christ said, do this in remembrance of me, a command to those who believe. And so if you believe, however little your faith be, however small your fruit may appear to yourself, the fruit that, as you would see the Spirit working in you and the desires that you have, It is yet there, and you belong to Christ, and He would feed you, and He would have you at His table, with His people. He would commune with you there. So let us then, each one, be examining ourselves, asking for grace to do so truly, honestly. Again, not preparing ourselves with others, but rather looking into the mirror of the Word of God and asking that God, which shows the truth of Himself and ourselves, have the grace to be seeking Him. Amen. Let us stand up and pray. O Lord, our God, We would marvel at Thy grace. We would marvel at Thy power and the transformation of those dead in trespasses and sins, to make them alive in Christ, taking those by nature as wildernesses, barren, dead, dry, and to be making them a garden. showing holiness, life, fruitfulness unto Thy glory. We bless Thee, O God, for the work of Thy grace, thanking Thee, we who believe, for Thy mercy to us, asking that Thou wouldst send forth Thy Spirit, that Thou wouldst enable us to put away sin and to grow in holiness. that would have us to be desiring Christ, and that as we call upon Him, that He would answer and come. We pray for those also yet in their sins, those who would acknowledge that they have no such desires, are happy as they are, happy doing their own thing, doing their own will, walking in rebellion, O God, they will be pleased to prick their conscience, to pierce their hearts, to show them their need for Christ, and to work by the Holy Spirit according to thine electing love, to renew, to wash, to gather to thyself. We do ask for thy help, O God, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.