"A garden inclosed is My sister,
My spouse;
A spring shut up, a fountain
Sealed."
Song of Solomon 4:12-14.

There is being erected in Fitchburg, Mass., according to The Literary Digest, Dec. 13,1930, a factory building unique in that it has no windows in the walls nor the roof. It is to be practically independent of outside influences. There will be no intervening clouds to intercept the daylight; no wind and dust, nor outside noises to annoy the operators.

The building is to be illuminated by hundreds of 1000-watt electric lamps so distributed as to eliminate all shadows. And it will be so ventilated as to bring fresh, washed air to all parts of the structure, giving an even temperature as may be desired the year round.

So much for the illustration. But what a picture of God's Assembly-in His thought of it! Shut off from the world and its influences, yet ministering to the world. Separated to Christ who is the all-sufficient Light and Power, yet "doing good to all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith." What a garden is His!

"Spikenard and saffron;
Calamus and cinnamon, with all the
Trees of frankincense;
Myrrh and aloes, with all the Chief spices."

Those fruits that speak of Himself, and of His glorious work! And then in chapter 6:1,2:

"Whither is thy Beloved gone?
My Beloved is gone down into His garden,
To the beds of spices, to feed in the
Gardens, and to gather lilies."

Do we realize what joy and satisfaction there is for our blessed Lord?-not now thinking of the sweetness to our own souls, but what it must be to HIM. And is that not an incentive to keep His garden barred against the ravages of the world? To keep that living spring shut up from the contamination of the flesh, and the fountain sealed that the powers of darkness may not divert its flow from supplying His garden with living water.

But may we not forget that His "garden inclosed," His "spring shut up," and His "fountain sealed" is for the security of His own, for ALL His own-the weak and the strong; the erring ones and the shepherds-that His flock be not scattered. And also that His enclosure is a barrier against the defiling world, not against any of His blood-bought ones. Herbert Cowell