Song of Songs 4:12 - Catena Bible & Commentaries

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Prayer of Manasseh

Song of Songs 4:12

A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Verse 11 Read Chapter 4 Verse 13

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

In gardens of this kind the water of the pure fountain shines, reflecting the features of the image of God, lest its streams mingled with mud from the wallowing places of spiritual wild beasts should be polluted. For this reason, too, that modesty of virgins fenced in by the wall of the Spirit is enclosed lest it should lie open to be plundered. And so as a garden inaccessible from without smells of the violet, is scented with the olive and is resplendent with the rose, that religion may increase in the vine, peace in the olive and the modesty of consecrated virginity in the rose. - "Concerning Virgins 1.9.45"

1 min1/16

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

Watch out that the firmness of your mind not be bent and softened by the bodily pleasure of intercourse and thus dissolve into all her embraces and open up her fountain, that ought to have been shut and closed in by zealous intent and reasoned consideration. “You are an enclosed garden, a fountain sealed.” For once the firmness of the mind is dissolved, thoughts of bodily pleasure pour forth; they are very harmful and flare up into an unrestrained longing for grave danger. But if careful attention had been devoted to guarding the lively mind, it would have checked them. - "Isaac, or the Soul 2.2"

< 1 min2/16

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

Christ, then, feeds his church with these sacraments, by means of which the substance of the soul is strengthened, and seeing the continual progress of her grace, he rightly says to her, “How comely are your breasts, my sister, my spouse, how comely they are made by wine, and the smell of your garments is above all spices. A dropping honeycomb are your lips, my spouse, honey and milk are under your tongue, and the smell of your garments is as the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.” By which he signifies that the mystery ought to remain sealed up with you, that it be not violated by the deeds of an evil life, and pollution of chastity, that it be not made known to you, for whom it is not fitting, nor by garrulous talkativeness it be spread abroad among unbelievers. Your guardianship of the faith ought therefore to be good, that integrity of life and silence may endure unblemished. - "On the Mysteries 9.55"

1 min3/16

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

“A garden enclosed” [is virginity] because it is shut in on all sides by the wall of chastity. “A fountain sealed up” is virginity, for it is the fount and wellspring of modesty that keeps the seal of purity inviolate, in whose source there may shine the image of God, since the pureness of simplicity coincides with the chastity of the body. - "Letter 59, To Priests"

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Aquinas Study Bible

AD 2017

garden: because it bears the seeds of spiritual works. (Alcuin)

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

I think that we have sufficiently shown, both from the canon of Scripture and from the letters of Cyprian himself. [Thus] bad people, while by no means converted to a better mind, can have, and confer, and receive baptism, of whom it is most clear that they do not belong to the holy church of God, though they seem to be within it. [But] they are covetous, robbers, usurers, envious, evil thinkers, and the like; while [the church] is one dove, modest and chaste, a bride without spot or wrinkle, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, with all similar properties that are attributed to her. - "On Baptism 6.3.5"

1 min6/16

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

Taking all these things, therefore, into consideration, I think that I am not rash in saying that there are some in the house of God after such a fashion as not to be themselves the very house of God, which is said to be built upon a rock. [The church] is called the one dove, which is styled the beauteous bride without spot or wrinkle, and a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, a well of living water, an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits. [This] house also received the keys, and the power of binding and loosing. - "On Baptism 7.51.99"

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

This account can be even better read as an allegory of the church, prophetical of what was to happen in the future. Thus the garden is the church itself, as we can see from the Canticle of Canticles; the four rivers are the four Gospels; the fruit-bearing trees are the saints, as the fruits are their works; and the tree of life is, of course, the Saint of saints, Christ. - "City of God 13.21"

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

If then this spouse of Christ—which is the church—is a garden enclosed, what is closed cannot be open to the stranger and profane. If the church is a sealed fountain, one who is outside, without access to the fountain, cannot drink from it or be sealed there. If there is but one well of living water—that which is within—then one who is without can have no life or grace from the water which only those within are allowed to use and drink. - "Letter 69.2"

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Cyril of Alexandria

AD 444

[This garden] is closed to the world but opened to the heavenly bridegroom. And the fountain where we are anointed after baptism was sealed by the Holy Spirit. - "Fragments in the Commentary on the Song of Songs 4.12"

< 1 min10/16

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Up. She is perfectly chaste, Proverbs v. 14. The Church excludes from her society all unbelievers and schismatics. The wicked serve to exercise the virtuous. Her pastors explain the Scriptures, the fountains of saving knowledge. (Calmet) Christ is also a fountain, Zacharias xiii. 1., and John vii. 37. (Menochius)

< 1 min11/16

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Gregory of Nyssa

AD 394

Because a seal protects the inviolability of whatever it guards, it scares off thieves; everything not stolen remains unharmed for the master. Praise of the bride in the Song would then testify to her excellence in virtue because her mind remains safe from enemies and is guarded for her Lord in purity and tranquility. Purity seals this fountain while the radiance and transparency of the bride’s heart is unclouded by no mire of evil thoughts. - "Homilies on the Song of Songs 9"

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Pacian of Barcelona

AD 391

We know, too, that since it is “the well of living water” and “a fountain enclosed,” it is defiled with no filth from a heretical abyss; that it is also a garden and filled with herbs great and small alike, some of little value, some precious; and that it is also the eight souls from the ark. - "Letter 3.21.2"

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Peter Chrysologus

AD 450

He so departed from the abode of the womb that the virginal door did not open, and what is sung in the Canticle of Canticles was fulfilled: “My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.” - "Sermon 145"

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Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

AD 550

The divine and conceptual Scriptures are compared with dew, with water, with milk, with wine, and with honey, for they have the power like water to produce life, like milk to give growth, like wine to revive, like honey both to purify and preserve. - "Letter 9.4"

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Richard Challoner

AD 1781

A garden enclosed: Figuratively the church is enclosed, containing only the faithful. A fountain sealed up: That none can drink of its waters, that is, the graces and spiritual benefits of the holy sacraments, but those who are within its walls.

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20