indeed, respecting it, as in all the secrets of nature, which it would be difficult to explain. On these there may be some diversity of opinion. But every peasant knows its common properties. The most superficial observer of our fields and gardens cannot be ignorant of its influence; and the most humble christian can easily perceive its application. The heavy fructifying dews of the east much more powerfully illustrate our subject; but we know enough to remark, 1. That the dew is silent. The rain, sometimes, pours down in torrents, with wind and tempest, and threatens to destroy as much by its violence as it promises to produce by its fertilizing properties. It is never thus with the dew. It is so subtle that the eye cannot perceive it, and so soft that the most acute ear cannot catch the sound. You see it, indeed, when it is come, and you feel it when it has fallen ; but you cannot tell how it comes. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. How strikingly is this the fact, both in conversion and sanctification! In the progress of religion in the soul, and in its revival in our churches, generally speaking, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Sometimes, indeed, there may be a shaking a noise, as among the dry bones; but the giving of life is the effect of that wind, of which it is said, "Thou canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth." seen. How often does the sinner come into the house of God, as he may have done a thousand times before, careless-wicked---perhaps, reprobate; and, to all appearance, he goes as he came. No sound has been heard from heaven-no divine hand has been immediately. But a secret, invisible, silent operation has been going ona mighty influence, silent as the dew, penetrating his heart, hath sent him away a new creature. Has it not been thus with some of you? Are you not, at this very hour, the subjects of a holy influence, which you received you know not how nor when? It came upon you silently, like the dew. 2. The dew is copious. The rain, sometimes, descends in partial showers, or even in niggardly drops; but the dew is too generous to be scanty. It is copious as it is silent; and, like all genuine benevolence, it is the more diffusive as it is less ostentatious. Who can enumerate the drops of dew? or, who can ascertain its measure? But this were far more easy than to tell the number of his mercies, or to measure the extent of his influence, who hath said, "I will be as the dew unto Israel." Who, then, can circumscribe this influence, this grace of his Holy Spirit? More ample than the dew, it knows neither failure nor diminution. Paul, therefore, testifies, "The grace of God was exceeding abundant towards me." L The dew is a figure often employed to denote abundance, or to express a countless multitude. Hence, in reference to the Redeemer's converts, it is said, (Ps. cx.) " Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth :" thus versified by Dr. Watts: "What wonders shall thy gospel do! Thy converts shall surpass The numerous drops of morning dew, And own thy sovereign grace." Towards us, individually, how ample is his grace! "How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O Lord; how great is the sum of them! If I should speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." It is thus "His grace on fainting souls distils, 3. The dew is penetrating. It gently insinuates, and penetrates more and more deeply, saturating the earth, and preparing it for the seed; or fructifying that which it already contains. So the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the influence of the Holy Spirit, penetrates the heart, the conscience, the affections, and imbues all the powers of the soul. By that gracious influence which is here promised, the heart is prepared to receive the truth; and do you not feel, Christian, that possessed of this heavenly influence, your religion is something more than mere exterior? that it is the hidden man of the heart? that it is something identified with all your feelings, with all your moral and intellectual operations? It is not a something which falls and rests merely upon the surface; but is a mighty and penetrating influence. 4. The dew is irresistible. It is impossible to stay its progress, or to resist its operations. It will fall-it will penetrate-it will soften and fructify. Can you prevent its falling on your person? If you go abroad, are you not wet with the dew of the night? We will not stay here to inquire how far, or in what manner, sinners may resist the Holy Spirit. We speak of Divine influence as descending upon the church, as promised to Israel, as poured out upon the beloved of the Lord. Upon the world-upon the hearts of sinners-it may sometimes fall as the dew upon the flinty rock. But here, it descends as upon the mountains of Zion; as received and welcomed by the thirsty earth. It would be quite as natural that the earth should repel the descending dew, as that the church should resist the influence of the Holy Spirit. 5. The dew is fertilizing. It renders the earth fruitful, and gives to universal nature a rich luxuriance. Thus Divine influence spiritually fertilizes the church of God. And oh, how refreshing are his heavenly communications! May He come down, and make your soul and mine as a well-watered garden, and his church as a fruitful field! Then shall we experience as well as see what are, III. The results of Divine influence. "I will be as the dew unto Israel: and he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon." The most fruitful and luxuriant productions of nature are selected, by which to represent the effect of Divine influence upon the heart, and the consequent prosperity of the church, upon which it thus copiously descends. We can but just glance at the various particulars. 1. The first effect specified, as the result of Divine influence, is growth; and the figure borrowed to represent it, is the lily. Of this flower there are several kinds. It is remarkable for the delicacy of its texture, and the rapidity of its growth. The lily of the sacred Scriptures is thought, by some, to be that flower which we call the crown imperial. This is the lily of Persia, and the lilium basileum, or royal lily of the Greeks. Whether or not this be the particular flower alluded to, we will not undertake to determine. The lily mentioned in the sacred Scriptures was very abundant in Judea. "Behold the lilies, how they grow." It was so abundant that they heated their ovens with dried lilies. In allusion to this our Lord appeals to his disciples — "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass, the lily of the field,-which to-day is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven." The comparison in our text may refer, either to the growth of the single flower, or to the increase of the species. The stem of a flower soon reaches its accustomed height, and in number it was proverbially rapid of increase. Apply this to the Christian, or to the church, upon whom Divine influence is shed as the dew. What must be the result? Surely growth, spiritual increase, rapid progress, in knowledge, in faith, in love, in zeal, in hope, in confidence, in whatever constitutes, or adorns the Christian character. All these are involved in the apostle's exhortation, "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Were it necessary to illustrate this more fully, I might refer you to the following passages:— Ephes. iv. 13-16; Phil. iii. 12, 13; 2 Pet. iii. 18; Heb. vi. 1. Who, after this, will say the Christian is, or can be stationary ? He who says this, falsifies the divine Word, and "carries a lie in his right hand."—" He shall grow as the lily." Observe, 2. His stability. "He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon." How perfect are all the representations of Divine truth! The lily, however remarkable for the rapidity of its growth, would form an equally striking emblem of feebleness and liability to decay—a flower "which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven." But here, with the growth of the lily is combined the stability of the cedar. This is evidently the allusion; Lebanon is, by a figure of speech, put for the cedars which grow there. These trees rose to a remarkable height-were often from thirty to forty feet in girth ; and from the corresponding depth and extension of their roots, they acquired a degree of stability which no thunder could shake, which no tempest could destroy. So "they that be escaped of the remnant of Judah, shall again take root downward." The stability of the Christian refers to three things-the security of his state, the firmness of his principles, and the perpetuity of his character. His faith, the root of his profession, takes firm hold of the holy covenant! Holy principles, like so many fibres of that root, by adherence to the truth, give a stability to his Christian profession, like that of the majestic cedar; and his character acquires the attribute, as the wood of that celebrated tree is the emblem of immortality. This stability distinguishes the real Christian. The mere pretender to godliness is often carried about with every wind of doctrine. The religion of the hypocrite, is mere sea-weed,-all surface and without root; or the root and the surface, alike shifting and uncertain. But the Christian, while he grows as the lily, is firm as the cedar: "He sends forth his roots like Lebanon." 3. Another effect of Divine influence is expansion." His branches shall spread."-This expression of our text describes a state highly flourishing. It is at once the result and the evidence of a high degree of prosperity. The spreading branches may denote the extended, and the extending influence of the church. There is, in England, a celebrated oak, which casts its shadow, and sheds its acorns upon four counties. The church is destined, like the tree of life, to spread her branches, to cast her shadow, and to shake her fruit on the four quarters of the globe. It is a choice vine. "Thou preparedst room for it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river." First planted in the land of Judea, and nourished by the dew which descended on the mountains of Zion, its branches have spread, and we of this northern isle, afar off upon the sea, pluck its healing leaves, and feast on its delicious fruit. In proportion as the dew of Divine influence descends upon the church, her branches will extend, until " the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and they shall give unto the Lord the excellency of Carmel and Sharon." His branches shall spread; and this shall be accompanied, 4. By corresponding beauty. "His beauty shall be as the olive tree. The beauty of the olive tree was as proverbial as the strength of the cedar. Without occupying your attention with a description of this tree, suffice it to remark, that the proportion of its branches, the perfection of its symmetry, the perpetual freshness of its verdure, and the beauty of its colours, constitute that which in nature, we call beauty. As one of the most beautiful trees in Judea, it is employed as a figure, to exhibit the beauty of the church. In what does this consist? It sometimes refers to the glory which is put upon the Christian, by imputation of the Saviour's righteousness. Hence it is said, "Thy renown went forth among the heathen, for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God." Thus the church sings " He hath clothed me with the robe of righteousness, and covered me with the garments of salvation." But it sometimes refers to that moral and spiritual beauty which consists in conformity to the image of Christ, and is the result of Divine influence acting upon the heart: it is the concentration and exhibition of all the graces of the Holy Spirit. And what are these? Read Galatians v. 21. These, strictly speaking, constitute the beauty of the Christian character. It is, my brethren, much to be lamented, when Christians are defective in this moral beauty; but it is very common. We think too little about it. Many, it may be, are strong and vigorous-they are full of zeal, and not altogether unfruitful. They are not barren, but they are not "comely" trees. If they are tall and firm like the cedar, they are not beautiful like the olive. The Christian should resemble "the tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits." But too many, while they bear the stronger, and the rougher, are almost barren of the sweeter and more delicate fruits of the Spirit. They want much of that meekness of wisdom "which, in the sight of God, is of great price,”of the loveliness of that charity, which "doth not behave itself unseemly, is not easily provoked,-beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." The church is, sometimes, compared to a green fir tree." And the character and temper of some Christians very much resemble the fruit of that 66 |