9

With such a sight before us, we should be able to comprehend the prophet's description: "Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish: they are black unto the ground; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads. Because the ground is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the plowmen were ashamed and confounded, they covered their heads. Yea, the kine also calved in the field, and forsook it, because there was no grass."

"5

Though our own country is not visited by these devastating droughts, we sometimes experience great scarcity of rain. If, in the summer season, the rain be withheld for a few weeks, vegetation is checked, and the ground is parched. When the rain comes down, how much the earth is refreshed! The thirsty ground drinks up the water, and soon puts forth its productions for the support and comfort of man. The face of nature becomes revived, and delightful verdure clothes the fields and mountain sides. All nature, animate and inan imate, seems to put forth its sympathy in partaking of the refreshing bounty of heaven. The Lord's goodness in sending down the rain, and the delight5 Jer. xiv. 2, &c.

ful and beneficial effects of that rain, are beautifully described by the royal psalmist: "Thou visitest the earth and waterest it; thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; thou settlest the furrows thereof; thou makest it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing thereof. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness. They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness; and the little hills rejoice on every side."6

You see the effects produced by the rain in the natural world; let us just glance at the blessed effects of God's word on the spiritual and moral condition of man.

Man's condition, since the fall, is justly compared to sterile ground; or ground producing noxious weeds and briers. His heart, naturally corrupt, is the fountain that spontaneously sends forth the sins which deluge the earth, provoke the wrath of heaven, and bear present misery in their train. But by the instrumentality of the word, God renovates the spiritual and moral character of man. By the word, he makes fruitful the souls of

7 Homily of the Misery of Man, Part II.

8 Matt. xv. 19, 20.

men, and causes them to produce the fruits of righteousness and peace. This blessed change in the condition and character of man, as effected by God's holy word, is asserted by the psalmist: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."9 By the word ministered, God accomplishes many great and gracious purposes. He quickens those who are by nature dead in sin. He brings them "out of darkness into his marvellous light." He converts the barren, the useless, the injurious, into fruitful and profitable members of society. He comforts the heart of the sorrowful, binds up the broken spirit, consoles the humble penitent, confirms the wavering, strengthens the weak, sanctifies the unholy, leads the guilty trembling penitent to the cross of Christ: in a word, prepares an heir of hell for the possession and enjoyment of heaven. The word of God effects a wondrous renovation of man's principles and character: he becomes “a new creature in Christ Jesus." To the instrumentality of the word, does St. Peter ascribe the renewed state of the Christian: "Being born again, not of the corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible, the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.""

It is added in the text, that this word shall not 1 1 Pet. i. 23.

9 Ps. xix. 7.

return void; but shall accomplish that end which God designs. He not only sends his word; but he clothes that word with power. He gives it the intended effect. He makes it "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." Independent of the divine agency, the word of God is but a dead letter; but accompanied with, and applied by, the Spirit of God, the scriptures become "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”3

This word has hitherto withstood, and it will withstand, the opposition of its perverse and ignorant enemies. The machinations, devices, and powers of hell and earth,-of devils and infidels, have been confederated against it; but it has triumphed and it will triumph. Its adversaries may as well try to stop the rain, the snow, and the dew from watering and fertilizing the earth, as, by their wretched sophistry, endeavour to arrest the success of the Holy Scriptures. God hath declared, "it shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that which he pleases, and prosper in the thing whereunto it was sent."

The subject before us leads me to add the following remarks, by way of application.

From what has been said, we may see the import

2 Heb. iv. 12.

3 Rom. i. 16.

ance and necessity of attending to the word of God, both in the public service, in the family, and in the secrecy of the closet. This word to be known must be heard, read, and studied. It must be searched deeply, as you would search for hid treasures. It is a deep mine, and they who labour most in it, are greatly enriched with wisdom, consolation, and joy. Nor can we, if we love the law of the Lord, fail to appreciate the provision of so large a portion of the scriptures, made in our public services. And far be the day when this portion. shall be abridged, or supplanted by human commentaries in the shape of sermons or lectures. Without the remotest intention of depreciating this part of the service, called preaching, it may be observed that, in these days, we are in some danger of incurring the charge preferred by our Saviour against the Jews of old,-exalting human compositions above the pure word of God; and of substituting feelings, excited by hearing a sermon, for those inward principles of abiding faith, hope, and love, with their outward and righteous fruits, which are formed and regulated according to the word of the Lord. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."5 We are sanctified through the truth,-the word of God is TRUTH.

4 Mark vii.

5 Rom. x. 17.

6 John xv. 3.; xvii. 17.

1 Pet. i. 22.