3. "His branches shall spread." The branches of the cedar are spreading branches, and their grateful shade makes welcome provision for rest, for shelter, and for social assembly. It is this
1 J. N. Norton, The King's Ferry Boat, 186.
2 G. A. Smith.
HOSEA xiv. 5, 6 315
aspect of the cedar that makes it so worthy a type of friendliness and protection, and clothes it with the special attribute of genial sociability ; and it is this characteristic in the human response to Divine impulse and blessing that needs special attention from Christian men and Christian Churches. The Christian life is a spreading life.
Tf One of the strange freaks of Japanese horticulture is the cultivation of dwarf trees. The Japanese grow forest giants in flowerpots. Some of these strange miniature trees are a century old, and are only two or three feet high. The gardener, instead of trying to get them to grow to their best, takes infinite pains to keep them little. His purpose is to grow dwarfs, not giant trees. From the time of their planting they are repressed, starved, crippled, stunted. When buds appear, they are nipped off. So the tree remains only a dwarf all its life.
Some Christian people seem to do the same thing with their lives. They do not allow themselves to grow. They rob them- selves of spiritual nourishment, restrain the noble impulses of their nature, shut out of their hearts the power of the Holy Spirit, and are only dwarf Christians when they might be strong in Christ Jesus, with the abundant life which the Master wants all His followers to have.1
If there be some weaker one, Give me strength to help him on; If a blinder soul there be, Let me guide him nearer Thee. Make my mortal dreams come true With the work I fain would do ; Clothe with life the weak intent, Let me be the thing I meant; Let me find in Thy employ Peace that dearer is than joy; Out of self to love be led, And to heaven acclimated, Until all things sweet and good Seem my nature's habitude.2
4. " His beauty shall be as the olive tree." Anybody who has ever seen a grove of olives knows that their beauty is not such as strikes the eye. If it were not for the blue sky overhead that rays
1 J. R. Miller, Our New Edens, 68.
3 J. G. Whittier, Andrew Rykman's Prayer.
316 THE BLESSING OF THE DEW
down glorifying light they would not be much to look at or talk about. The tree has a gnarled, grotesque trunk which divides into insignificant branches, bearing leaves mean in shape, harsh In texture, with a silvery underside. It gives but a quivering shade and has no massiveness or symmetry. Ay ! but there are olives on the branches. And so the beauty of the humble tree is in what it grows for man's good. After all, it is the outcome in fruitfulness that is the main thing about us. God's meaning, in all His gifts of dew, and beauty, and purity, and strength, is that we should be of some use in the world.
The glory of the tree — with all its spreading boughs and glistening leaves — would have been but a poor boast, if it had been of no use. Its true majesty was the homelier glory of serving well the heaven that bathed it and the earth that bore it. Its " goodly " fruit yielded oil for the lamps in the house of God, and even for the sacrifices on the holy altar. It no less ministered in many ways to man. It was used for food and for medicine, and also for ointments to cheer and beautify.
T[ There is a story that when the foundations of what was afterwards the capital of Greece were laid a dispute arose between Neptune and Minerva as to which should have the honour of naming it. The council of the gods decided that it should be given to the one who bestowed the most useful gift. Thereupon Neptune, striking the ground angrily with his trident, produced a horse, but Minerva, copying his action and smiling with disdain, struck the earth with a spear and called forth an olive tree. That was agreed to be the more useful gift, and so Minerva gave the city one of her own names, Athena ; hence we have Athens to-day.1
I know a nature like a tree;
Men seek its shade instinctively.
It is a choir for singing birds,
A covert for the flocks and herds.
It grows and grows, nor questions why,
But reaches up into the sky,
And stretches down into the soil,
Finding no trouble in its toil.
It flaunts no scar to tell of pain,
Self-healed its wounds have closed again
Unaided by its pensioners;
1 T. Hind, The Treasures of the Snow, 66.
HOSEA xiv. 5, 6 317
And yet I know that great heart stirs
To each appeal and claim, indeed
Leans to their lack and needs their need.1
5. "His smell as Lebanon." There is something very mysterious about perfume. No one can describe it. You cannot take a photograph of it. Yet it is a very essential quality of the flower. The same is true of that strange thing we call influence. Influence is the aroma of a life. The most important thing about our life is this subtle, imponderable, indefinable, mysterious element of our personality which is known as influence. This is really all of us that counts in our final impression on other lives.