2. Upon the souls of individual believers —
<= Deut. xxxii. 2. ^ Isai. xxxii. 15.
[What were any of us in our vmconverted state, but, like a barren heath, bringing forth briars and thorns, without any of those fruits of righteousness in which God delights? As for humiliation before God, and a simple life of fiiith in the liord Jesus, and a delight in spiritual exercises, and an entire devotedness of soul to God, we were as much strangers to it all as the heathen themselves. But, when the word of the Gospel came with power to our souls, it wrought a change upon our whole man, and made us altogether new creatures : " Old things passed away ; and, behold, all things became new." The obdurate surface of our hearts was softened ; and the unproductive soil put forth a vital energy ; by means of which all the fruits of the Spirit sprang up in rich abundance, and gave a hopeful prospect of a luxuriant harvest. Would we see this realized in a way that cannot be misunderstood, let us look at the converts on the day of Pentecost. It is not pos- sible to conceive persons more destitute of all good, or more filled with every hateful quality, than were the crucifiers and murderers of the Lord of Glory : yet in one hour how changed! so that they remain to this day the most exalted patterns of piety to the whole world. Thus it is at this day, also, amongst ourselves : the work, indeed, is not so sudden, nor so general ; but, where the grace of the Gospel is received in truth, it operates precisely in the same way: "instead of the brier, there grows up the fir-tree ; and instead of the thorn, there grows up the myrtle-tree ; and even the tenderest plants rise in stately magnificence into " trees of righteousness, whereby the Lord is glorified."]
Application —
Let me now call you,
1. To adore your God for the blessings you have already received —
[I would not that you should overlook the blessings of Providence. Even in this country we have often known the sad effects of scarcity : and we may well, therefore, bless our God for the prospects of abundance. To every one of you I would say, with David, " Sing unto the Lord with thanks- giving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God; who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who niaketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry^."
And will you not much more adore him for the blessings of his grace ? Surely, if you do not, the very stones will cry out
against you — Yet rest not in mere acknowledgments,
however grateful they may be : but seek to abound in fruits of
<^ Ps. cxlvii. 7—9.
605. j STABILITY THE GIFT OF GOD. 473
righteousness : which, whilst they are the necessary evidences of his work upon your souls, are the only effectual means of bringing honour to his name.]
2. To look to him continually for fresh and more abundant communications —
[The fertilizing showers which we have received will be of little avail, if they be not renewed from time to time : and all the grace that any of us have received, will be ineffectual for any permanent good, if we be not favoured with fresh "supplies of the Holy Spirit" from day to day. The grace which has been imparted to our souls this day, will no more suffice for our spiritual wants to-morrow, than will the light which has been communicated to our bodies. We must receive out of Christ's fulness from day to day, as the branch of the vine receives from its stem and root. Let your daily prayer, then, be like that of David: "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee : my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is*'." In reading the word, and in the public ordinances, look up for the blessing of God upon your soul ; and plead with him that gracious promise, " I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring ; and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water- courses s." Yes, Beloved, look unto God with increasing earnestness and confidence ; and he will pour out upon you " showers of blessings ;" and you shall be " beauteous as the olive, and fruitful as the vine, and fragrant as the woods of Lebanon''."]