Ver. 9.-" .A plentiful rain." Closely rendered, "A rain of free bounty didst thou shed forth, 0 God l Thine inheritance, when weary, thou strengthenedst it." In the poetic Hebrew phrase, the land suffering from drought is said to be "weary;" a.s if exhausted and thirsting for the rain. If the reference here (as commonly supposed) be to the manna and other blessings, even including spiritual blessings, bestowed by God on Israel; yet the image is drawn from nature. Nothing is more delightful to every sense than an abnndant rain after scorching drought. None of God's works is more full of usefu!Dess, beauty, or spiritual symbolism than the rain. Take some of its lessons. L Tm: RICHES OF Goo's BOUNTY. As its uncounted millions of drops fall from the sky, they vividly remind us that "every good gift is from above." All life, of man and lower creatures, hangs on those tiny drops. In wells, springs, storage reservoirs, they furnish tl..te life-giving draught; which lacking, intolerable torments of thirst would presently end in death. At the roots of grass, corn, trees, plants of divers kinds, they are food for man and beast; and not food only, but clothing, habitation, fuel, inex- haustible material of industry. Gathered in streams and rivers, or vanishing again in steam, they are motive power, slaves of traffic, builders of homesteads and of cities. Truly does another psalm say," Thou greatly enrichest it." Our wealth and luxury, as well as food and drink, descend in the" plentiful rain." IL THE GENTLENESS OF DIVINE POWER. The silent softness with which the rain- drops fall conceals the tremendous strength stored up in them. Now and then waterspouts, floods, hailstorms, show how easily the rain may become the minister of ruin and death, instead of nourishment and growth. God's gentleness makes us great. A drop of rain from a mile high will not hurt a child's hand. An ounce of ice from the same height would kill a giant. III. Goo's FA.B-WORKING POWER AND .&.LL-EMDBACING WISDOM. The provision for rain-in the seas and oceans covering so large a proportion of our globe; in the heat which raises the vapour, the winds which bear the clouds, _the forces by wh!ch the rain-drops are formed and fall-presents a network of contnvance cncompas~mg the whole olobe; one of the most wonderful and beautiful examples of creative design. No wo;der the references in the Bible are so numerous: St. Paul, te the idolaters of Lystra (Acts xiv. 17); .Anws (v. 8); Jeremiah (xiv. 22); our Saviour (Matt. v. 45). The general laws according to which this prime necessary oflife is supplied are si11:1ple and uniform, and there are regions in which they work with monotonous regular1~y; but in the countries chosen for the principal education of the human race t~ere 1s a wide margin of mystery and apparent irregularity, which seems specially intended PB, LXVIU, 1-36,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 49
to give scope for the disciplino of providence and for prayer (Amos iv. 7, B; Jas. v. 17, 18). IV. Tm:: RAIN IS THE IMAGE OF SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS, ESPECIALLY OF DIVINE TRUTII AND OF TUE IloLY SPmrr. (Isa. Iv. 10, 11; xliv. 3, 4; Ezek. xxxvi. 2/i, 26.) And ns the rain falls in vain on the see. am! on the sandy waste, so the truth and grace of God a.re olfored in vain to thankless, nnbelievin 6 he.irts (Heb, vi, 7, B; 2 Cor, vi. 1).