The Pulpit Commentary — Hosea — Section 448

nnd wh(l now sees thee a great way off, and hRs compaAsion on thee. When tho dove found no rest for her foot in a dark and desolate world, she returned to the ark ; nor had she to flutter outside it in vain. Noa.h saw her, and put out his l1Rnd and" took her in unto ~im into the ark." If Noah did that for a poor tired bird, what will not God do for his own tired child? 2. They arefound in the promises of God. Ver. 4: "I will heal their backsliding," etc. He pledges himself to cure our ,vaywardness and fi?kleness, and he_ is faithful. Therefore, though a good reput1ttion has been lost, a p10us ancestry disgraced, and holy promises broken, yet be encouraged to obey the loving exh(lrtation, "0 Israel, return unto the Lord thy God."-A. R. Ver. 5.-Tlie li_eavenly dewfail. The former part of the clmpter describes the experi- ence through which a Church or a soul must pass before the fulfilment of this promise. The rcpl'lltance, -the vows, the hopes of the penitent a.re here crowued by Divine good- ness. \Yi Lb a start! ing and sudtleu transition, in the fourth verse, Jehovah is represented as interposing amidst tbe prayers of those returning t-0 him. So our Lord describes the father as uuaule to listen to the close of the prodigal'e confession, before he breaks forth in a gush of generous pardon and blessing. How encouraging the tnith this suggests for a.ll "Lo turn to God! We accept our text as a figurative description of the revivi- fying and beautifying influence of the Holy Spirit upon the human heart. Let us notice, therefore, some of the characteristics of the dew. L DEw IS UNSEEN IN ITS COMING. We see its effects when every leaf and flower ~litters in the early sunshine; but the dew came unperceived, when darkness was· over tLc earth. 1. Probably the most powerful forces are those which are unseen. The uohlest part of man is hidden from human gaze, and of him who is the directing Power of the universe it is said, " No man hath seen God at any time." If it be argued tha~ because God is, and always has been invisible, he must be non-existent; it may also be argued that the conscious ego does not exist, because it has never been seen. It is true tkt no research or analysis in the natural world has discovered God; it is equally true tl.wt no investigation of the human body, living or dead, bas ever revealed the subtle consciousness of whose existence each man is, however, certain. Both are beyond the ran£?:e of experimental science. We do not know how the Spirit of God affects us; we cannot d.i~cover the nexus by means of which holy thoughts and impulses from above becomes ours, yet we a.re confident that they a.re of God and not of us. In our holiest and best hours the Holy Spirit comes to us, butseeretly, "as the dew lighteth upon the grass." 2. 'I'he evidence of the work of the Spirit is to be fom,,d in its effects; e.g. the conversion of Saul of Tarsus; the profound teaching of the unscholarly writers of Holy Scripture; the triumph of Christianity through the influence of such men as were its first representatives; the moral transformation. of some we ourselves have seen. One example of genuine conversion will do more t.o prove the work of the Spirit than all the tomes of theology ever written. II. DEW 1s SILENT IN ITS FALL. We can hear the pattering ofrain or the rippling of ntreams, but the dewfall does not disturb an insect's sleep. 1. The Church, as well as the world, depends too often on noise and bustle, as the signs or the causes of suc-eess. The preacher whose eloquence attracts the multitude, around whom are clustered societies and organizations to do all manner of work, is not always the man most richly blessed of God. Be that as it may, the signs that the work is of God are to be found, not in the outward, but in the inward-in truer thoughts of sin and holiness, in a loftier standard of Christian integrity, in the generosity and self-sacrifice of Christ's disciples, in tiie purity and love which are being silently inwrought by the power of the Holy GLost. Hence we should be slow to measure success in our own efforts or those of od.1ers. 2. .d6 a rule, 6piritual blessing is richest when outward joy is least. The dew falls not durin" sunshine, but in the night. Note the spiritual richness and power of tJ.Jc Church in times of persecution. Refer t.o the development of Christian faith, peace, hope, devoutness, in the dark seasons of affliction. The world must be hushed tha.t we may hear God's voice. Earth must be darkened before the dew of heavenly blessing falls. III. JJEw IS REVIVING IN ITS INFLUENCE, We see nothing comparable to that with which Hosea. was familiar, living 88 he did in a land where no re.in fell for months tugether, and where the withholding of dew meant the death of vegetation. Without OH, X1". 1-9.] THE BOOK OF HOSEA.