New England Religious Herald

MEDITATIONS ON THE DEW

Soon as the evening comes, this penetrating invisible moisture embalms each herb, and flower, and fruit that grows; when sultry heats and winds have caused the various tribes of vegetation to languish and pine with sickly drought, this wondrous cordial falls upon their drooping heads, and makes them blow fresh in health and beauty. But how very amiable this gentle dew: when it distils its treasures into nature's lap, it is neither heard by the quickest ear, nor seen by the sharpest eye ; it makes no noise—it makes no show What a striking emblem is this of that divine anointing from above, which descends on heavenly souls The Lord says by Hosea, his prophet, " I will be as the dew unto Israel," heavenly dew ! This is the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, which is not to be found in the whirlwind of fleshly works and passions : as the dew falls when all is still, when all is wrapped in silence, so it is in the silence of all flesh, with its noisy workings, that this sacred unction distils upon the soul, and causes it to grow as the lily, and cast forth its fragrant odors as the wine of Lebanon Let Christians then learn from the foregoing considerations, that still streams are the deepest: let them learn more and more to be like Mary at the feet of Jesus; and to be more concerned in receiving from him, than to be offering the sacrifice of fools—C. Phillips