Dry Doctrine?
"My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." -Deuteronomy 32:2 [KJV]
We have in our text a regular scale: the dew,
the small rain, the rain, and the showers. And this graduated scale of
heavenly moisture shews that there are degrees of spiritual blessing. We
must not expect all to be blessed to the same extent, nor all to
receive the same measure. Yet all are of the same nature. Examine "the
dew," it is water; "the small rain," it is water; "the rain," it is
water; "the showers," they are still water.
You cannot find any
difference between the water of the dew, of the small rain, of the rain,
and of the showers: they are all alike pure water, distilled from the
alembic of the sky. So it is with the blessing of God upon the soul. It
may fall upon one as the dew, upon another as the small rain, upon a
third as the rain, on a fourth as the showers; yet all are equally and
alike spiritual and divine. It is the same God that gives; through the
same Jesus it comes; by the same Spirit it is communicated. All produce
more or less the same effect—to soften, to moisten, to fertilise, and to
revive; and all descend from the heaven of Christ's gospel; all fall
from the same firmament of grace, mercy, and truth, love, blood, and
salvation.
The doctrine, therefore, that testifies of Jesus, and
the speech that proclaims him to be a Rock, and His work to be perfect,
and no other teaching, "drops as the rain and distils as the dew."There
is a power in truth, when God is pleased to apply it to the heart; and
whether it come in large or in small measure, whether it be in dew or
shower, it is equally a proof of His mercy and love, and equally a proof
that His power attends His own divine truth to our soul.
-preacher J.C. Philpot (1802-1869 A.D.)
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