DRINKING OF THE BROOK. 179 DRINKING OF THE BROOK. He shall drink of the brook in the way; therefore shall he lift up the head.-PSALM CX. 7. Travellers greatly fatigued by the roughness or heaviness and length of the way, under a vertical sun, not only their hands but their heads will hang down; but on reaching a brook or stream of water, they will cheerfully stoop down and drink of its welcome contents. On doing so, good effects will instantly be felt to follow; they will feel revived and strengthened both in body and mind, and proceed on their journey comfortably and boldly, and with lively expectations of obtaining the object of their perilous undertaking. This is merely explanatory of the figure. Perhaps Phil. ii. 7-9 is a commentary upon it. If so, it must refer to our Lord's drinking of the waters of affliction, which led to his exaltation at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. SHOWERS OF BLESSING. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land.-EZEK. xxxiv. 26, 27. It is generally known that in tropical climates there is what is called the rainy season, which 180 SHOWERS OF BLESSING. lasts about three months in the year. Rain seldom falls except during those months, and the natives look forward to them for rain, the same as the Egyptians look forward to the periodical inundation of the Nile, to fertilise the level land on both sides of that noted river. Should the season pass without the clouds pouring down their accustomed treasures, it spreads universal gloom over the minds of the inhabitants, and desolation over the land. I remember an extensive district in the heart of Africa, where the rainy season had passed over without a single shower: all was desolation, every thing being burnt up, consequently deserted by the fowls of heaven and the beasts of the field. This state of things is beautifully described, Hab. iii. 17: 66 Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail [by producing no olives], and the fields shall yield no meat [or corn]; the flock shall be cut off from the stall [or die for want of grass], and there shall be no herd in the stalls" [from the same cause]. Should there be abundance of rain the succeeding season, the alteration would be great; the showers would indeed deserve to be called showers of blessing, for they would spread life every where. The dry and parched ground would send forth its beautiful and useful treasures; grass, flowers, vegetables, shrubs, trees, &c., would revive and proceed to their maturity. Springs, fountains, brooks and rivers, would all be replenished, and A CEDAR EXALTED BY RIVERS. 181 all the human family, dwelling in that region, would rejoice. The first state resembles a country without the Gospel; the latter, one to which it comes, not in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance of its truth and infinite importance. A CEDAR EXALTED BY RIVERS. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high, with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field.--EZEK. Xxxi. 3, 4. In the wild Bushman country there are no trees except near rivers. The first time I crossed it, we were about a fortnight without seeing a tree at length we came to some low stunted ones, but as we went forward they increased in height, which made us hope we were approaching a river; by-and-by we came in sight of tall, stately trees, and on reaching them we found all their stateliness to result from standing on the margin of the Gariep river. The other parts of the passage may refer to irrigation, or leading out water from the river by little canals, to the plantations in the vicinity. . Ver. 12: His branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land, Seems to refer to the effects of inundations, in 182 MOUNTAINS RENT ASUNDER. carrying off large branches of trees growing on the sides of the rivers, by the impetuosity and weight of the stream, after great falls of rain higher up the country. I remember having crossed a wide river, which, in two hours after leaving it, rose upwards of six feet higher, yet not a cloud was to be seen; but the rain had fallen much higher up the country. MOUNTAINS RENT ASUNDER. Half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south; and ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains [or between the two halves of the mountains], for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; yea, ye shall flee like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.--ZECH. xiv. 4, 5. No convulsion of nature is so dreadful as a great earthquake. The one referred to in the text divided a mountain to the westward of Jerusalem into two parts, leaving a valley between about half a mile in breadth. Most countries have been visited by earthquakes at one period or another, but for many ages God has not visited any countries with very destructive ones, except some that are grossly Popish, as Sicily, Portugal, Calabria (near Rome, the seat of the antichristian beast), and South America; to which may be added the island of Jamaica. Some time before my first visit to the Cape of Good Hope, there was a frightful, though not very destructive earthquake, which was preceded by GLORY OF SINNERS PASSETH AWAY. 183 sultry weather, that produced uncommon languor in the minds of many. At night the earthquake commenced by an awfully terrific sound, under ground, which resembled that of a thousand waggons running along the street, attended with lightning. After dying away, the same astounding sound was repeated, when every thing above ground shook. The noise was terrific, not only from its loudness, but also from the nature of the sound, by its resembling a melancholy groan or howl. The very dogs and birds were evidently terrified, which added to the horror of the night. I met with two hills, one on the eastern, and the other on the western side of South Africa, which appear to have been divided into two parts, like the one mentioned in the text. They appeared as if a stupendous giant had, by one stroke of a mighty axe, cloven them into two parts. The two sides of the narrow valley or opening between, were composed of solid rock, and resembled each other like twin brothers; so that spectators could have no doubt but that they had once been united, and had been forcibly separated by some dreadful convulsion of nature similar to that mentioned in the text. The sides appeared to be some hundred feet high. GLORY OF SINNERS HASTILY PASSETH AWAY. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.-HOSEA xiii. 3. What a cluster of transitory objects is found in |