Dew and Lion
‘’And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.” — Micah 5: 7, 8.
The twofold mission of Christianity is symbolized in these words by the dew and the lion. The dew builds up; the lion tears down and destroys.
I. The Dew.
1. The Work of the Dew is Silent. — It uses
no hammer. The great temple of nature,
like Solomon’s temple, is built without noise.
2 24 Milk and Meal.
The dew works in the dark and in the light, through the vital force of nature. It disintegrates dead stone. Just what the vital force in nature is to the vegetable world, the Holy Spirit is to the spiritual world. He uses silent Christian influence as the vital force uses the dew.
This silent influence is made up of three elements: (a) Character. Not what men say or do or write, but what they are. What a man is is tenfold stronger than what he may say or do. Benjamin Franklin, with a little touch of egotism, to be sure, but with truth, said that he never carried a point by argument, but always by the force of his character. He was a very poor speaker; but wrhat he said had Benjamin Franklin behind it, and he carried his measures. Justin Martyr said he was converted to Christianity by noticing the meekness of Christians under persecution. Seneca said of Socrates that his followers learned more ethics from his manner than from his words. Character, that works silently as the dew, we need to magnify, and endeavor to make as perfect as possible, that this quiet influence may be most potent.
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(b) But greater than character is Prayer. Prayer reaches farther. Character can touch what is near; prayer can reach out and touch the distant. Elijah could not have much influence, through his character, over the priests of Baal; but by prayer he could touch God, and out of heaven came the fire that had a mighty influence. John Clough you never saw, and yet in your family prayers you can promote missions among the Teloogoos. There is an omnipresence in prayer. You go to your telephone and call up the central station that is in communication, perhaps, with a thousand other stations, and through the central station you have a sort of omnipresence. By prayer you call up the central station, and through that central station of God’s omnipotence and omniscience you can touch the whole world. Character reaches out and touches those near us; prayer reaches out and touches all the world in the sweep of its power.
(c) But greater than prayer in some respects is Communion with God. When Moses came down from the mount, his face shone, though he knew it not. Bunsen said to his wife, ‘I see in your face the Eternal.” And there is something mighty about the man who lives with God. not simply praying so that He may put into operation the forces that will tell for good, but because he loves to pray. He dwells in the secret place of the Most High, because it is warm and light and refreshing: he lives and walks with God. There is something more powerful about that man than prayer or even character can give. His communion with God keeps him in contact with the great battery of power that sends out its forces when he is not conscious of it at all. A man like that can never be overcome. An old Scotch baron was besieged in his castle by some rival barons, who decided that they would starve him out. Week after week they continued their siege. Two or three months passed, when, as they thought he was just about ready to starve, they saw hanging over the wall a string of fresh fish. “Well,” they said.” if that man has fresh fish to live on, we can never starve him out.,, The secret of it was that he had an underground communication with the sea. and, while they were trying to starve him, he was feasting on the best fish the sea could afford. If we will just keep up this secret communication with God, getting our supplies from heaven, our souls will be fed, and the forces of evil encamped around us can never overcome us.
2. The Work of the Dew is Gradual. — It is difficult to hurry life. Feed an animal too much and you may kill it. The plant may be watered to death. The vital force will take just so much and no more, and you cannot hasten the processes of life. So it is with the Christian. You can’t make people grow by just feeding them. Why, there are some Christians who listen to Gospel sermons for ten years, and the only effect it has upon them is to give them a sort of spiritual dyspepsia. They are fed enough, but there is little vital force to apply and appropriate it. The kingdom of heaven is as a grain of mustard-seed. Young converts cannot grow into a spiritual Samson in a few days; one cannot become an athlete in a few hours. It takes training, patience, endurance, to grow into a full Christian.
3. The Work of the Doze is through a Wide
Diffusion of Particles, — One great drop of dew in the garden is not sufficient. There are thousands, perhaps millions of drops, and each drop just as intent upon its mission as though it were the only drop on the premises. Life in nature works not through the bulk, but through the atom, the smallest possible part. And so it is with the Christian’s influence upon the world. God does not put one great man in a place to do all the work. Every member should be a drop of dew, intent upon its mission.
4. The Work of the Dew is Persistent. — Silent forces are most persistent; they don’t make any noise, but just keep at it all the time. And the silent influences sometimes go on after the force that put them into operation has disappeared. The sun rising upon the dew dissipates it, but it does not dissipate the beauty it has painted on the lily, nor the strength it has given the cedar. After you are dead, Christian parent, your character, your prayer and communion with God, are going to live in your children. John Quincy Adams, great as he was, prayed till his dying day, “Now I lay me down to sleep.” He said he prayed it because he learned it at his mother’s knee. Daniel Webster was not one of the most religious men, to be sure, but he had great confidence in the piety and religion of his mother. One day in Boston, after a great address, flowers were showered upon the orator. He looked at them and enjoyed their sweet odor, but, as he was passing out with a friend, a little girl stepped up and handed him two or three garden pinks. The great orator took them in his hand and wept as he thought of the past. “That is the flower my mother loved above every other flower in the garden,” and the sight of the old familiar pink brought before him the sincerity and power of his mother’s character. The dew disappears, but the life forces are at work still. Depend upon it, if you are true to God, true to your faith in Jesus Christ, after you have passed out of sight, the life forces that you have put in motion will continue to work.
II. The Lion.
But Christians as the dew are only the half of Christianity. As well have a boat with one oar as Christianity with only silent influences, whether they come from character, or prayer, or communion with God. “The remnant shall be as a lion among the Gentiles, as a lion amid the beasts of the field.” The dew with its silent influence is the foundation, but the lion with his mighty strength is just as important as the dew. The Christian needs to be as bold as the lion. There are some things you can never reach with the dew. There are some men that you have to deal with in the spirit of the lion. John the Baptist was dew from the Lord with everybody with whom he came in contact; but before Herod, the adulterer, he was a lion. Did he say, I will try and be the dew; I will by my influence seek to bring about a reformation in Herod’s character? Not at all. He said, “You are an adulterer, and God will hold you accountable for your sins.” Nathan was as the dew working amid the people; but after David had committed his great sin, did Nathan say, I will try by my influence, by my prayer, by my gentle character, to turn David from his iniquity? Not a bit of it. He went into the presence of the king, accused him of his sin, and said, “Thou art the man.” John Knox had great power with men: he was the dew touching others; but John Knox in the presence of “Bloody Mary” was the lion. Luther was as the dew in contact with the people in his every-day character and conversation, but when he stood in the presence of the Pope he was a lion. The Christian Church should be lion as well as dew. Jesus was the Lamb and the Lion. I believe that Anthony Comstock is doing the Lord’s work in ridding the stores of bad literature, and taking criminals by the neck and putting them in jail, where they can do no harm. Men we may love, crimes we may hate; men we may try to reach and save them from their sins, while we stand before them as we would stand before Satan himself and denounce their sins. Now, my friends, if you have made up your mind that the liquor traffic is going to be overcome by influence, you were never more mistaken in your life. You might just as well talk to a Bengal tiger as with the liquor power of this country. The man who says, “I am praying that this curse may be removed, and I will try to influence the liquor seller by my Christian character,” might just as well sing psalms to the Atlantic Ocean. We must stand before them with the lion power that is represented by the ballot — God’s substitute for the bayonet. It is your duty before God to see that just laws are made and executed. I know that the Czar of Russia is going to have a hard time of it, if he does not repent. “Before God shall be gathered all nations,” and they shall give an account. I am sorry for the Czar of Russia, but we are Czars of the United States, and, if we do not mind, we shall have as hard a time as the Czar of Russia. The Czar makes laws and executes them, and that is what we do. If the kings of this world will have a hard time before the judgment-seat, how will it be with citizens, when all nations stand before God to give account as nations, if we must answer for supporting this nefarious traffic by our silence or our vote?