III.  The third is, that a God-bedewed soul that has been made fair and pure by communion with God, ought also to be strong.

He “shall cast forth his roots like Lebanon.”  Now I take it that simile does not refer to the roots of that giant range that slope away down under the depths of the Mediterranean.  That is a beautiful emblem, but it is not in line with the other images in the context.  As these are all dependent on the promise of the dew, and represent different phases of the results of its fulfilment, it is natural to expect thus much uniformity in their variety, that they shall all be drawn from plant-life.  If so, we must suppose a condensed metaphor here, and take “Lebanon” to mean the forest which another prophet calls “the glory of Lebanon.”  The characteristic tree in these, as we all know, was the cedar.

It is named in Hebrew by a word which is connected with that for “strength.”  It stands as the very type and emblem of stability and vigour.  Think of its firm roots by which it is anchored deep in the soil.  Think of the shelves of massive dark foliage.  Think of its unchanged steadfastness in storm.  Think of its towering height; and thus arriving at the meaning of the emblem, let us translate it into practice in our own lives.  “He shall cast forth his roots as Lebanon.”  Beauty?  Yes!  Purity?  Yes!  And braided in with them, if I may so say, the strength which can say “No!” which can resist, which can persist, which can overcome; power drawn from communion with God.  “Strength and beauty” should blend in the worshippers, as they do in the “sanctuary” in God Himself.  There is nothing admirable in mere force; there is often something sickly and feeble, and therefore contemptible in mere beauty.  Many of us will cultivate the complacent and the amiable sides of the Christian life, and be wanting in the manly “thews that throw the world,” and can fight to the death.  But we have to try and bring these two excellences of character together, and it needs an immense deal of grace and wisdom and imitation of Jesus Christ, and a close clasp of His hand, to enable us to do that.  Speak we of strength?  He is the type of strength.  Of beauty?  He is the perfection of beauty.  And it is only as we keep close to Him that our lives will be all fair with the reflected loveliness of His, and strong with the communicated power of His grace—­“strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.”

Brethren, if we are to set forth anything, in our daily lives, of this strength, remember that our lives must be rooted in, as well as bedewed by, God.  Hosea’s emblems, beautiful and instructive as they are, do not reach to the deep truth set forth in still holier and sweeter words; “I am the Vine, ye are the branches.”  The union of Christ and His people is closer than that between dew and plant.  Our growth results from the communication of His own life to us.  Therefore is the command stringent and obedience to it blessed, “Abide in Me, for apart from Me ye can do”—­and are—­“nothing.”