It only needs two or three days of sunshine, and you will see everyone here watering his or her gardens. The lawns are sprinkled, the flower beds are soaked and the hanging baskets given their daily drenching. This is not only necessary, but there is also a kind of British obsession and satisfaction in the cultivation of one’s own plot of land. Perhaps this long-standing interest of suburbia may be a throw back to when this nation was totally agricultural. But whatever the reason, our reservoirs have to sustain this consistent seasonal outflow to millions of gardens.

Now whilst the plants benefit, it is a partial and artificial substitution, and not the real thing. There is nothing like a downpour to quicken, stimulate and make everything greener and flourishing. So it is in the spiritual realm, it is only the Heaven-sent latter rain that can truly invigorate the church. All human attempts are a pale imitation, producing a likeness, but can never truly revive.