divine things. Then it is that we take hold of strength. Amidst floods of apprehension, the Psalmist cries, 'When my heart is overwhelmed within me, lead me to the Rock that is higher than I' Then when the self-distrusting one beholds the countenance of heavenly friendship turned full upon him, he knows on what to depend, and sings, I can do all things, through Christ which strengtheneth me.'-J. W. Alexander. JULY 11. 'BUT I KEEP UNDER MY BODY, AND BRING IT INTO SUBJECTION: LEST THAT BY ANY MEANS, WHEN I HAVE PREACHED TO There is a foolish and miserable way of men ministering the doctrine of salvation to others and not to themselves, carrying it all in their heads and tongues, and none of it in their hearts; not hearing it even while they preach it, reaching the bread of life to others, and eating none of it themselves. And this the Apostle says, that he was most careful to avoid, and therefore dealt severely with his body, that it might not this way endanger his soul. And thus the true preachers of the gospel, though their ministerial gifts are for the use of others, yet that salvation they preach they lay hold on and partake of themselves, as your boxes wherein perfumes are kept for garments and other uses are themselves perfumed by keeping them.—Leighton. JULY 12. 'OF WHICH SALVATION THE PROPHETS HAVE INQUIRED AND SEARCHED DILIGENTLY, WHO PROPHESIED OF THE GRACE THAT SHOULD COME UNTO YOU.'-1 Peter i. 10. Their prophecies of Him were present comfort to themselves, and other believers then; and, further, were to serve for a clear evidence of the divine truth of those mysteries in the days of the gospel, in and after their fulfilling. This sweet stream of their doctrine did, as the rivers, make its own banks fertile and pleasant as it ran by, and flowed still forward to after ages, and by the confluence of more such prophecies, grew greater as it went, till it fell in with the main current of the gospel in the New Testament, both acted and preached by the great Prophet Himself, whom they foretold to come, and recorded by His Apostles and evangelists, and thus united into one river, clear as crystal. This doctrine of salvation in the Scriptures hath still refreshed the city of God, His Church under the gospel, and still shall do so till it empty itself into the ocean of eternity.-Leighton. JULY 13. 'TO HIM GAVE ALL THE PROPHETS WITNESS.' -Acts x. 43. The first discovery we have of this stream of doctrine nearest its source, the eternal pur pose of divine mercy, is in that promise which the Lord Himself preached in few words to our first parents, that had newly made themselves and their race miserable, The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. The agreement of the predictions of the prophets with the things themselves, and the preaching of the Apostles following the other kind of men employed in this salvation, make up one organ, or great instrument, tuned by the same hand, and sounding by the same breath of the Spirit of God, and that is expressed here as the common authority of the doctrine in both, and the cause of their harmony and agreement in it.-Leighton. JULY 14. THAT I MAY CAUSE THOSE THAT LOVE ME TO INHERIT SUBSTANCE.'-Prov. viii. 21. See the excellency of grace, it Other things are but for a season; health and perseveres. riches are sweet, but they are but for a season; but grace is a blossom of eternity. The seed of God remains. Grace may suffer an eclipse, not a dissolution. It is called substance for its solidity, and durable riches for its permanency. It lasts as long as the soul, as heaven lasts. Grace is not like a lease, which soon expires, but it runs parallel with eternity.-T. Watson. JULY 15. 'MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME.'-John x. 27. What can make us love God more than the fixedness of His love to us? He is not only the author of grace, but finisher; His love is perpetuated and carried on to our salvation. My sheep, there is election; hear My voice, there is vocation; and I know them, there is justification; and I give unto them eternal life, there is glorification. How may this and trophies of His praise! How much have make us love God, and set up the monuments we done to cause God to withdraw His Spirit, and suffer us to fall finally! Yet that He should keep us, let His name be blessed, and His memorials eternized, who keepeth the feet of His saints.-T. Watson. JULY 16. 'BE NOT HIGHMINDED, BUT FEAR.’— Do not presume upon your own strength; exercise a holy fear and jealousy over your Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed own hearts. Be not highminded, but fear. lest he fall. It was Peter's sin, he leaned more upon his grace than upon Christ, and then he fell. A Christian hath cause to fear lest the lusts and deceit of his heart betray him. Take heed of presuming; fear begets prayer, prayer begets strength, and strength begets steadfastness.-T. Watson. IV. THE PROVIDENCE OF CHRIST 2). MINISTERS A GRATEFUL MEMORY. HE emotion with which the Apostles recalled the incident of the text must have been one of profound gratitude. They would remember much of the way they had been led since they received their great commission: how many fears had been disappointed, how many unexpected mercies had been granted, how many deliverances vouchsafed! And as they thought of these now, how greatly would they feel they had advanced in the 'hidden wisdom of God,' how should their confidence be strengthened in the power and grace of the Saviour who had sent them thus! It is always profitable, and pleasant as profitable, to review the way we have been led, and to mark God's guiding finger throughout. In the rush and hurry of much of our mortal life we are apt to overlook, or fail to appreciate, the essential unity and purpose of its several parts. We are as soldiers who, in the thick of the fight, know not how the battle goes on elsewhere; but after the conflict is over, and the victory won, recall the several incidents of the field, and admire the genius and skill which made the whole contribute to the ultimate triumph. Or we are as wayfarers in the night, who journey on, knowing not whither they go, and all unconscious of the hidden perils which lie on either hand; but with the sunrise they look back upon their travelled path, and discover with wondering gratitude that an unseen hand has led them all the way. This grateful memory of God is frequently enjoined in Scripture, and distinguishes in various degrees the experience of every devout follower of the Lord Jesus. 'Thou shalt remember the way the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments, or no' (Deut. viii. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits' (Ps. ciii. 1). Such gracious recollections are fitted to minister joy amid what may seem the more sorrowful experiences of the passing present. They prevent or reprove despondency in the 'cloudy and dark day.' They inspire or stimulate courage in the prospect of providential trial. It was thus that Israel remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their Redeemer; that Asaph, in his incipient despair, 'remembered the years of the right hand of the Most High, and His wonders of old;' and that David 'remembered the hill Mizar.' And so the universal Church, through all generations, expresses her rejoicing confidence in Him whose commission she bears, for strength adequate to her greatest need. 'Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of THE LORD OUR GOD' (Ps. xx. 7). Let us, brethren, cultivate this habit of devout recollection. It will beneficially affect the whole current and character of our Christian life. The past is full of God; and, rightly interpreted, becomes a prophecy and a promise of the future. We may discover manifold occasions when we seemed to have been 'sent,' with no adequate preparation, to discharge duties that were perilous, and difficulties that appeared insuperable; sent to toil in rowing amid contrary wind; to conflict with storm when the great Master seemed asleep, and our unworthy fears were too ready to suggest that He cared not whether we perished; to minister to the dying, or to bury our beloved dead, when Jesus seemed equally absent and indifferent; yet we may remember how, even in such seasons, He saw us in our toil, and stilled the threatening tempest with a word, and comforted us in our sorrow as we mourned and wept, and within the very shadow of the sepulchre, and amid the bitterness of death, revealed Himself to our fainting faith and hope as the Resurrection and the Life. And as we remember all this, how can we be otherwise than grateful, and glad, and brave? V. THE PROVIDENCE OF CHRIST FURNISHES (2 Tim. iv. 16-18). Let us go forth, then, in OFTENTIMES AN UNCONSCIOUS PREPARATION FOR HIGHER SERVICE AND ATTAINMENT. The Apostles little knew, when they received this commission, what a dark hour was at hand. They had been slow to understand the prophetic intimations of their Lord concerning His own approaching sacrifice, and some of its immediate consequences. A trial deeper far than any they yet had known was about to be theirs, and of such a nature that had the issue depended on merely human resources or the conflict of physical strength, the sword would have been essential, and purse and scrip, and all other available agencies of visible defence and power, would undoubtedly be required. Yet for this they were being now unconsciously prepared. The power of the Unseen presence, the grace that was all-sufficient, the faithfulness of Him who had called them, were to receive new and striking illustration, not as doctrines merely, but as facts of their own experience. And thus lessons of trust and hope, under severe conditions, were being taught them which should prove of highest service in the future. Without purse or scrip or sword, they had lacked nothing; they had endured and triumphed in the strength of their Lord alone. But the day was near when, in the presence of immediate danger, they should for the moment forget the lesson they had learned, and employ the sword to smite. They had been strong in faith; they should now prove to themselves how weak they became when that was abandoned for the poor instruments of human expediency. Their use of the sword their Lord would reprove and disclaim, and heal the wound it had occasioned. Then and ever after they might remember that in all the conflicts of the past they had triumphed without the sword, and been fed without purse or scrip; and learn that in all the conflicts of the future these were impotent to command success, which lay in Christ alone. And thus His providence may become to all of us an unconscious preparation alike for trial and for triumph. We may be called to suffer much in order that we may suffer more, but the memory of sustaining grace throughout all the past will minister abundant hope for all the future. An experience like that of the Apostle will be realised in us: 'When all men forsook me... the LORD stood with me, and strengthened me. . . I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. And the LORD shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto His heavenly kingdom' His strength alone, to all that His providence may appoint. In the final issues alike of life and death and judgment we shall thus stand 'accepted in the Beloved,' and 'complete in HIM.' A THOUGHT FOR THE PEWS. attains to a high average of excellence, we THAT our evangelical pulpit conscientiously presume few candid people will deny. But what are the duties of the pews? Why do so many go to church and come away so little refreshed in spirit? Can we lay the blame on the minister? If we wilfully ignore the message and criticise the messenger, is it not rather our own fault that the divine rainfall of precious blessing passes us by? Probably in many households the hours before church are hurried, tumultuous, and undevout. The family rise late, and breakshoes, gloves, and lost or mislaid articles of fast is tardy. The children are harassed about dress. The parents have not fully recovered from the fatigue of the business or pleasure on Saturday night. The first bell peals out its summons before anybody feels ready to hear it, and the progress to the place of prayer is a scramble to arrive before the opening anthem shall have been concluded. The Rev. William Arnot used to beg his people to spend the hour before coming to church in reading, meditation, and prayer. If it were the habit of our congregations thus prepared in heart to go to the sanctuary, how different might be and public prayers. Had every disciple made the impressions made on them by sermons the pastor, the week long, the subject of reverent, anxious, earnest prayer, would not the pastor enter the pulpit clothed upon with power from on high, and would not the benediction return with tenfold largeness on the worshippers themselves? We would not like to say, lest the assertion should savour of the Pharisee's dogmatism, that all social engagements should be cancelled on Saturday evenings. And yet we are persuaded that a concert, the sweet strains of which haunt us long after midnight, that a gay party which breaks up on the stroke of twelve, or that even a ledger or work-basket engaging eyes and hands the whole of Saturday night, insure a mutilated Sabbath. There is little danger of over-strictness here. But when the artistic efforts of the choir Music is an important part of divine service. divert the mind from thoughts of God, the music becomes a snare. The element of worldly criticism is hostile to the quietness of waiting on the Lord. The pulpit must lead. The pews are not, therefore, absolved from the duty of solemn ourselves why we go to church, and why we and sincere self-examination. Let us ask do not always receive a blessing when we are there? Are we to blame? Jehoiakim, whose rebellion had brought the army of Nebuchadnezzar under the walls of Jerusalem, was succeeded by Jehoiakin, who reigned for only three months. The new king ascended the throne in the midst of the difficulties and the miseries of the siege. It was doubtless the arrival of the Chaldæan monarch in person before the capital that decided Jehoiakin to conclude a capitulation. The city was spared; but in giving himself up Jehoiakin saved only his life. He was led away to Babylon with ten thousand inhabitants of Jerusalem, about all those who, in the event of new complications, could make themselves formidable by their position, their intelligence, or their acquaintance with arms (2 Kings xxiv. 15, &c.) These events took place B.C. 599. Whilst Jehoiakin was led to Babylon, where he abode in prison for years-comp. 2' Kings XXV. 27-a part of the captives carried away with him were taken to the banks of the river Chebar in Mesopotamia. It is in the number of these captives that the man of God was found, whose person and ministry we are now about to study. II. EZEKIEL, whose name signifies' Whom God makes strong,' was the son of a priest named Buzi (i. 3.) We know nothing of his previous life. From the manner with which he speaks of the temple, and generally from his knowledge of priestly life (chaps. viii., xl., &c.), it may be concluded that he had exercised for some time the sacred functions at Jerusalem. We can calculate up to a certain point the duration of his activity. He was called to the prophetic ministry five years after his deportation to Chaldæa (i. 2, 3-about B.C. 595), and consequently six years before the fall of Jerusalem. According to xxix. 17, the latest dated of his discourses was published in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity; we must then assign to his ministry a duration of at least twenty-two years. We know nothing of his death. A Jewish legend asserts that he was killed by one of the princes of Judah whom he had reproached with idola * Translated for the Christian Treasury, from the French of the Neuchatel 'Bible Annotée par une Société de Theologiens et de Pasteurs,' now in course of publication by M. Fischbacher, Paris. PROPHECIES OF EZEKIEL.* try; but nothing is less certain than these extra Biblical traditions. All that we can say is that there is absolutely nothing in his book which would lead us to suppose that he had himself seen the return from the captivity and the accomplishment of the promises by which he had so often revived the courage of the captive people. His book casts some light upon his mode of life in the midst of his brethren of the captivity. He was married (xxiv. 18); he was much respected by his countrymen who surrounded him; they readily consulted him His labours (viii. 1, xiv. 1, xxxiii. 31). corresponded to his evangelical ministry. We gather in the Book of Ezekiel the following statement regarding the outward situation and moral state of the Israelite colony. The locality where the exiles found themselves placed was called Tel-Abib, the hill of ears of corn (iii. 15), a name which seems to indicate fertility. The exiles enjoyed considerable liberty. Their relations with the mother country were not fettered. They possessed houses and lands (viii. 1, and Jer. xxix. 5). They were governed by their own elders (xiv. 1, xx. 1), doubtless under the supervision of a representative of the king. The exiles formed the élite of the nation from an intellectual and social, as well as from a religious point of view. This appears from the vision of the two baskets of figs (Jer. xxiv. 1, &c.) But this superiority could only be relative. The illusions to which a portion of the people at Jerusalem had given themselves to, and which were to be so fatal to them, did not at once come to an end with the first victims of the captivity. God Himself, by Ezekiel, depicts the prophet's companions as a rebel race, to whom his face will be hard as a diamond. Under external respect for Jehovah and for his prophet (xxxiii. 31), there were to be found the dispositions which had just caused the ruin of Jerusalem. The influence of the false prophets (xiii.) counterbalanced that of the messenger of God. Idolatry continued under one form or another (xiv. 3, &c.), and the picture of the manners of the colony traced in passages such as xxxiii. 25, 26, justifies the assertion of the prophet that the name of Jehovah was blasphemed by Israel in the midst of the heathen (xxxvi. 20,21). In a word, this commencement of chastisement had no more produced its fruits in the country of exile than in Jerusalem, and it became always more evident that in order to be profitable, the judgment must be executed even to the end. III. What in these circumstances was the task of the prophet? Strangers in the midst of a great and idolatrous nation, without religious worship, without a religious tie connecting them with the centre of Israelitish life, the exiles were exposed rapidly to lose the living knowledge of the true God, and with this, all hope of restoration. It was necessary in order to ward off this danger to supply them as much as possible with the means of grace which they were without. It is for this necessity that God provides by the revelations vouchsaved to the prophet, that he may sustain them in the midst of their exile. He reveals Himself to him in a magnificent appearance, in consequence of which the prophet delivers to the exiles numerous predictions of an astonishing precision of detail, and of a very rich symbolical form, in harmony with the circumstances in which they are living, and finally, describes in a representation of the new temple the sublime perfection of the last times. One grand fact divides into two parts the ministry of Ezekiel. This is the fall of Jerusalem. Up to this moment the prophet speaks to his people in quite different language from that which he employs at a later period. The religious patriotism of the Israelites revolted at the thought that a judgment of God could destroy the holy city. He must prepare their minds for this catastrophe, and, for this end, he must make them feel to what a degree it was merited. We have here what God did in Babylon by the ministry of Ezekiel, and at the same time in Jerusalem by that of Jeremiah. It is with this object that our prophet accumulates in the first part of his book the descriptions of the crimes of Jerusalem, of its idolatry, and of its immorality. He labours also to overturn the chimerical conception of a near return of the exiles into their native land, and the hope, still more foolish, of a victory gained by the people of Jerusalem over the Chaldæans. By this means he seeks at the same time to prevent the discouragement which would so easily lay hold of the exiles at the moment of the destruction of Jerusalem, and he proves that in this catastrophe all is to be charged upon the rebellious people, and that nothing can be imputed to the powerlessness or unfaithfulness of God Himself. prepared soil, and were laid hold of by faith, without the risk of the illusions of pride, or of a false patriotism distorting their true meaning. IV. The arrangement of his book corresponds to this double task of the prophet. There is no writing in the entire Old Testament whose plan and line of thought stand out more clearly. It is divided into two principal parts, chapters i-xxiv. dating before, and chapters xxxiii.-xlviii. dating after the destruction of Jerusalem. Between these two parts, there is inserted one of a special character (xxv.-xxxii.), which embraces the prophecies directed against foreign nations. Each of these three great portions may be divided into a certain number of sections, which, except in the intermediate part, follow each other in a strictly chronological order. In the first part, the first group, i.-vii., is dated in the fifth year of the captivity. It contains the picture of the calling of the prophet (i.-iii. 15), then an announcement of the destruction of Jerusalem, first in a series of emblems, then in a prophetic discourse (iii. 16, vii.) The second group (viii.-xix.), bears the date of the following year. Ezekiel takes us away with him to Jerusalem into the temple itself, where his prophetic gaze contemplates the heathen ceremonies practised therein. Jehovah gives the order to destroy the city; and the cloud, symbol of His glory, gradually leaves the profaned sanctuary (viii.-xi.) Then follow threatenings directed against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, against Zedekiah and the false prophets, warnings addressed to the exiles, and, lastly, a complaint against the princes of Israel (xii.-xix.) The following group (xx.-xxiii.), that a chronological indication connects with the seventh year, commences by censures followed by promises; then the prophet announces the march of the Chaldæan army against Jerusalem, and recalls first in exact terms, and then under an allegorical form, the crimes of Jerusalem by comparing them with those of Samaria. Lastly, two years later (xxiv.) the prophet announces the approaching ruin of Jerusalem; then he shuts himself up in silence, waiting for the confirmation of this threatening. And thus he ends the first part. The intermediate part (xxv.-xxxii.) is com times against foreign nations. These nations are seven in number: the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Edomites, the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon, and, lastly, Egypt. But as soon as the fatal tidings arrived the preaching of the prophet takes an entirely different character. Promises succeed the censures on account of lack of holiness. Ezekiel now addresses himself to the believing residue, to the 'holy remnant,' of which Isaiah had spoken, and this residue he recog-posed of predictions pronounced at different nises because there hath been a prophet among them.' Before this humbled people, that he must henceforward guard from depression of spirit, he spreads out perspectives of restoration; he describes the coming of The last part of the book is introduced by the true Shepherd taking the place of the un- words of God to Ezekiel, and these words worthy shepherd, the outpouring of the Spirit, immediately precede the message announcing and the conversion of heart, the national the ruin of Jerusalem (xxxiii. 21). The prophet resurrection, and the triumph of the restored next proclaims the judgment upon the leaders theocracy over all its future enemies. Pre- of Israel and the enemies of the theocracy, pared as they had been by the first part of his threatenings which are transformed into proministry, these promises could fall into a well-mises for the converted people (xxxiv.-xxxvi.); |