a Je. i. 13; Eze. xxiv. 3, 4. b"These infidels purpose to deride the Prophet; as CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. 1-4. (1) lifted me up, ch. iii. 12, 14, viii. 3. east gate, where the glory tarried awhile in its departing. Jaazaniah, comp. ch. viii. 11, but the names cannot be identified with any known persons. (2) wicked counsel, esp. in bidding the if they had said-people not to believe the Divine threatenings by the Prophets. If this city be a (3) not near, i.e. the threatened day of calamity. caldron," likening their safety within the impregnable walls of Jerusalem to the safety of flesh in a caldron, wh. the fire cannot reach." (4) prophesy, declare the denunciations of God against them. caldron, we had rather take our chance of being consumed in it, than leave our fine houses and other accommodations, and run the risk of war or captivity."Lowth. c U. R. Thomas. "Oh! while you speak, methinks a sudden calm, in spite of all the horror that sur rounds me, falls upon every frighted faculty, and puts my soul in tune!"-Lee. a Whitecross. A vision of priesthoods (vv. 1-25).-This vision discovers-I. The destruction of a corrupt priesthood. 1. Their unhallowed designs and influence; 2. Their contempt of sacred things; 3. Their false security; 4. Their conformity to evil associations; 5. Their liability to terrible retribution. II. The formation of a true priesthood. 1. Divinely collected; 2. Divinely regenerated; 3. Divinely adopted. 5-8. (5) fell upon me, comp. ch. iii. 24. (6) multiplied your slain, ch. xxii. 3, 4. (7) flesh, etc., see note on v. 3. (8) the sword, or judgment by war. Providence.-A lady in high life introduced herself to the Rev. Samuel Kilpin's study, with the apology that she thought it her duty to inform him that, some years before, she was passing the street as a stranger on the Sabbath, when seeing many persons enter a passage, she followed them, and found herself within his chapel. Every object was new; but she listened, and was interested in the sermon. Immediately after, she left England, and, with some young friends, became the inmate of a convent in France, to finish their education. While there, every argument was employed to convert them to the Roman Catholic religion. Her English associates were overcome by these persuasions. "Your discourse, sir," said she, "which I could never get from my mind, has been my preservation, from that period to the present, though I have been beset with every snare from a 1 Ki. viii. 65; family connections," etc. Mr. Kilpin recommended suitable 2 Ki. xiv. 25. b Je. lii. 9, 10. "Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defence, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full books to her attention, and devoutly committed her to the God of heaven, while she kneeled with him, bathed in tears." 9-12. (9) hands of strangers, who shall carry you into Our home in youth-no matter to what end: The house, grass, gates, and latchet's selfsame click ; Than half of those who knew us know us not. Adversity, prosperity, the grave, Play a round game with friends. On some the world From honour and remembrance, and a stare Is all the mention of their names receives; and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule. -F. W. And people know no more of them than of The shapes of clouds at midnight, a year back.c 13-16. (13) Pelatiah, v. 1. This stroke of God indicated Robertson. e Baily. the destruction of the idolaters, of whom Pelatiah was a leader. full end, or a complete, irremediable destruction." a Comp. Je. iv. (14, 15) thy brethren, i.e. those of thy kindred and ac- 27, v. 10, 18. quaintance who are carried captive with thee. us.. possession, i.e. those left in Jerusalem regarded their captive brethren as coming under Divine judgments, and themselves as in the Divine favour. (16) little sanctuary, God's presence preserving them in their distant captivity, even as His presence had preserved them in their own land. A refuge in the time of danger (v. 16).-I. The blessing promises-1. A refuge in the time of danger; 2. Continued safety; 3. The bond of their union; 4. The source of their enjoyment. II. The extent of its application. 1. In illustrating the boundless mercy of the Lord; 2. In trusting to an unchanging source of happiness; 3. In pointing out the only centre of union of the whole Church. Feelings in danger.- A child lies in his little bed in some high chamber of an old castle, and hears the tempest growling in the chimney, and the prowling thief-winds at the window, and the scream of the spirits of the air. The storm rocks the walls, and beats upon the roof; and he shudders and covers his head, and expects at every burst of thunder that the castle will go crashing to the ground. But, down in the room below, his father sits ummoved, reading by the fire; only now and then, when the tempest swells, he raises his spectacles for a moment, and exclaims, "God help the poor wretches on the sea to-night!" or "I hope no belated traveller is out in such a storm as this!" and then turns to his book again. In the morning, the child hardly dares to look forth, lest the heavens and the earth have passed away; but the father only walks into his garden to see if some old tree has been blown down, or some unpropped vine fallen from the trellis. In times of peril and disaster, the Christian, through his faith and hope in God, is like the father by the fire; while he who has no such trust is tormented with fear and apprehension like the child in the chamber. 17-21. (17) gather you, etc., the point seems to be that the earlier captives should return, but the proud remnant then in Jerusalem should be destroyed, or, if taken into captivity, never return from it to their own land. (18) they, i.e. the people of the earlier captivities. detestable things, or things associated with idolatry. (19) one heart, a united feeling of devotion to the sole service of God (Is. xxxii. 39). new spirit, comp. the stiff-neckedness and rebelliousness which they had formerly shown. stony.. flesh, a fig. peculiar to Ezekiel. (20) my people, as serving Me heartily and sincerely. (21) heart.. heart, a strong expression to indicate that the very essence of b "They have been carried far away from the literal and material sanctuary at Jerusalem, but I Myself will be their sanctuary." -Wordsworth. Is. viii. 14; Ps. xci. 9. "My shrine is -a preparation little while a "The contrast is not, as usual, between the spirit and the flesh, but, between the heart unnaturally hardened, and the heart reawakened to feeling proper to man.' -Spk. Com. v. 19. B. Beddome, iv. 27; Dr. R. Harris, i. 91; W. Jay, ix. 23. The image and likeness of God not in the face but in the heart. are to be found d G. Brooks. "A heart un spotted is not easily daunted." -Shakespeare. a The Rabbis say that the glory lingered for three years over the idolatry was pleasing to the very heart of these rebellious people. Genuine religion (vv. 19, 20).-I. Its Author. 1. Explain in what sense; 2. Prove. II. The change which it accomplishes. 1. It harmonises; 2. It renews; 3. It softens. III. The practical influence which it exerts. 1. Obedience to God, which is impartial; 2. Which is constant; 3. Which is decided. IV. The privilege which it confers. 1. Its nature; 2. Its validity; 3. Its effects. Address (1) Those who are indifferent about this invaluable privilege; (2) Those who are uncertain whether they possess it or not; (3) Those who have attained it." A new heart-An Indian chief.-The efforts of some Christian missionaries had been the means of diffusing much Scriptural knowledge among the Delaware Indians of North America, and their doctrines were frequently the subject of conversation among them. One evening, Tedynscung, a native chief, was sitting by the fireside of his friend, who mentioned the golden rule to him as very excellent,-" For one man to do to another as he would the other should do to him.” "It is impossible !-It cannot be done!" said the Indian chief. After musing for about a quarter of an hour, Tedynscung again gave his opinion, and said, "Brother, I have been thoughtful on what you told me. If the Great Spirit that made man would give him a new heart, he could do as you say, but not else." 22-25. (22) lift up, as in attitude for the mountain, i.e. the Mount of Olives. flying. (23) upon The Shekinah thus left altogether the temple and city: yet, in great grace, it lingered near. (24) brought.. Chaldæa, i.e. back again to the banks of the Chebar." (25) them.. captivity, see no-ch. viii. 1. Mount of Olives, "Not in actual fact, but in ec static vision. He had been as to the outward time before the elders in Chaldæa; he now had witnessed world all the reports what he with the inner "Six wings he his lineaments o'er his breast Departure of God from His temple (v. 23).-I. How averse God is to forsake His people. Look we to His declarations; look we to examples. II. What are the different steps by which His departure may be discovered? He withholds-1. The manifestations of His love; 2. The influences of His grace; 3. The warnings of His Spirit. III. The dreadful state of those who are forsaken by Him. 1. They are delivered up into the hands of their spiritual enemies; 2. They live only to increase their guilt and misery. Apply :-(1) How are we to reconcile this doctrine with other parts of Scripture (2) How are we to avert this awful calamity? Angels.-Their airy and gentle coming may well be compared to the glory of colours flung by the sun upon the morning clouds, that seem to be born just where they appear. Like a divine; the pair beam of light striking through some orifice, they shine upon that clad each Zacharias in the temple. As the morning light finds the flowers, shoulder broad so they found the mother of Jesus, and their message fell on her, came mantling pure as dewdrops on the lily. To the shepherd's eyes, they filled with regal orna- the midnight arch like auroral beams of light: but not as ment; the middle silently, for they sang more marvellously than when the morning pair girt, like a stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. waist, and round They communed with the Saviour in His glory of transfiguration, skirted his loins sustained Him in the anguish of the garden, watched Him at the and thighs with tomb; and as they had thronged the earth at His coming, so downy gold and they seem to have hovered in the air in multitudes at the hour of His ascension. Beautiful as they seem, they are never mere starry zone, his colours dipp'd in heaven; the third with feather'd sky-tinc poetical adornments. The occasions of their appearing are grand, his feet shadow'd the reasons weighty, and their demeanour suggests and befits the from either heel highest conception of superior beings. Their very coming and mail, going is not with earthly movement. They are suddenly seen in tured grain.” the air, as one sees white clouds round out from the blue sky in Milton. a summer's day, that melt back even while one looks upon d Beecher. them. We could not imagine Christ's history without angelic lore. The sun without clouds of silver and gold, the morning on the fields without dew-diamonds, but not the Saviour without His angels. d CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. b Instruments d captivity: the needful equipments 1–7. (1, 2) dwellest, i.e. even now, in the captivity, such is the character of the people around you." (3) stuff, or a De. xxix. 4. household goods. By this act Ezekiel was to intimate that he might not stay with a people who gave so little heed to his counsels. (4) by day, so that all may see, take notice, and be warned by it. (5) dig, etc., to illus. the escape of Zedekiah from Jerusalem. (6) cover tny face, as the king did. (7) twilight, or dark. Through all this representing Zedek.'s escape as a warning to the people around him. The Divine expectation (v. 3).-I. The subject to which this expectation refers. 1. Men do not consider that they are sinful creatures; 2. Nor that they are dying creatures; 3. Nor that they are immortal creatures. II. The means employed for bringing about the expectation which is here expressed. 1. The Divine forbearance; 2. The afflictive dispensations of Divine Providence; 3. The ministry of the Gospel. exile. of an c 2 Ki. xxv. 4; Je. xxxix. 4. v. 3. S. Lavington, 203. "There are few things so exhilarating to the spirits, especially in the season of ardent and buoy ant youth, as the first visit to a foreign land. Amongst things able, it is perpurely pleasurhaps one of the most unalloyed gratifications which occur in the course of our life. But, like all other pleasures, it may be made, Travelling-Baggage.-When they travel to distant places, they are wont to send off their baggage to some place of rendezvous some time before they set out. The account that an ingenious commentator, whose expositions are generally joined to Bishop Patrick's, gives of a paragraph of the Prophet Ezekiel, ought to be taken notice of here; it is, in a few words, this, "that the Prophet was to get the goods together, to pack them up openly, and at noonday, that all might see and take notice of it, that he was to get forth at even, as men do that would go off by stealth; that he was to dig through the wall, to show that Zedekiah should make his escape by the same means; that what the Prophet was commanded to carry out in the twilight, must be something different from the goods he removed in the daytime, and therefore must mean provision for his present subsistence; and that he was to cover his face, so as not to see the ground, as Zedekiah should do, that he might not be discovered." Sir John Chardin, on the contrary, supposes there was nothing and unusual, nothing very particular, in the two first of the above- provement. Our object should be, mentioned circumstances. His manuscript notes on this passage not to gratify of Ezekiel are to the following purport: "This is as they do in curiosity, and the caravans: they carry out their baggage in the daytime, and seek mere temthe caravan loads in the evening, for in the morning it is too hot to set out on a journey for that day, and they cannot well see in the night. However, this depends on the length of their journeys: for when they are too short to take up a whole night, they load in the night, in order to arrive at their journey's end accordingly as we use it, a source of present vanity and future regret, or, on the other hand, of lasting solid im porary amuse- prove the heart d Harmer. a a "Ezekiel, bearing his stuff on his shoulder, was sign of the weight of calamity coming upon king and people." -Spk. Com. b Eze. vii. 27. "This is a traveller, sir, knows men and man ners, and has plough'd up sea so far, till both the poles have knock'd; has seen the sun take has its advan tages. If the passenger visits better countries, early in the morning, it being a greater inconvenience to arrive at an unknown place in the night, than to set out on a journey then. As to his digging through the wall, he says Ezekiel is speaking, without doubt, of the walls of the caravansary. These walls, in the East, being mostly of earth, mud, or clay, they may easily be bored through." d 8-12. (8, 9) house of Israel, those among whom Ezekiel dwelt. (10) burden, or prediction of woe." prince, or King Zedekiah. (11) your sign, .e. a sign or warning to you of what shall surely come to pass. (12) bear, etc., just as the Prophet had represented. Comp. the historical account. Travelling-Baggage.-Ezekiel's collecting together his goods, does not look like a person's flying in a hurry, and by stealth; and consequently his going forth in the evening, in consequence of this preparation, cannot be construed as designed to signify a stealing away. These managements rather mark out the distance of the way they were going-going into captivity in a very far country. The going into captivity had not privacy attending it; and accordingly, the sending their goods to a common rendezvous beforehand, and setting out in an evening, are known to be coach, and can Eastern usages. On the other hand, I should not imagine it was distinguish the the wall of a caravansary, or any place like a caravansary, but colour of his the wall of the place where Ezekiel was, either of his own horses, and their kinds."-Beau- dwelling, or of the town in which he then resided; a managemont and Fletcher. ment designed to mark out the flight of Zedekiah; as the two "All travel first circumstances were intended to shadow out the carrying Israel openly, and avowedly, into captivity. Ezekiel was, I apprehend. to do two things; to imitate the going of the people into captivity, and the hurrying flight of the king, two very distinct things. The mournful, but composed collecting together all they had for a transmigration, and leading them perhaps on asses, being as remote as could be from the hurrying and secret management of one making a private breach in a wall. and going off precipitately, with a few of his most valuable effects on his shoulder, which were, I should think, what Ezekiel was You did not to carry, when he squeezed through the aperture in the wall, not make yourself a heart of stone; provisions. Nor am I sure the Prophet's covering his face was neither can you designed for concealment it might be to express Zedekiah's dismake yourself tress. David, it is certain, had his head covered when he fled "a heart of from Absalom, at a time when he intended no concealment; and flesh;" both the one and the when Zedekiah fled, it was in the night, and consequently such a other are trace- concealment not wanted; not to say, it would have been embarable to a power rassing to him in his flight not to be able to see the ground. out of yourself. The Prophet mentions the digging through the wall, after menc Harmer. tioning his preparation for removing as into captivity; but it is necessary for us to suppose these emblematical actions of the Prophet are ranged just as he performed them. he may learn to improve his own; and if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy his own."-Johnson. a 2 Ki. xxiv. 14, xxv. 12. "O happy heart, where piety af fecteth, where humility subjecteth, where 13-16. (13) my net, Zedekiah was caught in escaping by the Chaldæans, but the net was really God's. not see it, bec. his eyes were put out. (14) scatter, etc., 2 Ki. xxv. 4, 5. (15) know, by the fulfilment of the threatened Divine judgments. (16) a few men, ch. vi. 8-10.a The hardness of the heart.-Stones are charged with the worst species of hardness-"As stubborn as a stone;" and yet the recteth, where hardest stones submit to be smoothed and rounded under the soft repentance cor |