Divine truth needs to be treated thus. We must feed on the Bible to profit by it. I. There muBt be personal appropriation. We take a. thing to ourselves in the most. absolute kind of possession when we ea.tit. No book will profit much until it is thus appropriated. '.!.'he biblioma.niac is not a.lwa.ys a. student of literature. The possession of a. large library is no guarantee of great learning. The mind is fed by the books which are studied, not by those that only collect. dust a.s they stand on the shelves. The Bible profits only as it is used. The clasps of some Bibles a.re suspiciously stiff. They suggest that the books a.re more prized than searched. 2. There must be internal consumption. There is no good in running over the words of a book with the eye, if the thoughts of it are not absorbed into the mind. Good books cannot be profitably skimmed. We may have much verbal knowledge of the Bible without ever making it our food. The meaniRg of texts, historical a.ad geographical allusions, side-lightil. of manners a.nd customs, may all be studied, and yet the Bible may lie outside us, and our souls starve for want of spiritual food, because we do not take its essential truths down into our inner being in comprehension, meditation, and application. 3. The:re must be assimilation. The food, when digested, is converted into a pa.rt of the bodily fa.bric- blood, bones, nerves, and flesh. A good book well digested becomes a pa.rt of a man's life. It colours his thought and gives tone and character to his mind-its own breadth and elevation enlarging and exalting the reader. This is the highest use of :literature. In assimilating Plato or Milton the great souls of the philosopher and the poet take possession of our souls, and lift them into a higher atmosphere. III. THE EFFEOTS FOLLOWING. 1. There is a pleasant taste. Ezekiel found the roll as honey for sweetness. The mentally inert have no idea of what. rare delights they miss by not preparing themselves to enjoy the pleasures of literature. The writer of Ps. cxix. found the highest of these delights in the Law of God. To the loving student of the Bible that grand ancient literature of man and God is a source of most profound delight. He who truly sympathizes with the spirit in which the Bible was written will never need to read it as a task. He will delight in it as in a savoury meal. 2. Pain ensues. This was the case in the parallel vision of St. John (Rev. x. 10). Ezekiel also found bitterness later (ver. 14). 'l'he reason is that "lamentations, and mourning, and woe" were written on the roll ( eh. ii. 10). 'l'here are bitter truths to be considered in God's Word. Conscience makes the pleasant reading of the Bible to be followed by painful reflections. Yet this bitterness is a wholesome tonic. 3. The final result is an increase of strength. Ezekiel is a.ble to set his face like an adamant (ver. 9), a.ad prophesy to the rebellious people. Feeding on God's Word fits us to tea.eh that Word and to exemplify it by our conduct.
Ver. 5.-0olonial missions. Ezekiel wa.s not sent, like Jonah, to a foreign city; though living among people of a strange language, he was not called upon to preach to the natives. His mission was to a. colony of fellow-Jews in a foreign country. He is the typical colonial missionary of the Old Testament. I. THE CLAIMS OF COLONIAL MISSIONS, Broadly sta.ted,'there are two great claims in colonial missions. 1. Close kinship. The colonists are our brethren. Charity begins a.t home, and the English home now stretches to Canada and to Australia.. It is stated by those who know our colonies that the affection for the old country is warm among them. To treat them with coldness is e. cruel neglect of family ties. 2. Pressing need. It has been said that the colonies should provide for their own religious requirements. Such a sweeping statement betrays ignorance of the condition of our colonies. 'l'hey cannot be lumped together in a. mass when we discuss them; for there a.re enormous differences between the several colonies in regard to resources and capacity for religious activity. An old colony, such a.s we find in parts of Australia, can well provide for itself. But we have to consider new colonies, cities springing up like mushrooms, with the most raw civilization. Here the fight for life is fierce. Here young men, leaving behind a.11 home influences, find themselves in close companionship with the roughest characters. Little or no provision can be made on the spot for the spiritual assistance of these people. We must follow them into the bush, or leave them to sink to mere animalism. II. 'l'HE DIFFIOULTIES OF COLONIAL MISSIONS. 1. Lack of novelty. we cannct draw romantic pictures of these missions like those pictures of New Guinea or Centml Africa, 52 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [ou. m. 1-27,