why they should listen to him ; but he was well aware that there is no sin more awful thnn the refusal to listen to the Eternal himself, all whose words are true and just, wise and good, It was not a case for personal feeling, a case of offence given nnd taken. Such feeling would have been out of place. The serious aspect of Israel's unbelief was just this-it was unbelief of God; they turned away from the voice that spake from heaven. APPLIOATION. The privileges of those who, in this Christian dispensation, hear the gospel of salvation preached to them, far exceed the privileges of the ancient Hebrews. To reject the testimony of Christ's ministers is to reject Christ himself, as our Lord has explicitly declared. The condemnation and guilt are tenfold when men harden their hearts, not only against the authority of the Divine Law, but against the pleadings of Divine love.-T. Vers. 8, 9.-The fearlessness of the Lord's messenger. After hearing that Israel would give no heed to his prophetic messages, the Prophet Ezekiel must have needed strong encouraging. It is always depressing to engage in a hopeless undertaking. Yet there was a moral necessity for the mission to be fulfilled. And the Lord strengthened and fortified his servant for his painful duty by breathing into him a Divine courage, and by bidding him dismiss all fear. Although Ezekiel's position was very special, every servant and herald commissioned by the Most High to witness on his behalf to his fellow-men has frequent need of such encouragement as that impartecl to the prophet of the Captivity. I. THE Ol;JTWARD OOCABIONB OF FEAR. There are many· circumstances which are likely to arouse the apprehensions, and so to depress the energi'ls, of God's messengers to their fellow-men. 1. Want of sympathy with his message on the part of those to whom he is sent. 2. An attitude of deliberate indifference and unbelief. 3. Deter- mined resistance and resentment. 4. Threats of personal violence. The former occasions of fear are such as every minister of religion must expect to encounter. But the Hebrew prophets sometimes met with actual ill treatment-blows, bonds, and death. So it was with the apostles of our Lord, and so it has been with missionaries of the cross, who have fulfilled their ministry among the unenlightened, prejudiced, e.nd hostile heathen. Many have "resisted unto blood, striving against sin." II. THE INWARD INOLINATION TO FEAR. 'l'here is great difference in the matter of constitutional temperament; some men are naturally timid, and prone to be overawed by opposition and intimidation, whilst others have a certain delight in antagonism, and care not what odds are against them in the conflict. 1. Sometimes the messenger of &od is too prone to regard his own peace and comfort, and is averse to any step which rne.y bring him into collision with others. 2. The feeling on the part of God's servant, that he is but one against many, inclines him to retirement and reticence. 3. And this is increased when there is no countenance or support from colleagues in labour and warfare. 'l'he consciousness of personal feebleness and insufficiency, comhinecl with the feeling of isolation, may naturally account for the prevalence of fear in the presence of difficulty, opposition, and hostility. He who made mac, and who is per- fectly arquainted with hnman nature, is aware that his servants are subject to such infirmities, and that they need accordingly a special provision of Divine grace to fortify them against the spiritual danger to which they o.re exposed. III. THE DIVINE PRESERVATIVE FROM FEAR, 1. The consciousness of a message from God to be delivered, whether man will hear or forbear, is fitted to take away all dread of men's displeasure, as -well as all undue desire for men's favour. 2. The assur- ance that Divine authority accompanies the Lord's servant is in itself sufilcient to make his face and his forehead hard ns adamant in the presence of opponeuts whoso only authority lies in force or in the conventional greatuess nttaching to earthly rank or station. 3. To this is added the express promise of God's aid, The opponcnrs may he mighty; but the soldier of truth and of righteousness has the assurance that ho who is with him is mightier still. "Fear not," says the Almighty, "for I am with you."-'r.
Ver.10.-The inpouring of Divine fulness, A great and strong nature is sometimes observed to obtain a vast ascendancy over others, to communicate opinion, to exercise GO THE BOOK OF 'l'HE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. III, 1-27.