oh1micteriBtic of Ezekiel (eh. ix. 8; xi. 13; firBt commnnd, t~ough .even this was pro- xx. 40) and of hiB teacher and contempo- bably regarded as rnvolvrng some ceremonial rn.ry (Jer. i. 6; iv. 10; xiv. 13; xxxii. 17). uncleanness. It served, at any rate, to The Vulgate repreBentB it by A, a, a. His represent, in some measure, the pressure of plea., which reminds UB ,at once of Dan, the siege. i. 8 and Acts x. 14, is tho.t he ho.a kept Ver. 16.-The staff of bread. The phrase himself free from a.II ceremonial pollution occurB again in eh. v. 16; xiv. 13, and also in connected with food. And is he, a, priest Lev. xxvi. 26; Ps. cv. 16. In Isa. iii. 1 thA too, to do this? Tho.t bo far from him ! thought iB the same, but the Hebrew word Anything but tho.t I The kinds of defile- is different. They shall eat bread by weight, ment of which he speo.ks are noted in Exod, etc. The phrase occurs, it may be noted, in xxii, 31 ; Lev. vii. 24; xi. 39, 40; xvii. 15. Lev. xxvi. 26, one of the verses above re- The "abominable things" may refer either ferred to. The care and astonishment, im- to the unclean meo.ts catalogued in Dent. xiv. plying that the wonted cheerfulness of 8-21 (as e.g. in Isa. lx:v. 4), or as in the meals would have departed, meet UB again controversy of the apostolic age (Acts xv.; in eh. xii. 19. 1 Cor. viii. 1 : Rev. ii. 20), to ea.ting any Ver.17.-Consume away for their iniquity, flesh that ho.d been offered in sacrifice to etc. Another eoho from the book which idols. The prophet's pasBiono.te appeal is had entered so largely into the prophet's characteristic of the extent to which his education (see Lev. xxvi. 39, wher" the cho.ro.cter had been influenced by the nowly Hebrew for "pine" is the same as that diBcovered Law of the Lord (2 KingB xxii.; here rendered" consume"). To the wretched- 2 Chron. xuiv.), i.e. probably by the Book neBs of physical privation there was to be of Deuteronomy. added the consciousness of the sufferers Ver. 15.-Lo, I have given thee, etc. that it was caused by their own evil deeds. The concession mitigate» the horror of the
HOMILETICS. Vcrs. 1, 2.-.A pictorial sermon, The method of this prophecy is as instructive as the substance of it. Let us, therefore, consider this by itself. I. IT WAS NOVEL. Hitherto prophets had usually preached by word of mouth, though indeed occasionally they had given visible illustrations of their sermons. Thus Jeremiah had worn a symbolical yoke of iron (Jer. xxviii. 10). But to draw a picture on a tile wa.s a new method of prophecy. The pulpit is generally too conservative of old methods, too timid of innovation. 'l'he preacher should not be a slave of fashion. But, then, he should be careful not to be in bondage to an old fashion any more than to a new fashion. He ought to be ready to embrace any novel method that promises to make his work more effective, II. IT WAS ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF THE TIMES, The great brick libraries which have been discovered in the very region where Ezekiel was living, and which include works of the very date of his ministry, contain similar pictorial representations -inscribed representations of sieges. 'l'herefore Ezekiel was adapting his teaching to the manners of his contemporaries. It is as though a modern preacher, unable to reach all the persons he desired to address from the pulpit, should write in the news- papers. 'l'herefore the most effect.ive weo.pon of the day should be secured by the preacher. The enemy have breech-loading rifles: why should the friends of the trnth be content with old flint muskets? 111. IT WAS EFFECTIVE, Mere novelty for its own sake is childish. Eccentricity may win notoriety, but it will not honour truth. Erratic methods lower the dignity of truth. 'l'he preacher has to remember the solemn, the awful character of his mes- sage. But, then, a novel and almost alarming method may be most suitable for con- veying the message. In this matter the means must be ~ubservient to the end. Now, Ezekiel's method was-remarkably suitable for his purpose. 1. It made his message intelligible to all. People who cannot read mo.y rnderstand a picture, and the same picture may speak to men of different languages. Raphael's 'Transfiguration' is intelligible to Ena\ishmen who do not know a word of Italian. Pictorial preaching is easily understool 2. It made the message vivid and impressive. We feel most strongly what we see in picture before our eyes. The failure of preaching is often owing to the fact that the truth proclaimed is accepted only in words which do not 7B THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [otr. IV, 1-17,
suggest clear, strong ideas. It may be admitted by tho reason, but it is not embraced by the imagination. The truth which has power over us is not that which we consent to in cold, intellectual agreement, but that which stands to the eyes of the soul as a present reality. Therefore, after we have made our meaning clear and proved our proposition to demonstration, a large part of our work remains, viz, to impress the trnth on the imagination and the heart of our hearers; and to be impressive, the truth must be vi,·id. There is always scope for pictorial preaching. All preachers who are effective with the multitudes resort to this method, 3. It made the message enduring. The brick libraries of Babylon which have been deposited in the British Museum are almost as fresh and sound to-day as when they were first produced three thousand years ago. It is just possible that some day,Ezekiel's tile may be dug up uninjured 1 Sermont1 may be forgotten, but truth endures; and it is the mission of the preacher so to burn the truth into the hearts of his hearers that it shall even outlast Babylonian libraries and be seen through all eternity.