The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 124

idolatry. And if they did not cease to sin, at all events they were henceforth free from sin of this form. They lived to remember for themselves, and to witness to their children, that the nations are ruled by a God of righteousness, and that in subjection to his authority and in obedience to his Law man's true welfare must ever lie. Their song was of mercy and of judgment. If they were few in numbers they were purified and strengthened, and fitted to fulfil the peculiar vocation of the sons of Abraham among the nations of tho earth. APPLIOATION. Who is there who he.s not experienced tho sparin~ mercy and long- suffering kindness of the Lord? Who has not been delivered from danger, from calamity, from destruction? Let all who acknowledge themselves to be, as it were, "a remnant," indebted to God's compassion, acknowledge the peculiar obligation under which they have been laid, to witness to the mercy of their heavenly l<'atber, and by their practical loyalty to him to prove that they have not been spared in vain.-T. Ver. 9.-Self-loathing. This nry strong and very remarkable assertion concerning the remnant of Israel that should be spared amid the destruction and desolation about to overtake the nation and its metropolis, is a proof to every thoughtful reader that the mind of the prophet was occupied not so much with the external and political aspects of history as with the more.I. In his view supreme importance is attached to the result of experience upon character. So regarded, calamity may be" blessing in disguise." If the chastisement of God awakens repentance and self-loathing, one purpose at all events, and that a most important purpose, has been answcr'!d. l. SELF-LOATHING IS IN CONTRAST WITH FORMER SELF-SATISFACTION AND SELF- COMPLAOENOY. It is not natural to men to loathe themselves, however they may be tempted to loathe their fellow-men, where there has been infliction of injury or want of sympathy and congeniality. It is too common for men to look at their own character and their own conduct in the most favourable and flattering light; and to speak, or at all events to think, of themselves with approval and admiration. In most cases a great change must come over a me.n's mind in order that he may regard his character and his life with dissatisfaction, in order that he may hate himself. II. SELF-LOATHING IS AN INDICATION OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE. Those who admire and approve themselves are, in many instances, if not in all, the victims of illusion. It is a rude, and yet it may be a wholesome, e.we.kening, which sets a man face to face with his true self. His fancied excellences and virtues are seen to be faults. The blemishes which he has been accustomed lo extenuate appear in their real deformity. He wonders how he could have misinterpreted bis actions and misunderstood his character. He learns to know himself, not e.s he bas imagined himself to be, but as he really is. III. SELF-LOATHING HAS ADUNDANT JUSTIFIOATION IN THE ERRORS AND FOLLIES OF THE PAST. When a man sees himself, in some measure, as God sees him to be, then trivial foults-as they were once deemed-become, in bis apprehension serious and culpable. Sin is the abominable thing which God he.tea; and it is an evidence of truo enlightenment when a man loathes his own offences against the laws of God and the dictates of his own conscience. The unspiritual detest deformities of body, defects of manner or of speech; the spiritually minded are more distressed at what is morally evil than e.t anything of a more external character. IV. SELF·LOATIIING MAY LEAD TO TRUE REPENTANOE, AND SO TO FORGIVENESS AND ACCEPTANOE, To remain in a state of mind in which repugnance to evil absorbs tbo whole nature is to be abandoned to despondency. Sin is to be loathed in order that it muy be forsaken; and that it may be forsaken it must be forgiven. 'l'he Scriptures abound in denunciations of sin, but they abound also in invitations to repentance and in promises of forgiveness. "Let the wicked forsake his way," etc. Reconciliation and purity are by the gospel assured to every penitent and believing sinner. V. 'l'uus SELl'·LOA'l'HING MAY DE A MEANS TOWARDS 'l'HE REMOVAL OF WHA'I OCCASIONED IT, AND 01' THE SUBSTITUTION 0~' WHAT CAN BE REGARDED WITII THANKl'UI,· NE~s AND DELIGHT. It may be said thus to work its own cure. Or, more properly, it may induce the repenting sinner to apply to tho great Physician, by whose remcdi:i! treatment tho unsoundness mo.y be removed, and spiritual health, vigour, and hap1•i- ncss may be restored.-'!'. 112 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oa. vr. 1-H.'