done. They mark their sense of prevailing sin by their protests and rebukes, by their confessions and prayers, by their practical efforts for the improvement of their fellow- men, and especially by their zeal in the proclamation of the gospel and in the further- ance of all means employed to bring before the minds of sinners the character, the ministry, the redeeming work of him who ea.me" to seek and to save that which was lost." V. THIS SPIRITUAL 0ON0ERN A MARK OF GoD'S SPEOIAL FAVOUR, AND A SIGN OF FUTURE SALVATION. It was a common practice, and indeed still is, in the East, to set a mark upon the forehead of the deity worshipped, and upon the forehead of the wor- shipper. The practice is alluded to in other passages besides this in Ezekiel. The priest and intercessor placed the sign upon those who sighed and cried because of the abominations; and they were exempted from the general calamities and destruction. In this provision is a great spiritual truth. We should commit a mistake did we understan,d an outward and visible sign merely. This may be present or absent. It is the Lord's own prerogative to mark his own people, t-0 recognize their earnest spiritual concern, to assure them of his own favour and approval as partaking the sentiments, if it may so be expressed with reverence, of his own nature, and to secure them for the coming tribulation, to hide them as in the cleft of the rock, and to enrich them with the blessings of eternal salvation. There is no truer mark of the Divine Spirit than sorrow for prevalent sin, and solicitude for the cause of truth and right- eousness.-T. Ver. 6.-" Begin at the sanctua,ry I" The vision'. which Ezekiel saw, and which brought vividly before his mind the moral state of his country's metropolis, contained no feature more painful than the representation of the idolatry prevailing in the very precincts of the temple itself. He saw twenty-five men, apparently representing the priesthood, turning their backs towards the temple of the Lord, and their faces towards the east, and worshipping the rising sun. Upon these, as the most flagrant and inexcusable offenders, the righteous retribution first fell. Those most highly privileged are by that very fact most evidently responsible; and unfaithfulness upon their part deserves and will receive sorer condemnation. I. THOSE SPECIALLY EMPLOYED IN RELIGIOUS BERVIOES ARE SPECI.l.LLY BOUND TO WATCHFULNESS, SENSITIVENESS, AND ACTIVITY IN THE PRESENCE OF MOR.l.L ABOMINA- TIONS. A profession of religion, much more occupation in the minstrations of religion, imposes a peculiar responsibility ; for religion is essentially in antagonism to error, to superstition, and to vice. Yet there have been periods in which ministers even of the true religion have been Jax in their own conduct, and have connived at prevailing error. There is an obligation on the part of every one who, by reason of office, employment, and public position, is a representative of Christianity, to aim at the prevalence of Christian principles throughout the community. JI. THOSE WHO, BEING PROFESSEDLY MINISTERS OF RELIGION, ARE YET NEGLIGENT AND l::,i'DIFFERENT IN THE PRESENCE OF FLAGRANT SIN, ARE IN A SPECIAL MANNER OBJECTS OF DIVINE DISPLEASURE. It is not only iu privilege and blessing that the sanctuary takes precedence. Unfaithfulness there is observed and reprehended as sin of the first magnitude. Retribution begins at the sanctuary. How should they be clean who bear the vessels or the Lord! God is indeed forbearing towards the failings and infirmities of his true servants. But the insincere and hypocritical are the object11 of Divine aversion; those of such character who occupy positions of prominence and influence are regarded as abusing their position and as forfeiting all claim to con- fidence. III. THE UNFAITHFUL IN THE SAN0TUARY ARE THE FIBST TO FEEL THE NATION'S CHASTISEMENT. There is a well-known proverb, "Like priest, like people." A corrupt clergy encourages national degeneration. And when such degeneration issues in national calamity and destruction, it is but just that those who have fostered evil principles should be the first to suffer. This has happened age.in and again in the world's history. Those who should have led the people aright, who should have enjoyed the people's confidence and esteem, have too often been the agents in their deterioration ; and when the time of trial has come, they hnve lost their influence, forfeited the position they abused, and paid for their unfaithfulne~s with the ruin of 170 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKmL. [o:a. IL 1-11.
their reputation, and even with the loss of their life. The destruction which has involved a nation has begun at the sanctuary.-T.