often treated with neglect and contempt. It has been thus from the time of Noah, who~e warnings ~-ere unheeded and ridiculed hy his contemporaries. The admonitions of Christ himself in some instRnces only embittered the hostility of those whom he reproached. Every servant of God has had occasion to exclaim, "Who bath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" II. 'l'HE ERROR WHICH SINNERS COMMIT IN so TREATING GoD's MESSAGE, 1. Many who hear the warnings and threats addressed to them give no credit to what they l,ear, and do not expect the predictions to be fulfilled. They have more confidence in their own judgment and in their own good fortune than in the Word of the Lord. 'l'hey do not ~-ish to believe, and they will not believe. 2. Many who do not abso- lutely disbelieve and reject the message, nevertheless persuade themselves that its fulfilment will be indefinitely deferred, and indeed is altogether uncertain. Such seems to have been the case with the evil counsellon;, whose guidance was accepted in Jerusalem. Their answer to every prediction of calamity was this : "It is not near!" It is with the same excuse that the Word of God is so constantly encountered in our own days; and there are those who may not make this excuse in words, who yet cherish it in their hearts and act upon it in their conduct. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Ill THE FOLLY AND WICKED:SF.SS OF SUOH TREATMENT OF GoD's MESSAGE. What shall be said of the attitude of those whose one reply is this: "It is not near"? 1. They must be reminded that time, after all, is of comparatively little importance. The main question for us is this-Is God angry with the wicked? Is his wrath to be revealed against the ungodly? If it is so, then how can we attach great impor- tance to the question-Will this be made manifest this year or next year; now or at some future time? 2. They must be reminded that the judgment foretold may be actually nearer than is supposed or believed. It was so in the case of Jerusalem in the time of Ezekiel. It has often been so. Men have been eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, when sudden destruction has come upon them. 3. They mnst be reminded that, near or far, the judgment of the Supreme Ruler is inevitable. "Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth ?"-T.
Ver. 5.-Divine omniscienct. Among the many elements of that superiority which is distinctive of monotheism over polytheism must be noted the perfect know- ledge which the one God possesses of all the creatures whom he has made. Men who believe in the " gods many" of the heathen have not, and cannot have, that con- stant sense of the Divine omniscience which must exercise so signal an influence.for good over the worshipper of the Supreme. \ L Tm: REABONAIILE:NESB OF THIS DOCTRTh'E. We attribute to the Deity infinite per- fection ; and this is not consistent with the limitation of his knowledge. It is absurd to suppose that he who has made the mind of man has lost the power of recognizing the tboughts and intents of the heart which he fashioned by his power and wisdom, '!'here is no part of his universe in which God is not present. Much more evidence is it that the Father of the spirits of all flesh is in possession of every secret of the intellectual and spiritual nature of man. 11. TeE FORGETFULNESS OF THIS DOCTRINE. It is evident that the inhabitants of J~rusalem, and especially the false teachers and evil counsellors in the city, lost sight of this great truth. God was not in all their thoughts. It may not hnve occurred to them, as they pursued their selfish plans and Ii ved their irreligious life, that every purpose and hope was known to the Divine Lord and Judge. "All things are naked and opened to the eyes of him with whom we have to do." III. THE TERROR WHICH THIS DOCTRINE SHOULD HAVE FOR EVIL-DOERS WHO ARE REMINDED OF IT. God knows the wicked things that come into men's minds and are encouraaed to abide there - the injustice, the covetousness, the falsehood, the impurity, th~ cruelty, the hatred, the maluolence, which are distinctive of those who Jeµart from GoJ. Such qualities, even before they find expression in word and net, l!ire repugnant to the nature of the just and holy God. And he is not simply nn "beerver; he is a Judge. He disapproves and condemns thoughts, sentiments, and on. XI, 1-26.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 199