hedgo for the house of Ierael to stand in the battle." They need others, as the monkey did tho cat's paw. Whero arduous toil, and especially where serious danger, appeared they were conspicuous by their absence. Truth makes men at all times courageoL1s: but fo.laehood corrodes the metal of a man's bravery. These pretentious prophets desired the honour and the advantage; the risks they devolved on others. Honest men were made the ladder by which they sought to climb. V. SELF-ASSUMPTION IS SURE TO COLLAPSE. Vaulting ambition overleaps itself. The frog that would swell its dimensions to the size of a bull destroyed itself. 1. Falae teachers make God their direct enemy. "I am against you, saith the Lord God." The God of truth hates hypocrisy. All falseness shall be like empty thistle-down, which the wind scatters. 2. They shall be excluded from the circle of hon(/'11,r. They had assumed to be heads and leaders in the councils of the nation ; they shall be dishonoured, and cast out of the deliberative assembly. The false shall be, sooner or later, excommunicated-blackballed. 3. Their posterity shall become extinct. There shall be none to perpetuate their name. New honour often comes to the memory of a righteous man from children of renown. Such honour and satiRfaction shall be denied to them. They shall perish root and branch. 4. They shall not participate in the coming restoration. "Neither shall they enter into the land of Israel." The distinctive possession which God gives shall be for the true Israel, "even for those who have no guile." In the time of Israel's real prosperity there "shall not come into them the uncircumcised or the unclean." He is a Jew who is one inwardly.-D. Vers. 10-16.-The foolish builders-a parable. In order to make the lesson more impressive and more abiding, it is repeated in the form of a parable. Our generous God takes immense pains to engrave his truth on human hearts. I. NATIONAL POLITY IS ANALOGOUS TO A BUILDING. As the human body requires some sort of material dwelling to protect it from external evils, so society requires some system of national admiuistratiou. that shall protect it against external foes. That administration, to be successful, must be a combination of wisdom and strength -an edifice both moral and material. If a nation cannot withstand all invaders by means of its armies and its fortresses, it must maintain. itself by means of mutual treaty and mutual concord. Some defence it must have. II. THIS BUILDING WAS FRAMED WITH BLENDER AND SUPERFICIAL MATERIALS, The weakness and rottenness of the walls were concealed with untempered plaster and with mere whitewash. An unsound and leaky ship is made no more seaworthy by painting her in gay colours. Plausible words do not make a sound policy, neither does good raiment make an honest man. Solid foundations and sound materials are esseu.tial to make a wall safe or a national policy prosperous. III. THERE WAS AN EVIL CONSPIRACY. "One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar." Evil men will do, in combination with each other, deeds they would not venture on alone. Union is strength, even in wickeduess. The base policy would commend itself all the more to popular acceptance if it had the support (apparently independent) of several arlvocates. It is a crime to lend ourselves to an enterprise merely because it has the sanction of numbers. The quality of its supporters must be pondered. IV. '!'~STING EVENTS WERE AT HAND. Every wall or building is designed to resist wind and rain. If it cannot do this, its purpose is vain. If it succumbs to storm, it is worse than useless; it adds to the peril. It is so.for to be in the open field during a storm than to be within a rickety house. The very provision made for security, if it be ill founded and ill constructed, becomes a new danger. The Jews were awaro that extraordinary danger was imminent, and therefore ought to have been the more careful in their sound defence of the state. Recklessness is only sham courage, and is the foe of wisdom. V. OVERTHROW WAS CERTAIN. If God be against our plans, success is impossible. No human undertaking can resist Omnipotence. The destruction was foretold, but the warning only excited ridicule. It was not simply that the cunning policy of these men should be overthrown-that would be a small evil; but the overthrow would be destruc- tion to their persons o.nd destruction to the kingdom. They were involving a nation , in disaster. We how '' not where the mischief of evil deeds will end. 240 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [cm, xm.1-28.'
VI. GREAT REPROACH WILL ENSUE. "Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be· said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?" The surround• ing nations were eagerly wat~bing how this nation, which boaRted of Jehovah as their God, wo1;1ld deport_ itself. If it ~as _seen that the princes and captains were bolstering up the kmgdom with craft and mtngue and falsehood, they would despise their pro- fessed faith-yea, despise their God. The names of these foolish builders would be bandied about as a byword and a reproach. Their ill fame would follow them through many generations. Perpetual discredit and reprobation are a. part of God's punishment.-D.