The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 1 — Section 272

fruits of holiness and usefulness. If we do eo, we honour him, occupy an cxalte<l morn.I position, and bendit society. If we fail to do so, we dishonour God, sink in moral character and condition, and are worthless or injurious to society. What i,i the fruit which God designs that we should bear? Personal holiness and social usefulness. "Ye have your fruit unto holiness." "Bearing fruit in every good work." These are the two great characteristics of the fruit which God requires of us. They should not be severed. The holy character must bring forth good works. The good works must ever be connected with, and the expression of, a. holy character. This fruit will be produced in various degrees and in various forms, according to personal idiosyn- crasies, abilities, and opportunities. God does not require that Christian character shall be rigidly uniform, or that Christian service shall all be of the same kind. What he demands is that every one shall be faithful in the pursuit of holiness and usefulness, and shall endeavour to realize these things in the best manner in each individual case. Our text further suggests- !. 'l'HAT THE TRUE OBJECT OF MAN'S LIFE IS THAT HE MAY THUS BEAR FRUIT. 1. He is formed by God/or this ob;'ect. Man is endowed with faculties fitting him for this. He has mind and soul by which he may perceive the revelation of God. He has a will which was designed to work in sweet harmony with that of God. He has a conscience which was constituted to accord with and respond to the eternal righteous- ness of God. He has affections and aspirations which find their true object in God, and their highest exercise in his worship. Moreover, he has powers for expressing all these things in his life; for feeling and speaking and acting holily, and so honouring God by producing the fruit which he requires of us. We are also fitted by God for usefulness in various ways. We have the power of sympathy, of kind and earnest speech, of loving brotherly help, of tender and trusty support, by which to be useful to each other. '!'here is no one but may help another in some form and to some extent. 2. Man is blessed by God with culturing agencies for this obfect. What agencies of help and culture God gave to hie people Israel !-the moral Law, religious ordinances, sacred memorials, consecrated priests, inspired prophets. How many and influential are the means which we possess for promoting our mental and spiritual growth and usefulness !-an inspiring history, a glorious literature, the sacred Scriptures, opportunities of religious worship, divinely instituted sacraments, various Christian ministries, the influences of the Holy Spirit. Even the very trials under which we smart and bleed are but the prunings of tho great Vine-dresser, that we may bear more fruit. What does suoh a constitution as ours mean? What do all these agencies mean? What is their mission? That we may bring forth fruit, even holiness aJJ..d usefulness. "Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do; Not light them for themselves: for if our virtue■ Did not go forth of us, 'twere all a.like As if we had them not. Spirits a.re not finely t.ouch'd, But to fine issues : nor nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence, But, like e. thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Both thanks and use." (Shakespeare, ' Measure for Measure,' e.ot i. so. 1.) II. THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE OBJECT OF MAN'S LIFE. If the vine tree does not produce grapes, it fails of the one object of its existence, and is worthless. If man does not produce the fruit of excellence in himself and serviceableness to others, he misses the end of his being. Other objects for which men live are unsatisfactory. The pursuit of pleasure, the race for ric~es, the struggle for power, the toil for_ kno~ledge, or the possession o_f any of these thm~s or all of t~em, can_not be the c~1ef obJec~ of human life. I assign only one reason m proof of this assertion, but that 1s a sufficient one, viz. because they secure only a partial development of our nature. God has endowed us with no superfluous powers. He would have us exercise and develop every faculty of our being. He is ever opposed to waste. But any one of the objects men- tioned, or all of them combined, involve the neglect of certain great faculties of our being, the wasting of important powers. He whose supreme aim is the attainment of  270 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [oa. XVI. 1-63.