thrm once; a brief considerntion of them will therefore be sufficient in this place. The eins of which the people are here co11victed are these. 1. Sinful for,qetfulness of th-,ir early history. "Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth" (ver. 43; cf. ver. 22). They forgot the low estate in which the Lord found them in Egypt, and from which he had raised them into a condition of national life, prosperity, and power. This forgetfulness involved base ingratitude. 2. Shameful apostasy from God. "Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness dis- covered," etc. The "filthiness" of the Authorized Version should be "brass." The word is used either "for metals of all kinds, or goods and chattels generally, or money in particular. . . . It is put instead of the 'whoredoms' of ver. 15, because, according to ver. 33, these were purchased by means of presents" (Schroder). 3. The idolatrous and cruel sacrifice of their own children. "The blood of thy children which thou didst give unto them" (ver. 36; cf. vers. 20, 21). II. THE SENTENCE ON ACCOUNT OF THESE BINS IS PRONOUNCED. 1. The end of tl,eir prosperity and the destruction of their city. "I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place," etc. (vers. 39, 41). There is unmis- takable reference hei:e to the siege of Jerusalem, and to the destruction, loss, and misery connected therewith. The people had abused their prosperity to the dishonour of God, and he would completely strip them of prosperity, deprive them of power, and leave them naked and bare as they were when the Lord first interposed for them (ver. .7). "The unfaithful use of the gifts of God inevitably brings on their loss. God cannot be mocked." 2. Their violent death for their spiritual adultery and physical murde:r. "I will judge thee as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. . . . They shall also bring up a company against thee," etc. (vers. 38, 40). According to the Law of Moses, adultery was to be punished with death by stoning (Lev. :xx. 10; Deut. xiii. 24; John viii. 5); death was also the penalty of murder (Exod. :xxi. 12). Such were the judgments of adulteresses and of murderers; and in the siege and capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar such judg- ments were inflicted upon the guilty people of that city. 3. Their violent, death in the pre~ence of and inflicted by the nations with whom they had sinned. (Vers. 37, 41). '£he "many women" of ver. 41 are the neighbouring nations. These nations should behold the downfall and degradation, the shame and misery, of the apostate people; and the Chaldeans should be the instruments for accomplishing their overthrow, into whose hands they were given by the Lord. It is often so ordered, in the providence of God, that the companions of sinners in their sins become the weapons by which they are punished for those sins. "This is the curse of sin," says Schroder, "that those with whom we have sinned make common cause with our enemies for our punishment•..• Friends may in certain circumstances be the most painful rods in God's hand.n III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE SENTENCE IS INDIOATED, "I will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God" (ver. 43). The Revised Version is more correct: " I also will bring thy way upon thine head." Sinners "are dealt with not only as they deserved, but as they procured. It is the end which their sin, as a way, had a direct tendency to," which God will bring upon their head. CoNOLUSION. Our subject utters solemn warning against sin, especially on the part of those who have been much blessed by God; for the heinousness of sin is proportionate with the greatness of privilege, and the severity of punishment will correspond with the heinousness of sin.-W. J.
Vers. 44-52.-.A picture of comparative iniquity. " Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter," etc. The following observations are suggested by this paragraph. !. THE HEINOUSNESS OF BIN IS PROPORTIONATE TO THE POSITION AND PRIVILEGES 01" THE SINNERS. "The more mercies people enjoy, the greater are their sins if they answer not those mercies." It is by the application of this principle that the people of Judah are pronounced greater sinners thau they of Sodom or Samaria. Judah was immeasurably richer in moral and religious advantages than Sodom. "They had Moses and the prophets; " they had a clearer and fuller revelation of the Divine will; they had more frequent warnings and exhortations from holy prophets of the Lord; they had regular religious ordinances, and other aids to a true and righteous life, which 300 THE BOOK 01<' THE l'ROPIIE'l.1 EZEKIEL. [on. x\rJ, 1-63.