tion !Lit.her. God by the gospel restores man to his forfeited inheritance. By sin man was cx1lf'd from Eden; by the grace of God in Christ Jesus he is introduced into a holier and more beautiful Paradise. "When Divine grace renews the heart of the fallen sinner, Paradise is regained, and much of its beauty restored to the soul." IV. THEIR GRACIOUS BECOG1''1TION OF Goo, AND SINCERE REPEN'rANOE OF THEm BINS. (The points which arise under this head we have already noticed in our homily on eh. vi. 8-10.) 1. Their gmcious recognition of the Lord God. "And ye shall know that I am the Lord," etc. (vers. 42, 44). This knowledge does not spring from bis judgments, but from the experience of bis gracious dealings. It is a sympathetic and saving acqua.intance with biru. 2. Sincere repentance of their sins. (1) Here is a rrercquisite to true repentance. "There shall ye remember your ways, and all your doin~s, wherein ye have been defiled." (2) Here is an essential characteristic of true repentance. "And ye shall loathe yourselves in your own siabt for all your evils that ye have committed." In genuine penitence the sinner repriaches himself because of his sins. \-. -"~""D IX ALL TIIESE FEATURES OF THIS RESTORATION WE HAVE AN IMPRESSIVE A~D I\EAUTIFGL ILLUSTRATION OF THE UNMERITED GRACE OF Goo. "Ye shall know that I am _the Lord, when I hav~ wrought with you for_my Name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt d01nis, 0 ye house of Israel, so.ith the Lord God." All our blessings flow to us from the inexhaustible fountain of the grace of God. Mankind has merited no good from him. Our " evil ways and corrupt doings " have deserved his unmixed wrath. But in his infinite mercy he has 8pared our guilty race, enriched us with many physical and mental blessings, and provided for us an eternal and glorious salvation through the gift of his beloved Son. And as this restoration oi his people originated in his grace, it shall redound to his glory. "I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations" (ver. 41); "I have wrought with you fur my Name's sake" (ver. 44); "In them as a holy people, anew consecrated to God, shall be exhibited to the heathen the holiness of Jehovah." And the redemption of man by Jesus Christ shall issue in the eternal glory of the God of all grace (Gal. i. 5; 2 Tim. iv. 18; Heh. :xiii. 20, 21; 1 Pet. v. 10, 11; Rev. vii. 9-12), "Not unto UB, 0 Lord, not unto us, But unto thy Name give glory, For thy mercy, and tor thy truth's sake.n W.J,
Vera. 45-49 and eh. x.x:i. 1-7.-A parable of judgment. "Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face towards the south," etc. Another chapter should certainly have been commenced at the forty-fifth verse of the twentieth chapter, as indeed it is in the Hebrew, LXX., and Vulgate. The first seven verses of the twenty-first chapter in the Authorized Version are an explanation of the parable of the preceding five verses. l. Tm: AUTHOR OF THIB JUDGMENT. 1. Divinely decl,ared, "Thus saith the Lord God· Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee" (ver. 47); "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I arr: against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the ricrhteous and the wicked" (eh. xxi. 3). The Divine authorship of tbejudgments coming upon Jerusalem has been asserted already by the prophet many times in eh. v., vi., vii., etc., in which places we have noticed the fact. The Chaldeans were the unconscious instruments in the band of God for accomplishing this judgment. He wall himself the Author ol it. 2. G,:nerallyrer,ognized. "And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched" (ver. 48); "That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath: it shall not return any more" (eh. xxi. 5). The irresi~tibleness of the juc1gment would lead men to couc_lnde that the Author of it was the Almighty. " If we see that all human plans and devices, even tbe most promisinO' come to nothina, we are led to the confession that we have to do '" witl1 personal omnipotence " and righteousness, against which the batt Ie 1s ' unava1·1·mg. " '!'here are some disasters and distresses in which the thoughtful observer is almost corrq,clled to recognize the presence and the power of the Supreme. 11. 'l'HE suBJrwTs OF THIS JUDGMENT. "Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; lllt. xx. 1-49.J THE BOOK OF THF, PROPHET EZEKIEL. 383