if it be logical, he is too dry; if it be fervid, he is too enthusiastic. They blame the preacher wilen the fault is in themselves-they are out of sympathy with his message, 2. The adequa.te resource of a faithful servant of God when su~ject to discoumgement. He ran do as Ezekiel did, state his difficulties and trials to his Divine Master, and obtain from him consolation and inspiration. There are experiences in the lives of Christian ministers 'l'"hen nothing remains for them but to seek the aid of him from whom they received their commission. They shall never seek his aid in vain, or find it insufficient. V. THE GRACE OF Goo IN GIVING REPEATED AND IMPRESSIVE ANNOUNOl!:MENTS OP THIS JUDGMEKT. When the prophet complained to the Lord that the people spake of him as " a speaker of parables," he was not commanded to abandon them to their doom, but to dcli'rer his message again and in another form. The merciful God was patient with the perverse people. 1. Here are repeated announcements of thisjudgment. 'l'wo are g:iYcn in our text. Several have been already given by the prophet. And sub- seq uently he delivered not a few. And in addition to these, Jeremiah was proclaiming in Jerusalem the approaching doom. God does not leave the wicked without many warnin:::s of the consequences of their conduct. 2. Here are impressive announcements of this.fudgment. (1) The spoken parable (vers. 47, 48). This was fitted to awaken attention, stimulate inquiry, and thus produce a deeper and more lasting impression of the truth conve)·ed. (2) The acted sign. "Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins," etc. ( eh. xxi. 6, 7). This also was with the view of interesting the people, and leading them to ask," Wherefore sighest thou?" As Hengstenberg observes, "The endeavour is everywhere visible, to obtain by the clearness of the description a representation of the reality not yet existing, but already germinating, and in this way to withdraw the people from their delw;ions, and make penitence take the place of politics." VL THE DISJlAY OF THE PEOPLE ON THE ACTUAL ARRIVAL OF THIS JDDGMENT, "Every heart shall melt, and all bands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord God." "They shall be compelled to experience in themselves what they perceive in the prophet. In all, courage gives place to terror, activity to prostration, counsel to perplexity. No one holds out any longer (cf. .eh. vii. 17)" (Schroder). The wicked who have been most self-confident and boastfully secure in time of peace and prosperity, will be most prostrate and terror-stricken when confronted by stern calamity and distress. " The sound of a driven leaf shall chase them." Having forsaken God, and being deprived of the strength and courage of a calm and clear conscience, " terrors overtake them like waters," and utterly overwhelm them. If sinners persistently reject the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, the time will come when in abject dismay they will vainly seek to hide themselves "from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb" (Rev. vi. 15-17). Therefore "seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near," etc. (Isa. lv. 6, 7).-W. J.
EXPOSITION. vidual men, into the spirit of Abram's words CHAPTER XXL " That be far from thee to destroy the Vere. 2, 3.-The opening words, repro- righteous with the wicked" (Gen. xviii. 25). <lucin g those of eh. x.x. 46, indicate that the But in regard to temporal judgments there interpretation of that parable is coming. !:lo would be, in this ease, as in the cam plaint of the three variants of "south" nre shown to Job ix. 22, no distinction. The sword went mean respc:ctively Jerusalem, the holy forth "against all flesh." vlaces, and the land of Israel. So, in ver. Ver. 6.-Sigh therefore, etc. As in other :::, the righteous and the wicked take the instances (eh. iv. 4; v. 1-4), the prophet place of the " green" and tbe ••dry" tree, dramatizes the coming calamity. He is to and tl,e fire is explained as meaning the act the pa1t of a mourner, whose sighs are swonl of tile invader. The teaching of eh. so uecp that they seem to "break his loins" xviii. had sliowu that Ezekiel hu.d entered, (compare, for the gesture, Nah. ii. I, 10; £Mi r~gards the ultimate judgwent of indi- Isa. xxi. 3; Jer. :a::u. 6). 'l'he atru.ngti OH. xxr.1-32.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL, 885