eilver le become dross, thy wine mixed with water." "How is the gold become dim I how is the most pure gold changed I" Thus the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah lamented this deterioration. (1) There was degeneracy of moral character. Their affections wero corrupted; their principles were degraded; their conscience, having been often eet at naught, was debased. So in the sight of him to whom all hearts are open they had become as dross. "The house of Israel is become dross unto me." Beware of the beginnings of sin, the initial stRges of this degeneration of moral character. (2) Dege- neracy of religious services. This deterioration is forcibly set forth and sternly rebuked in Isa. i. 11-17. Moreover, they had become idolaters: how, then, could their worshii; of the true God be genuine and acceptable? When personal character degenerates, the quality of the religious service rendered must decline. (3) Degeneracy of national position and power. 'l'be might and majesty of their kingdom were almost entirely rleparted. Their naUonal independence was quite gone. When moral deterioration once powerfully sets in amongst any people, deterioration in all other forms quickly follows. Says Robertson, "The destiny of a nation is decided by its morals." II. THE DETERMINED DESTRUCTION OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. 1. The gatherin_q of the doomed people for destruction. •" Thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem," etc. (vers. 19, 20). When pressed by their Chaldean enemies the people from far and wide took refuge in Jerusalem, trusting to its forces and fortifications for safety. So that city became. as it were the furnace in which they were co~sumed by the t;iple fire of famine, pestilence, and sword. Mark, how naturally and easily God effects his purpose~. He has not to build the furnace for their destruction: it is already built. He has not to force them into that furnace by supernatural means: in their approaching troubles they will hasten into it of their own accord. He controls all things for the execution of his deep and righteous designs. 2. The infliction of destruction upon the doomed people. (1) It was by the band of God. "Thus saith the Lord God ... I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem." etc. The Cbaldeans were the instruments by which he effected his purpose; but God himself was the great Agent in the work. (2) It was an expression of the anger of God. "So will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury," etc. (vers. 20, 21). The wrath of God burns with awful intensity against sin. "Our God is a consuming fire." (3) It leads to the recognition of the hand of God. "Ye shall know that I the Lord have poured out my fury npon you." These words do not point to their reformation or purification. As Hengstenberg observes," In the whole section the judgment is regarded, not in the light of purification, but in that of destruc- tion; as Ezekiel usually considers the population of Jerusalem as an ungodly multituue doomed to be extirpated." Moreover, dross cannot be benefited by fire. It cannot be purified. After all burnings it remains dross-refuse. The fire was not to purify, but to punish them; not to cleanse, but to consume them. And in its fierce heat they would recognize the dread power of the God whom they had forsaken for idols, and whose word they had set at naught. CoNOLUSION. Guard against the beginnings of the deterioration of character, Seek the growth and progress of character in the true and good.-W. J.
Vers. 23-31.-The universal prevalence of wickedness, and the consequent certainty of fudgment. "And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed,'' etc. I. THE UNIVERSAL PREVALEN0E OF WIOKEDNEss. This is exhibited by Ezekiel: 1. Jn the absence of any effective correction thereof. "Thou art the land that is not cleansed." This refers to the moral condition of the people. 'l'he figure is viewed by some as a land that is not freed from noxious weeds, by others as not cleansed as metals are by the refiner's fire. With either view the spiritual signification is the same. "Judrea had been oft cleansing," says Greenhill, "but was never thoroughly cleansed. Hezekiah and Josiah made the greatest cleansings, but all the sin was not purged out in their days; they took away the objects and mediums of sin, viz. the idols, images, groves, and high places, but the people continued wicked; they did not cleanse their hands nor hearts and turn to the Lord, but returned to their former and worse abomi- nations, when those good kings were gone. The Lord had sent them many prophets, who dealt with them several ways to draw them to repentance, . . . Besides thes8 IG 'THE BOOK OF TIIE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [en. xxn. 1-31.