tmmmels of the flesh is not known. In all likelihood, cnpacity of mind and feeling will be enlarged, but will still be lirnite<l. If grief be indulged for minor losses, the soul will have no power of grief remaining for heavier demands. Therefore effort of will should be employed to restrain, and not to excite, our grief. 'l'hose who weep over imaginary sorrows portrayed in novels often become callous in the presence of real distress. The fountain of grief is exhausted. III. REAL GRIEF SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR OUR BEA VIF.ST CALAMITIES. Because, if we allow the severest disasters to occur without an adequate sense of sorrow, we do our moral nature an injury; we do injury to others. We convey to men a wrong impression. We emphasize the less important matters. The result is that our nature gets out of harmony with God's nature-a disaster the heaviest of all. Then God's lessons are lost upon us. We become incapable of receiving good. We are" past feeling." To lose feeling is to lose enjoyment-is to endure diminished life. JV, SIN SO OUTWEIGHS ALL OTHER CALAMITIES THAT OUR CJIIF.F BORROW BlIOULD BE BEBEBVED FOB em. God forbade Ezekiel to weep for the loss of his wife. He forbade the Hebrews to exhibit signs of mourning for the fall and ruin of their temple. 11 But," he added-" but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another." All other disaster is external to a man. This disaster, sin, is internal and injures the very texture and fabric of his soul. This is without question "sorrow's crown of sorrow." A man belonging to the criminal class obtained an inter- view with a Christian gentleman. Replying to questions, the man told his sad history -his gradual lapse into crime, his ultimate detection. Said he, "I have been twice in gaol; I have endured all kinds of misery; but I confess that my worst punishment is in being what I am now." This is the cardinal truth set forth by Ezekiel-that sin is the sum of all disasters, the quintessence of hell. Hatred of God is man's curse. V. A GOOD MAN IS .A SIGN TO THE UNGODLY, OF UNSEEN REALITIES. "Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign." A sign is an index of unseen things. Smoke is the si,,"Il of fire. A sword is the sign of hostility. An English ensign is an index of the queen's authority. A good man's life is a" sig11" or proof that there is a God, and that God is the Friend of man. 'l'he purity and piety of a good man is an index of the trans- forming grace of God. The peace in a good man's heart is an index of the peace of God-the peace of heaven. The obedience of a good man is an index of God's gracious authority. 'l'he resignation of a good man under trouble is a sign of the superiority of heavenly good to earthly. Every good man is a sign and witness for God.-D.
Vere. 1-14.-The parable of the cauldron; or, the }udgment f/,pon Jerusalem. "Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me," etc. The i11terpretation of the chief features of this parable is not difficult. "The cauldron is Jerusalem. 'l'he flesh aod the bones that are put therein are the Jews, the ordinary inhabitants of the city and the fugitives from the country. The fire is the fire of war. Water is poured into the cauldron, bec1Luse in the first place only the inhabitants are regarded, not the city as such. Afterwards, where the cauldron only is intended, it is set on empty (ver. 11). 'l'he bones, in ver. 4, in contradistinction to the pieces of flesh, are those who lend support to the body of the state-the authorities, with the king at their head" (Hengstenberg). The precise meaning of one clause is controverted. "Burn also the bones under it" (ver. 6); Revised Version, "Pile also the bones under it." The interpretation of Fairbairn appears to us to be correct: "What the prophet means is that the best, tho fleshiest parts, full of the strongest bones, representing the most exalted iLnd powerful c1mcng the people, were to be put within the pot and boiled; but th1Lt the rest, the very poorest, were not to escape : these, the mere bones as it were, wore to be thrown as a pile beneath, suffering first, and, by increasing the fire, hastening on the destruction of the others." A remarkable confirmation and illustration of this interpretation is quoted jn the ' Speaker's Commentary' from Livingstone's 'Last Journal:' "When we first steamed up the river Shire, our fuel ran out in the elephant marsh where no trees exist. ~oming to IL spot where an elephant had been slaughtered, I at once took the bones on board, and these, with the bones of a second elephant, enabled us to steam briskly up to where wood abounded. 'l'he Scythians, according to Herodotus, used the bones of the animal sacrificed to boil the flesh; the Guachos of South America do the s1Lme when they 44 TRE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [on. :wv. 1-27.