Vers. 10-14.-Pride humiliated. The proud cedar is laid low. Assyria falls. The fate of this great empire gives warning for all ages. Magnificence does not secure protection. I. PRIDE IS THE BESETTING FAULT OF WORLDLY BU00ESS. Many things contribute to the excitement of this passion. 1. The per~ption <!f the success. No man can thrive in II worldly way without perceiving the fact. 2. TIie consciousness of power. The greatest success is that to which a person attains by his own efforts. When he puts forth energy and finds it fruitful, he is naturally tempted to think much of himself. 3. The attraction of the superficial. This worldly success is but a shallow growth. But lying all on the surface, it is very obvious to the eye and appears to be much more important than it really is. 4. The flattery of others. Directly a man ie successful a host of flatterers arise about him, some greedily expecting crumbs from his table. others slavishly adoring his worldly greatness. Now, flattery accepted makes for pride. II. THE PRIDE OF WORLDLY SUCCESS IS A GREAT SIN IN THE SIGHT OF Goo. 1. It is fal~e. 'l'he success is not so glorious a thing as the proud man imagines it to be. Moreover, it is not purely created by the man who attains to it.. He takes many advantages that are given to him by Providence, and claims them as of his own making. 2. It is ungrateful. The gifts of Heaven are held as though their owner were under no obligation t-0 him who sent them. 3. It is impenitent. 'fhe proud man will not admit his faults. He attempts to hide his sin under his success. 4. It is selfish. Proud Assyria crushed her subject-nations. All pride is a glorification of self, too often at the expense of others. Pride excludes love. 6. It is worldly. This pride is simply con- cerned with earthly success. It shuts out all contemplation of the spiritual and the eternal. 'l'hus it beclouds the view of heaven and destroys the reverence that should be felt for God ; it lowers the sonl while it exalts self-esteem. III. Tms PRIDE WILL BRING ITS OWN DOWNF'ALL. Because the cedar has lifted himself up in height, God has delivered him into the hands:of the mighty one. 1. This is a IJivine fudgment. God is higher than the highest. He has power over the greatest. No pride can assert itself successfully in face of his wrath. At a touch from the hand of God the grandest pretensions crumble to dust. Empires topple to the earth at a glance from the Almighty. 2. This is brought about through the direct working of pride. It acts inwardly on the proud man and compasses his ruin. The height and breadth of the majestic cedar make it a prey to the whirlwind, The tall tree attracts the lightning. The rich man is waylaid by thieves, who neglect the poor man and eo leave him in safety. 'l'he successful man is an object of envy. But pride increases the danger tenfold. It destroys sympathy and excites animosity. It also throws a man off his gua!·d, making him think himself safe from attack or strong to defend himself. 'l'he false sense of security which it induces lays a snare for the man who harbours it. Our safety lies in the opposite direction-in humility, confession of sin, and. trust in the pardoning, protecting grace of God. Ver. 18.-The disappearance of Eden. The downfall of Assyria is compared to the falling of a great cedar, and the shock that this event produces among the nations is likened to the shaking of neighbouring trees when the cedar is laid-low. Tho cedar disappears, as Eden has disappeared. The poetic image suggests more than that the tree lies prone on the ground. It pictures it siakiag into the earth and passing out of sight, as it supposes the trees of Eden to have done before. This striking idea of the old Paradise going down into the depths of the earth-like an enchanted garden that sinks at the magician's wand, and leaves only a desolate wilderness on its site-seems to be referred to by Ezekiel ae a prevalent popular notion. I. EDEN HAS DISAPPEARED. According to the account in Genesis, man was expelled from the garden, but the garden itself was not laid waste or removed. On the contrary, flamiag swords kept man from re-entering its coveted precincts. But we see no garden of Eden. Ge<,graphers search in vain for its situation on the map. 'l'he old Eden has vanished. This is not the only charm of the world's childhood that has passed away. l'riruitive innocence has disappeared. The unfading flowers and unblighted fruit of the EJcn of soul-purity have vanished from off the earth. The fresh strong imagination of the world's childhood has passed away. Our later age produces no' Iliad.' II. Ev1m CANNO'l' DE nEcovERED. The fair garden that has descended into the eartb OH, xxXI. 1-18.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 159
will never rise ag.ain. Beneath the ground the miner finds vast remains of primeval forests. These Edens of the past have beoome coal-fields. Never again can they be green and fruitful gardens. Primitive innocence can never be restored. The child-mind, once lost, cannot be bad back again. There are irreparable losses. ill, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN 19 BETTER THAN THE GARDEN OF EDEN. The original Paradise cannot be regained. But a better Paradise is created by Christ. The earthly Paradise had its serpent lurking in the grass. The heavenl1 is more safe, more fruitful, more beautiful. Yet, though it is heavenly, i.e. in its origin and in its character, it is for the earth-it is planted in this world, and it is to be enjoyed in the present life. "The kingdom of God is within you" (Luke xvii. 21). IV. A STILL FAIBEB EDEN 18 RESERVED FOB THIS EABTH IN THE FUTURE. The New Testament promises a millennium. In our weary disappointments we are tempted to quench the hope of that glorious future. But if the rule and truth of Christ is to spread among all men, the blessed time must come. Then, indeed, the dead Eden itself will be forgotten and despised in the splendour of the reign of Christ. v. THEBE 18 A PARADISE FOB THE BLESSED DEAD, Jesus promised it for the crucified robber. " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise" (Luke xxiii. 43). Old Eden goes down. The beauty and pomp of earth descend. But the spirits of Uhrist's people ascend. They do not go down to the grave with their bodies, and their Paradise is not beneath, but above. Heaven is the eternal Eden of souls. " There everlasting spring abides, And never-withering fiowere,"