The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 167

peace. In silence and sorrow of soul people learn to look beneath the surface of life, ns the Egyptians in their desolation could look deep down into the still, smooth water;i of the Nile. This may be a preparation for a holier new life in the future. Ver. 18.-Sympathetic sorrow. I. SYMI'ATHETIO SORROW IS CALLED FOR DY THE TROUBLES OF OUR FELLOW-MEN. Ezekiel is told by God to wail for the multitude of Egypt. He had his own troubles among the disaffected Jews• but he was not to shut himself up i1; the selfishness of private distress. His nation' was passing through a season of terrible experiences, mauy of his kinsfolk driven into exile and the remaining inhabit.ants threatened with fresh war-cruelties. Yet, Jew as he ~as, Ezekiel was to find room in his heart for grief over the distresses of Egypt. It is inhuman not to be moved by a neighbour's trouble. We ought to widen the area of our sympathy, and embrace in it the interests and troubles of foreign nations. If a Jew should wail for Egypt, should not a Christian wail for the evils of the world? Mansion House funds for various successive foreign needs-Persian and China famines, etc.-are among the healthiest signs of our times, and contain a better augury of the future of England than the high price of government stock. Individually we are called upon to grieve over our neighbour's troubles. 11. 8TIIPATHETIO SORROW IS ESPECIALLY REQUIRED BY THE WORLD'S BIN. 1. We should grieve m-0re over sin than over external calamity. The gambling of England is a more soITowful sight than the wreckage that strews our coast after a disastrous gale. We mourn for the death of the good and noble; we should mourn more for the life of the wicked and ignoble. Drunkenness is a worse evil than pauperism. Pro- fligacy is infinitely more deplorable than poverty. '£berefore people who think themselves happy and do not seek our commiseration may most need it. 2. Jl'"e should grieve over sin rather than coldly condemn it. The sympathizer is himself a sinner. Jluny who have fallen most low have been most grievously tempted; but even when the kindest charity can discover no excuse, wickedness itself should be regarded as e. miserable source of grief to e.ll right-minded people. God pitied the sinner, and sent his Son to save him. Christ wept over Jerusalem. The Christian treatment of sin is to approach it with sympathetic sorrow. Ill. Sn£PATIIETIC BORBOW IS A MINISTERING ANGEL OF MERCY. 1. It is a source <if consolation. Sympathy may comfort when no helping hand can relieve suffering. It is much to know that we are not a.lone, uncared for, and forgotten. The sympathy of God is offered to every distressed son of man. This is a type and pattern of what must be in the heart of every godly man. 2. It i's an inspiration of deliverance. To be content to wail for the troubles of others, when by any effort or sacrifice we might alleviate those troubles, is to declare ourselves no better than hypocrites. Rich people who deplore the misery of their poor neighbours, and yet do nothing to relieve the burden of poverty, are guilty of shameful inconsistency and moral untruth. If they really grieved they would relieve. The first step is to feel the troubles of our fellow- men ; the next must be to do all in our power to help them. Happily in regard to spiritual troubles Christian people have a source of assistance to offer in the gospel of Ghrist. Vera. 18-30.-The world of the dead. "The strong among the mighty" are the inhabitants of the under-world who once were kings and heroes on earth. Now those mona.rclie of the dead stir tliemselves as they see great Pharaoh coming to join their compauy, and prepare to give him a stately though a gloomy welcome. L '.!.'HERE IS A wonLD WllERE THE DEAD YET LIVE. This world only appeared to be a realm of shades and desolation to the Jews of Old Testament times. For those who have not the life of Christ in them the New Testament offers a worse prospect. Yet that some world of departed spirits exists is taught in the Old Testament as well as in the New. 'l'his agrees with the almost universal belief of man in all ages and of all nations and of most religions. There seems to be implanted in us an instinct of in,mortality. We cannot escape from some conception of e. hereafter. II. 1T 18 OF SOME IMPORTANCE THAT WE BHOUI.D CONSIDER OUR RELATION TO THl!I WORLD OF THE DBAD. Religion is primarily for this life, to help ue to do our daily duty. But it also bears on the future. We cnnnot but feel that our life is swiftly OH. xxxu. 1-32.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 173