IV. THAT THE DISCOMFITURE OF ONE MAY MEAN THE CONFUSION OF MANY. When Egypt's light went out, the world immediately around it would be in darkness; all those who were walking in its light would be utterly benighted and confused (vers. 7, 8). If we live in no better and no more enduring light than that of a very stron~ but unprincipled power, we may prepare for utter darkness before long. Our light will be extinguished; we shall lose our guide, and grope our way miserably. Well it is for those who choose the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the world, that in the beams of his Divine truth they may rejoi~ all the day, may do their life-work, may" have light at eventide," and may be ready for a still brighter and everlasting morning under other skies.-C. f Vers. 13, 14.-The unvisited river; <YI', life at a low level. The great river appro- priately represented the great nation which it enriched ; and the picture of the fall of the kingdom includes the desertion of the banks of these "great waters " by man and beast (ver. 14); and also the sinking of the river itself: "Then will I cause their waters to subside" (Fairbairn's translation). Such a river as the Nile may well illustrate- I. A NOBLE LIFE. It is a source of beauty and fertility, and therefore of enrichment, to the land through which it runs. Itself an object of delight to the eye, it is the source of verdure all along its banks. By its overflow, or through simple agricultural appliances, it waters the whole district in which it flows, and makes all the difference between barrenness and abundance. Thousands of animals drink of it and bathe in it, while the inhabitants of town and village flock to its banks in their various necessities. A noble human life may be all this in a higher sphere. 1. It may add very con- siderably to that spiritual worth and beauty on which Christ looks down with Divine satisfaction. 2. It may be the source of all kinds of good-of health, of sustenance, of knowledge, of wisdom, of purity, of piety; of life at its best below, of the beginning of the life eternal. 3. It is a constant source of blessing. As the river runs, not spasmo- dically, but night and day, continually sending forth its refreshing and nourishing moisture into the land, so a true, Christian life is incessantly and unconsciously com- municating good, in many forms, to those around it. II. A LIFE PITIFULLY BEDUOED. A very pitiful sight would be a river in such a state as that here imagined (rather than foreseen). Instead of beiug what it once was, it is now to the prophet's eye a diminished stream, its waters are low (not deep, but sunk; "the verb is properly to 'sink'"), and lie far beneath its banks; and they are such that no beast cares to drink of them ; no man approaches to use them for the purposes of human life, whether of nourishment or of cleansing. The river is useless, worthless, abandoned to itself. How much more pitiable is the life that has been reduced ; the life that has sunk, that move5 not any longer on the higher plane of heavenly wisdom, but only on the low and muddy levels of selfishness, of covetousness, of R base indulgence; the life that has shrivelled up into a poor dirty stream, no longer reflecting the beauty that is about it or the glory that is above it; the life that is urivisited, that no man cares to consult, by which no virtuous man directs his own, from which no man gains any strength, or impetus, or pure refreshment, which does no man Rny spiritual good; the life that is severely left alone I ID. THE OAUSE OF ITS DEOLINE. If any river be thus actually reduced (as in Ezekiel's thought), it is because it is no longer fed as it once was by the rains of heRven. If a noble human life is thus reduced, it is because it is no longer supplied from above. It lacks the truth, the influences, the sustaining power, which should come to it from God. These may be cut off by some serious sin; or they may be withdrawn because we no longer keep open the channels through which they come. 1. Keep the mind open to all Divine wisdom and the heart to all holy influences. 2. Draw down the renewing rains of Heaven by constRnt communion and earnest prayer. 3. See that no "great transgression" diverts the waters; and the river of our life will flow on to the sea, without loss to Us beauty or its power.--C.
Vera. 17-32.-.A vision of the unseen world. In this highly figurative prophetic utterance we have- I. Tm: PROPHET'S VISION ITSELF. He sees Egypt taking her place, as a fallen power, 182 'I'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKlEL. [cu. xxxn.1--32.