The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 207

cf it. It is customary for a member of the royal family who visits a country place to be asked to plant a tree. If the request is complied with, the young tree is watched with peculiar care and ever after pointed out with interest. It is a pla11.t of renown. Not only has the Church been planted by God; it has been planted at the cost of the sacrifice of Christ. This plantation has been watered with the blood of Christ. It has the renown of the great sacrifice of Divine love consummated on Calvary. 2. There is .renown in the history of it. There are trees of historic interest. Such was the oak of Mamre, sacred to the memory of Abraham. Englishmen h:we found a romantic interest in King Charles's oak. Sherwood Forest is famous for Robin Hood and his merry men. The plantation of the Church has a very mixed history. The greatest trees are not always the most fruitful, and the greatest names in ecclesiastical history are not always those that deserve the highest honour. The public and official history of the Church is disgraced with many a deed of un-Christli.ke and worldly conduct. But the plantation as a whole, the general body of Christians, the quiet town and country congregations, have done a work of charity-enlightening, comforting, and saving-in all aaes of Christendom. Here, rather than in her calendar of saints, the true renown of th~ Church is to be found, and this renown is the glory of Christ, whose body she is; eo that her members must exclaim," Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy Name be the glory." 3. There is renown in the destiny of it. The Church has a great future before H. It goes forward to realize a grand idea. It has to win such a. name e.s it dares not wear as yet. But even now, as the army shares the renown of its captain, the Church is honoured in its Head, to whom God has given "a Name above every name." Ver. 30.-The presence of God. I. Goo IS PECULIARLY PRESENT WITH ms PEOPLE. We know that he is everywhere-on the desolate sea and the fair earth, in the high heavens and the dark regions of death (Ps. cx.xxix.). Therefore if any would desire to escape from his presence, this is impossible. How, then, can God be said to be in an especial manner present with his people? Spiritual presence is spiritual manifestation. ,God is more fully present where he more completely manifests his power and grace. 1. He is present in the heai·ts of his peopli:. He dwells in the contrite and humble spirit (Isa. lvii. 15). The Christian's body is a " temple of the Holy Ghost" (1 Cor. vi 19). God comes into especially close contact with those who are reconciled to him, and who open their hearts to receive his Spirit. 2. He is present in the lives of his people. He shapes their lives with his providential guidance, and watches over them with tender care, warding off danger and supplying wants. Even when they forget him in the slumbers of the night and during the busy distractions of the day, he neither sleeps nor neglects his people. Ever with them to guide and help and save, as he was with Israel in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night., God overshadows and surrounds his people with his fostering presence. II. Gon's PEOPLE MAY RECOGNIZE HIS PRESENCE. The verse which suggests thAse reflections is somewhat like a frequent expression in the prophecies of Ezekiel. After denunciations of wrath and judgment against the heathen nations, the conclusion repeatedly arrived at is," And they shall know that I o.m the Lord" (e.g. eh. xxx. 25). In these cases the awful action of God in his wrath is to bring home to the heathen the fact of his existence and supremacy; but it is not said that they will know that God is with them. '.fo Israel, however, this new thing is asserted. Israel will not merely know that God 1s the eternal Lord ; she will know that God is present. This further knowledge belongs to Christiane. They are not merely thei8ts, who believe in the existence of God; they know his actual, Ii ving presence. It is not suggested that this knowledge is to be obtained by direct, mystical intuition; it is rnther suiigested tha.t it is gathered from the experience of God's goodness. Hagar rocognized the presence of God when the angel addressed her (Gen. xvi. 13). Jacob l"'1Ceived it on a.wakening from his dream (Gen. xxviii. 16). The later Jews were to il<IB it in their restoration from the Captivity. We a.re to acknowledge it in the ljj_uerience of the Christian redemption. In this Christ will manifest himself to us ae ~ .ioes not unto the world (John xiv. 21, 22). III. THE RECOGNITION OF Gon's PRESENCE IS ACCOMPANIED BY THAT OF ms OWNER- ilBIP o:r ms PEOPLE. '' And that they, even the house of Isrd:.:l, are my people." God 214: THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [err, xx:nv. 1-3lr