HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-3.-The vcilley of d,ea,th. 'l'he picture so impressively presented in these verses is a picture of the Israelitish people in their Eastern captivity. 'l'be national life is for a period suspended. The people a.re dead and dry as bones scattered upon the surface of an open valley which has been the scene of carnage in battle. Yet the description is always and justly held to portray the moral condition of our sinful humanity apart from the quickening interposition of the Lord and Gi'l"er of life. J. SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT REVEALS WHAT IS BEAL BENEATH WHAT IS APPARENT, To other eyes no such vision as that which broke upon the sight of the inspired prophet was accorded. On the contrary, men might have looked upon Israel-part of the people in captivity, and part still occupying the land of their fathers-and have seen nothing but such misfortune and calamity as are incident to human history. To the prnphetic, quickened, illumined mind of Ezekiel the real state of the na.Uon was manifest. In like manner, a superficial observer might direct his attention to the human race without apprehending its spiritual condition as one of deprivation, of gloom, of death; he might be dazzled by external splendour and prosperity, and it might not occur to him that beneath the fair and glitte1ing outside there was concealed from his eyes what, after a.II, is the most important characteristic of humanity, regarded spiritually. II. THE REALITY TO BE RECOGNIZED IS THE PBEBEN0E AND THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL DEATH. 1. The cause of this is sin. Life flows from communion with him, who is the ever-living Fountain of life. Severed from God, the soul cannot live. 2. The effects and signs of this death are numerous and evident. Insensibility to Divine truth, to virtue, to immortality, may be mentioned as most impressively brought before ue in the vision which Ezekiel saw. The dry bones lay scattered about the plain, insensible to everything, to every presence about them, neither affected by any occurrence nor initiating any movement. Such is the state of the spiritually dead-•the "dead in trespasses and Bins." III. HorELEBBNEBS DIBTINGUIBBEB THB STATE OF THE BPfflIT'OALLY DEAD. Cl Son ou. xxxvu. 1-28.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 275
of man, can these bones live?" If the answer depended upon hum&n sagacity, if the means to awaken life were such as are a.vailA.ble to human wisdom alone, such as are known by human experience, there ca.n be but one answer "Life is impossible I" Who that looked upon pre-Christian society could cherish the hope that from that necropolis there could start into vitality and a.ctivity a host of living, consecrated beings, filled with the life of God, eager to do the work of God? Could the Church have grown out of the world? The supposition is a.n absurdity. The prophet's reply to the inquiry was the only reply that was reasonable. All depended upon God; man was powerless and hopeless for revival. "0 Lord God, thou knowest I "-T. Vers. 4-,-10.-The call to life. The sublimity of this vision is the sublimity, not of imagination, but of truth. But it wa.s truth that was not open to every mind; it was truth discerned by an intellect quickened into supernatural insight and comprehension by the Divine Source alike of truth and of life. I. THE MINISTRY OF PROPHECY. I. It presumes intelligent natures to which thA appeal is made. 2. It presume!! a Supreme Authority by which the prophet is selected, fitted, and guided in the discharge of his office. 3. It presumes a ministerial nature and character, on the one side open to communications from God, on the other sids sympathetic with those for whose benefit such communications are vouchsafed. 4. H presumes an occasion and circumstances, suggesting the fulfilment of a spiritual mission. II. THE POWER AND AUTHOB.ITY OF THE LIVlNG GoD A00OMPA.NYlNG TRUE PROPHECY, I. The prophet spe1ks at the Divine command. There are times when he is Bilent, and times when he utters the thoughts, the warnings, the exhortations, that are in him. When the command is given, then the silence is broken. 2. The prophet utters a. Divine message, He speaks for God, and they who listen to him hear the voice of God. 3. His utterances are therefore altogether without regard to what men would call probabilities or even possibilities. Nothing could have been further from all human likelihood than that anything should follow upon such a ministry as that here described. The prophet was directed to address "dry bones," nnd to summon dry bones to " hear the word of the Lord" I Had he been other than o. prophet, he would have deemed such a. mission an absurdity. "God's ways are not our ways, neither our thoughts his thoughts." 4. A higher than human wisdom and might breathe in the utterances of the prophet. The dignity of his attitude, the sublimity of his thoughts, are not of this world. He must be either a pretender and a fanatic, or else a represen- tative of God himself, who can make use of such language as Ezekiel records himself to have used: "Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live." III. Tim MOVEMENT El!'l'E0TED DY THE AGENCY OF PROPHECY. In this impressive vision the prophet witnessed the power of tho words he W!UI dirocted to utter. A thundering noise and an earthquako followed his prophesying, and to his own amaze- ment he saw bones come together-bone to his bone; he saw tho bonos clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin. This marvellous transformation was still unaccompanied by life. Surely a revelation to us of the great things that may be and aro effected through t~e instrumentality of a personal and spiritual agency, which yet fall Rhort of the highest and most beautiful and blessed of all effects, viz. spiritual vitality itself. Is it not still and ever the case that by human agencies men are taught, admonished, trained to habits of rectitude, encouraged in a. useful life, by n Divine Power indeed-for all good of every grade is from God-but by a.n exercise of power which is yet inferior to the highest of all? IV. THE NEW LIFE WHICH IS, IN CONSONANCE WITH PROPHECY, BREATHED BY THE DIVINE SPmIT. The result of the summons to the breath from the four winds was at nee and most wonderfully a.pparent. The dry bones lived, and stood up upou their feet, &n exceeding great army I It is impossible to believe tha.t the significance of thi5 glorious conclusion to the vision ia exhausted by the restoration of the sons of Israel to their native soil and ancient inheritance. We have the authority of the prophet himaelf for believing that in this event there was a fulfilment of the vision. And it. probably seemed to many observers almost as incredible that the Jews should be brought back from their captivity and should as a nation again live and prosper, o.s 276 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [OIL uxv11. 1-28.