2. It ia "set upon a very high mountain." The exaltation of the city suggests many advantages, (1) Its glory. It ie exalted in favour-crowning a height. (2) Its strength. Cities were set aloft that nature might fortify them. Jerusalem is a natural fo1tress. The city of God is safe. (3) Its salubrity. High lands are bracing. The Christian life braces the soul in spiritual health. (4) Its nearness to heaven. Nothing over- shadows the exalted city. The people of God are lifted into direct relations with heaven. (5) Its conspicuousness. "A city that is set upon a hill cannot be hid" (Matt. v. 14). The Church is to bear witness to the world. The best gospel is that of lofty ChrieLian living. Ver. 3.-Tiie man witl1 the measuring~eed. We shall lose ourselves in a jungle of fancies if we attempt to see mystical allusions in the various measurements of Ezekiel's prophetic city. What we may call Pythagorean theology, the exegesis that runs riot among the numbers and dates of prophecy, has done much to suggest doubt as to the plain, direct use of the Bible. We have no evidence that the measurements of the exalted city contain any spiritual symbolism. Neither, as Hengstenberg has wisely pointed out, are the proportions of the city so colossal as to suggest an unheard-of splendour of size. The new Jerusalem is much smaller than Babylon; iL would be but an insignificant suburb if it were joined on to our huge London. But mere bigness is no commendation for a city. Athens and Jerusalem were fa.r smaller than Nineveh and Babylon; yet they took a far more important place in the history of man. Why, then, does Ezekiel call attention to the man with the measuring-reed? and why does he give the exact details of the plan of the city and temple? However we may shun mysticism in favour of prosaic literalism, we must not forget that Ezekiel was a prophet, not an architect. Why, then, does he fill his pages with these architectural details? Ezekiel must mean to suggest certain characteristics of the happy future. L REALITY. Ezekiel here comes down to concrete facts. There is nothing that so impresses men with a sense of reality 88 a vivid presentation of details. Much religious teaching is unimpressive becalllle it is too general and abstract. Christ's teaching was very concrete; he dwelt on illlllltrative specimens, rather than on general principles. Therefore" the common people heard him gladly." Reality marked off the teaching of Christ from the dry discussions of rabbinical lore. A significant rebuke of much religious teaching is unconsciously conveyed by the remark of the rustic who, on hear- ing that some one had been to Jerusalem, exclaimed with amazement, "I thought Jerusalem was only a Bible town I " II. DEFINITENESS. The new Jerusalem is to be no city of cloudln.nd, its golden streets and rosy domes passing one into another and melting while we gaze at it. Here we have sharp outlines 88 well as solid substances. Many people sadly need a man with the measuring-reed to define their religious notions. We are suffering from a violent reaction against the old exactness of theological definition, according to which heavenly things were most minutely mapped out without a shadow of doubt. We now greatly lack precision of thought. Men's ideas are generally hazy. They want outline. ill, ORDER. The several parts being measured off will stand in their allotted places. The private house will not trepass on the line of the street, nor will one builder interfere with the foundations of another. There is order in the kingdom of religion. We need it (1) in thought, that our ideas may be rightly arranged; (2) in work, that we may not cla.sh with one another; (3) in the social element of religion, that each may take his place. The Church is not a mob. IV. DIVINE DIRECTION. Ezekiel wrote 88 a prophet, as a messenger of God. Moses was to make the tabernacle after the pattern shown to him in the mount (Exoo. xxv. 40). God cares for the smallest details of his people's life and work. We should seek for his guidance in these matters.
Ver. 6.-11 Tl1e ga.te which looketh toward the ea.st." Let us clearly understand that this is only a prosaic description of part of Jerusalem as the prophet conceives it in bis vision of the city rebuilt. We cannot fairly see in these words any profound mystical allusions. Ilut we may use them as illustrations of other things, as we may take nature in illustration of religion without believing that our parables are founded on fixed, objective, Swedenborgen-like correspondences. Let us, then, follow the fancy 330 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [011. xL.1-49.