Vers. 13-21.-Purijication and preparation. Almost all the regulations pertaining to the sacrifices under the old economy bore upon the supreme question of sanctity. God would impress upon his people, by every means and in every way, that the Holy One of Israel must be approached by those only who were pure and holy; that if they would "ascend unto the hill of the Lord" they must come "with clean hands and a pure heart." Hence everything and every one bad to be carefully purified or consecrated in preparation for the solemn service. In these verses we have the same idea once more affirmed in the prophet's vision. The priests who officiated were to be duly consecrated (ver. 26); the animals slain were to be very carefully selected, only those without blemish being allowed (vers. 22, 23, 25). And even the altar itself which mio-ht have been thought to be incapable of any impurity, had to be form~lly purgedband cleansed (ver. 20). Sin offerings and burnt offerings were to be presented, not forgetting the salt (ver. 25), that the altar might be perfectly prepared for use, and that the worshippers who approached it might find acceptance with the Lord (ver. 27). Such preparation by sacrifice is unknown to the Church of Christ, the old ritual having happily become obsolete. But the essential idea of it remains and will never disappear. Before we draw near to God in public worship it becomes us to make preparation answering to the purification of the older time. There is- I. 'l'HE PREPARATION OF THE BODY. Our Lord said there was a certain" kind" of evil which could only be expelled after prayer and fasting (Mntt. xvii. 21). We must recognize the fact that one bodily condition is much more favourable to pure and sustained devotion than another; e.g. a wakeful rather than a somnolent one; a. wisely and moderately nourished state in preference to one incapacitated by indulgence on the one hand or by prolonged abstinence on the other. Not in weariness and exhaustion, nor yet in a disabling and unfitting fulness, should we bring our offering of prayer or praise, of exhortation or docility, unto the house of the Lord. II. THE PREPARATION OF THE MIND. They who have undertaken the sacred task of speaking for God should surely prepare for this high and exalted work. If we carefully prepare to speak in our own name, how much more should we do so when we speak in his I Should we not ga.ther all the knowledge we can anywise obtain, think our subject through to the best of our ability, search the Scriptures to sustain the truth we a.re to utter by the Word of God, lay all our mental acquisitions and informa- tion under contribution to give clearness and cogency to our argument or appeal, order and arrange our thoughts that we may present them as freely and as forcibly as we can? III. THE PREPARATION OF THE HEART. This preparation, more than that of the body or the mind, answers to the purification described in the text. Our hearts need to be "cleansed and purged" (ver. 20). It has to be cleansed from : 1. All self-seeking; so that we aim, not at our own honour or advancement, but at the glory or Christ and the good of men. 2. All worldliness and vanity ; so that when we bow in prayer or assume the attitude of attentiveness we are not lost in the remembrance or the anticipa.tion of bargains in the market or of pleasures in society. 3. The search for enjoyment rather thau the seeking arter God ; the temptation to come to tbe house of the Lord to partake of that which is sweet unto our taste rather than thnt which is stre_ngth~ning to. our character and nourishing to our soul. Such preparation or punficat1on as this must be wrought in the secret chamber of devotion, when we are alone with God, in solemn contemplation and in earnest and believing prayer.-O.
EXPOSITION. (oh. xliv.-xlvi.), to set forth the cultua, CHAPTER XLIV. or ritual, to be performed in the temple; The prophet, having finished hie ac- treating first of the several classes in the count of the temple, or place of worship, new community, and of their relation to proceedB, in the second section of hie vision the sanctuary (eh. xliv.); next of the regu- EZEKIEL-II. 20 386 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [ox. XLIV.1-31.