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tears for you will then be recompensed. You, on the left hand, shall go away into everlasting punishment. You shall look on that Saviour, whom you now despise, and "wail because of him." When your eye catches your godly friends, how you will weep and wail! You will then remember all their love, and all your madness. Parents, do you love your converted children? Can you bear to be parted eternally? Will you cleave to Naomi, or go back to your people and your gods? How will you bear to see the fruit of your body on the throne with Christ, and yourself a brand in an eternal hell?

St. Peter's, 1840.

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SERMON LXV.

THE VISION OF DRY BONES.

The hand of the Lord was upon me," &c.-Ezek. xxxvii., 1-14. In early life the Prophet Ezekiel had been witness of sieges and battle-fields; he had himself experienced many of the horrors and calamities of war; and this seems to have tinged his natural character in such a way that his prophecies, more than any other, are full of terrific images and visions of dreadful things. In these words we have the description of a vision which, for grandeur and terrible sublimity, is perhaps unequalled in any other part of the Bible.

He describes himself as set down by God in the midst of a valley that was full of bones. It seemed as if he were set down in the midst of some spacious battle-field, where thousands and tens of thousands had been slain, and none left behind to bury them. The eagles had many a time gathered over the carcasses, and none frayed them away; and the wolves of the mountains had eaten the flesh of these mighty men, and drunk the blood of princes. The rains of heaven had bleached them, and the winds that sighed over the open valley had made them bare; and many a summer sun had whitened and dried the bones. And as the prophet went round and round to view the dismal scene, these two thoughts arose in his mind: "Behold, they be very many; and, lo, they are very dry."

If the place had not been an open valley, it might have seemed to his wondering gaze some vast charnel-house, as if the tombs of all the Pharaohs had been laid bare by some shock of nature to the wild winds of heaven; as if the wanton hand of violence had rifled the vast cemeteries of Egypt, and cast forth the mummied bones of other ages to bleach and whiten in the light of heaven.

How expressive are the brief words of the seer: "Behold, they are very many; and, lo, they are very dry!"

No doubt there was an awful silence spread over this scene of desolateness and death; but the voice of his heavenly guide breaks in upon his ear: "Son of man, can these bones live ?"

How strange a question was this to put concerning dry, whitened bones! When Jesus said of the damsel: "She is not dead, but sleepeth," they laughed him to scorn; but here were not bodies newly dead, but bones, bare, whitened bones; nay, they were not even skeletons, for bone was separated from its bone; and yet God asks: "Can these bones live?" Had he asked this question of the world, they would have laughed a louder laugh of scorn; but he asked it of one who, though once dead, had been made alive by God; and he answered: "O Lord God, thou knowest." They cannot live of themselves, for they are dead and dry; but if thou wilt put thy living Spirit into them, they shall live. So, then, thou only knowest.

Receiving this answer of faith from the prophet, God bids him prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them: "O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord." Had the prophet walked by sight, and not by faith, he would have staggered at the promise, through unbelief. Had he been a worshipper of reason, he would have argued: These bones have no ears to hear, why should I preach to them," Hear the word of the Lord?" But no, he believed God rather than himself. He had been taught "the exceeding greatness of his mighty power;" and therefore he obeyed: "So I prophesied as I was commanded."

If the scene which Ezekiel first beheld was dismal and desolate, the scene which now opened on his eyes was more dismal, more awfully revolting still:"And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking; and the bones came together, bone to his bone; and when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them." If it were a hideous sight before, to see the valley full of bones, all cleansed by the rains and winds, and whitened in the summer suns, how much more hideous now, to see these slain, bone joined to his bone, sinews, and flesh, and skin upon them; but no breath in them! Here was a battle-field indeed, with its thousands of unburied dead, masses of unbreathing flesh, cold and immovable, ready only to putrify, every hand stiff and motionless, every bosom without a heave, every eye glazed and lifeless, every tongue cold and silent as the grave.

But the voice of God again breaks the silence: "Prophesy unto the wind (or Spirit), prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit,

Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O Spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live."

Before, Ezekiel had bent over the dead, dry bones, and preached unto them, a vast but lifeless congregation, but now he lifts his head and raises his eye; for his word is to the living Spirit of God. Unbelief might have whispered to him, To whom are you going to prophesy now? Reason might have argued, What sense is there in speaking to the viewless wind, to one whom you see not; for it is written: "The world cannot receive the Spirit of God, because it seeth him not?" But he staggered not at the word through unbelief: "So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."

The first application made of this vision is to the restoration of the Jews. 1. It teaches that at present they are like dry bones in the open valley, scattered over all lands, very many, and very dry, without any life to God. 2. It teaches that the preaching of Jesus, though foolishness to the world, is to be the means of their awakening, and that prayer to the all-quickening Spirit is to be the means of their new life. 3. It teaches that when these means are used with them, God's ancient people shall yet stand up, and be an exceeding great army, shall be as they used to be when they marched through the wilderness, when God went before them in the pillar of cloud; that they shall then be led back to their own land, and planted in their own land, and not plucked up any more. But another, and to us a more important, application of this vision, is to the unconverted souls in the midst of us. Let us go over it

with this view.

I. Unconverted souls are like dry bones-very many, and very dry.

1. They are very many.-When a soul is first brought to Christ, he enjoys a peace in believing which he never knew before; and not only so, but he is quickened from the death of trespasses and sins into a life which he never knew before; he knows the blessedness of living to God. But even with all this joy, there is an awful feeling of loneliness; for when he looks round upon the world, he feels just like Ezekiel, set down in the midst of a valley full of dry bones. He is alive himself, but this world, once all his joy, looks now like some ancient battle-field, where the remains of the dead are all lying exposed on the open field; and he feels a solitary thing in a world of dead. This world appears now like one vast charnel-house, where whole generations of dead meet, and are jumbled together-all alike fit only for the burning; and he feels himself a solitary living thing, moving over heaps of slain. He feels like Elijah on the mount of God, when he complained: "Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars, and I, even I, am left alone." He feels like

our blessed Lord, who was a light shining in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. He feels as if he were a feeble "light in the world, holding forth the word of life”—a lamp suspended in the densest darkness, whose oil is all supplied by grace from on high, and whose rays seem only to make the darkness more visible. He feels like Paul at Athens; for his spirit is moved in him, to see the whole world given over to idolatry. He feels like Paul at Rome, when he complained: "I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state; for all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's." He feels like John, when he said so sweetly, yet so sadly: "We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness." To the eye of Sense, O what a happy living world this is, with its shops and markets; its compliments and companies; its visits of ceremony and visits of kindness; its mirth and its melody! how living and life-like is the whole world, from morning's dawn till midnight. But to the eye of Faith, what a lonely wilderness is this world! for "the whole world lieth in wickedness." Is it not so, believing brethren? Is it not like Egypt in that dreadful night when there was a cry heard from every dwelling; for there was not a house where there was not one dead? Oh! it is more dismal far; for in every house there are many dead souls, and yet there is no cry. Look into your own family; look among the families of your neighbors; look into your native town; are not the many all dead, dead souls? The most are dead, dry bones. Nay, look into the Christian Church; look among our Sabbath keepers, and those who sit down at sacraments; O, brethren! is it not true that, like Sardis, most have a name to live, and are dead? Do not the most of you live lives of pleasure? and is it not written: "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth?" Do not most of you show no love for the brethren? and is it not written: "He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death?" O yes, the most are dry bones! Truly, then, "they are very many."

2. They are very dry.-Dry bones are the furthest of all from the possibility of living. (1.) They are without any flesh or comeliness. (2.) They are without any marrow or spirit. (3.) They are without any activity or power of moving. And, oh! is not this the very picture of poor, unconverted souls-" They are very dry?"

(1.) They are without any comeliness.-They see no beauty in Christ, and Christ sees no beauty in them; their souls are lean and ill-favored. Man was made perfect in beauty at the first; for he was made in the image of Him who is perfect loveliness; but a fallen, unconverted soul has no beauty; it is like a beautiful building scattered in ruins; it is like a beautiful statue all defaced, not one feature remaining; it is like a beautiful body smitten by death, corrupting in the grave.

(2.) They are without any marrow or spirit.-Man was made to

be a habitation of God through the Spirit; and it is only when we are led by the Spirit that we are alive unto God. But the unconverted soul is "sensual, not having the Spirit." The Bible says: "The world cannot receive the Spirit, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him." They have no work of the Spirit in their hearts; no awakening work; no convincing of righteousness; no sanctifying work; no sealing of the soul; no walking in the Spirit; no love in the Spirit; no praying in the Holy

Ghost.

(3.) They have no activity or motion God-ward.-If we preach the Word of the Lord unto them, they have no heart to attend to the things which are spoken; dry bones have no ears. If we tell them of the wrath of God that is coming upon them, they are not moved to flee; dry bones cannot run. If we tell them of the loveliness of the Lord Jesus, how he offers himself to be the complete Saviour, still they are not moved to embrace him; for dry bones cannot stretch out their arms. Ah! these dry bones are very dry.

Brethren, is it not possible to make you anxious about your souls? Can you sit still and hear how dead and dry they are, and yet go away and forget it all? Can you bear to carry about with you a dead stone in your bosom instead of a heart? Can you bear to have such a cold, icy, wicked heart, as sees no desirableness in the lovely Saviour; no beauty in him who is stretching out his hands to you all the day-" the chief among ten thousand," the "altogether lovely?" Oh, brethren! if you will go away unmov ed; and, doubtless, hundreds of you may; what need have we of witnesses? Ye yourselves are the only evidence we need that unconverted souls are " very many, and, lo, they are very dry."

II. The second lesson we learn from this vision is, that preaching is God's instrument for awakening the unconverted.

Every intelligent man among you has been puzzled at one time or another by a seeming contradiction which runs through the whole of the Bible. It is written in one place: "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him;" and yet the whole Bible through bids every one of you come to Jesus. Again it is written: "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them;" and yet what are we continually urging upon you, but to receive the things of the Spirit of God? Again, God opened the heart of Lydia to attend to the things which were spoken of Paul-which makes it plain that no natural heart can attend; and yet we do nothing but press these things on your attention. By nature your hearts are as hard as adamant, and even demonstration will not make you flee from hell; yet, "knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade men." By nature you cannot so much as comprehend the beauty and loveliness of the Lord

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