bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies? Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly. Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. **Because with lies

22 We may well understand how flagrant a sin it is, wilfully to lead the souls of others astray from religion. What an aggravation of guilt it is, wilfully to involve others in our own sin, by deceit and vanity.

ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life: therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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The seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.

MORNING.

EZEKIEL Xiv.

1 THEN came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me. And the word saying, 'Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them? Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through 6 Welcome sound! Repent and be their idols. Therefore say saved! O my soul, rejoice therein, unto the house of Israel, Thus and be glad.

1 The prophet was at this time a captive in Babylon.

of the LORD came unto me, 3 When I pray to God with my lips, let me have no idol in my heartambition, pleasure, power-lest my service be that of the hypocrite, an awful mockery of God!

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saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

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For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: and I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punish

8 Who shall contend against God! Indeed, we cannot hope to prosper, if the Lord set his face against us. "Who then art thou, that strivest against God?"

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And

God complied with the wish of their heart, for their punishment.

phets, who declared the truth boldly: 10 They hated God's faithful proand in their hearts longed after false prophets, who should prophesy deceits. Their wish was granted. They

had their false prophets-but the end thereof was death.

ment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD. The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously. then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Gov. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GoD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: though Noah, Daniel, and

Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GoD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. 21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be brought forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. "And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.

21 In public calamities, the righteous share in common the temporal misery. Yet their souls are in peace -safe under the shelter of His wing, whose kingdom ruleth over all.

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23 If God see fit to bring any heavy visitation upon me, O may I have faith to know that He hath not done it without cause. "He chasteneth, because He loveth me." "Return, then, O my soul! unto thy rest!" At the last thou shalt be comforted.

EVENING. EZEKIEL Xviii.

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THE word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, 'What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and edge? As I live, saith the Lord God, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, and 7 How closely is duty to our neigh

2 The fathers have sinned, but the children have suffered according to the strict letter of the law, that God would "visit the sins of the fathers upon the children."

the children's teeth are set on

God clears up this. It is in the nature of things that bad fathers lead children to bad courses, and by their misconduct bring misery upon their families.

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4 But if a bad father have a good son, or a bad son have a good father, the good father and the good son shall be accepted; the bad father and the bad son rejected: because, henceforth, each individual is to be judged according to his own indi

vidual state.

bour connected with duty to our God and what care the Almighty evinces for the poor and needy in their distress.

hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hatn given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; he that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD. If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of blood, and that doeth the like to any one of these things, and that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour's wife, hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination, hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father's sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, that hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by violence, but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment, that hath taken off his hand from the poor, that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father, he shall surely live. As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by violence, and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall die in his iniquity. Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

20 The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the ini

20 Art thou a good father, but hast a bad son? Persevere! Thou hast saved thine own soul. Art thou a bad father, but hast a good son? consider seriously, that no reflected virtue benefits thee, though thy bad

example may ruin thyself and others.

quity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be

upon him. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him; in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 25 Yet ye say, The way of the LORD is not equal.

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25 How gracious an appeal to our reason as well as to our faith!

Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the LORD is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. "Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GoD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

27 Therefore it is not every being who may have sinned that is rejected of God-for then all would be rejected, since all have come short of the glory of God. The finally rejected are they who do not turn from evil. O reader, thy soul pleadeth for itself with thee against thy worldly strivings! O continue not in sin! cast it from thee !

31 Why will ye die ?-What an awful thought! God's hand is stretched out to save, even unto life eternal; yet the impenitent will DIE.