3. But since thou hast incarnate been, 4. And since, by thee, a countless troop Who once were sinners, I have hope, 5. In heav'n above, in earth beneath, There's none deserves the second death 6. I know, in thought, in deed, and word, I am the chief of sinners, Lord; I am of sinners chief! 7. My sins have made thy cross; my guilt 8. But let a soul, redeem'd so dear, 9. In pard'ning one so vile as me, DISCOURSE DISCOURSE XXXIV. THE VISION OF DRY BONES. EZEK. xxxvii. 14. I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live. WHOEVER reads the Bible must observe that God used similitudes, types, and parables when he spake by the prophets; many instances of this kind we find in Ezekiel especially, to whom, more than to other holy men, God delighted to manifest his mind in his way, and to shew visions. At that time it was more necessary than now to liken and compare the case of the church, and of the kingdom of heaven to temporal things for their sakes who heard the word, because then the veil was upon the true sanctuary, and the doctrine of the fall, and of salvation by our Saviour's death, was not spoken of plainly, as since the New Testament has been of force. Thus when the Lord would shew Jeremiah, that the same God who made the world would redeem it, he brings him to the house of a potter, and lets him see the potter finish his vessel upon the wheel, which was spoiled in his hands; and then he did not in his anger throw it away, and take a fresh piece of clay, but new moulded that which was marred, and made of it a good vessel, as it pleased him. Then came the word of God to the prophet, saying, "Behold, "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hands so are ye in my hands, saith the Lord." By this means we are taught, that God is the great potter, and we are his clay. When he made man, sin marred the vessel in his hands, but he would not cast us utterly aside, nor withdraw his everlasting arms from underneath us; we were kept still in his hands, spoiled and ruined as we were, till the Creator bowed the heavens and came down in our likeness, and with his own blood he softens our hardened and spoiled nature, and begins in the new-birth a new creation, and this he carries on till all things are made new; and in that day when all old things pass away, and time shall be no longer, every soul shall know, that God who made all things, and for whose pleasure they are and were created, is author and Lord of all, and our Saviour. In like manner, when the Lord would shew Ezekiel the estate of his church, he brought him in the spirit, and set him in a valley full of dry bones, and caused him to pass by them, and go round about and view them, and lo!" they were very many and very dry." When the man of God had been shewn all this in a vision, the Lord asked, to try him, "Can these bones live?" and he answered, "Lord thou knowest;" and the Lord said to him, "These bones are my people;" they are now in a low and dead estate, and they have no more hope that I will deliver them, than that the dry bones shall live, but I have spoken it, and I will perform it; I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of them, and I will bring you into the land of Israel; then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when I have brought you up out of your graves, O my people, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live. In this vision three things are typified, First, the deliverance of the captive Israelites. Secondly, the salvation salvation from the dead state of nature by Christ; And, Thirdly, the last resurrection, which shall be effected through the same divine hand of our only "Lord Jesus, who can subdue all things to himself," and raise up all that innumerable company who have slept in the graves, and who are now returned to dust, and scattered and dispersed far and near. I shall not here speak of the temporal deliverances of Israel, nor of the resurrection, but of our lost and dead condition by nature, and of our salvation, and rising again to a new life, through the grace and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. This I will do when I speak of the text more immediately, and now will make a few observations on the vision. I look upon it as one of the liveliest similitudes in the scriptures, and from whence a minister and servant of Jesus may learn many excellent lessons, and indeed all others also who would be wise to salvation. By the valley we may understand this lower world, and by the bones all the whole race of mankind; for such is our state since the fall; and dry bones can as soon understand the things of God as we by nature; and as dead and dry as the bones, and as unlikely to live, so are we, and shall never be otherwise but by an immediate work of Almighty God. Thus has the Holy One compared our state, and thus we are in his eyes, therefore he brings his servant to see a valley full of bones, and bids him walkround about, and go through, and observe them narrowly, and he says, "behold they were very dry.” When a true servant and minister of the gospel would describe the condition of lost mankind, he must so describe it, as dead and helpless, even as dry bones; and neither can he compare unregenerate men to any thing better, nor the societies of Christians with all their best forms and orders, who enjoy not not Christ in them; they, like all others, are dead, and like the house of Israel in Ezekiel's time. When God asked Ezekiel if he thought the bones could live; he answered modestly, Lord, thou knowest; as if he would have said, to all outward appearance, and according to all human thoughts, they cannot live, but thou knowest, thou art God, and canst do what thou wilt in heaven and earth, to thee all things are possible. Should a minister or any awakened soul, take a view of our natural state, make a narrow search into the depth of our misery and sinfulness; or be led by the Holy Ghost to see how far we are gone from God, and how sunk into the arms of Satan, he would scarce make any other answer than this, Except Almighty God be their Saviour, except the Creator and Lord of all be their Saviour, they cannot be saved, they must die for ever. The scripture observes of the bones, that they were very dry, to signify the very barren and lifeless nature we are possessed of, and yet directs Ezekiel to prophecy or preach to them. Had he measured the words of God by the rules of human wisdom, or resolved, as too many ministers do, to believe and teach nothing but what they can comprehend, nor do any thing without being able to account for their manner of acting reasonably, then he must have replied, Lord, to what purpose shall I preach to dead men and dry bones? But he did not do so, he behaved as an obedient child, and did as his heavenly Father bid him. Such ministers only does our Saviour use. For of what service is the vessel that is not passive? Or to what purpose are ministers sent to preach the word of God, who are determined to be led by their carnal reason, the philosophy of the schools, and the wisdom of men, since all the doctrines of Christ are against such, and teach us, that it was by such wisdom the world VOL. II. knew |