3. But fince thou haft incarnate been, 4. And fince, by thee, a countless troop Who once were finners, 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've put thy foul to grief: I am the chief of finners, Lord; 7. My fins have made thy crofs; my guilt 8. But let a foul, redeem'd fo' dear, Wafh me, and fin fhall difappear, 9. In pard'ning one fo vile as me, A monument I too fhall be 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 muft obferve that God ufed fimilitudes, types, and parables when he fpake by the prophets; many inftances of this kind we find in Ezekiel efpecially, to whom, more than to other holy men, God delighted to manifeft his mind in his way, and to fhew vifions. At that time it was more neceffary than now to liken and compare the cafe of the church, and of the kingdom of heaven to temporal things for their fakes who heard the word, because then the vail was upon the true fanctuary, and the doctrine of the fall, and of falvation by our Saviour's death, was not spoken of plainly, as fince the New Teftament has been of force. Thus when the Lord would fhew Jeremiah, that the fame God who made the world would redeem it, he brings him to the houfe of a potter, and lets him fee the potter finish his vessel upon the wheel, which was fpoiled 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 veffel, as it pleased him. Then came the word of God to the prophet, faying, M 3 "Behold, "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hands fo are ye in my hands, faith the Lord." By this means we are taught, that God is the great potter, and we are his clay. When he made man, fin marred the veffel in his hands, but he would not caft us utterly afide, nor withdraw his everlasting arms from underneath us; we were kept still in his hands, fpoiled and ruined as we were, till the Creator bowed the heavens and came down in our likeness, and with his own blood he foftens our hardened and fpoiled 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 pafs away, and time fhall be no longer, every foul fhall know, that God who made all things, and for whofe pleasure they are and were created, is author and Lord of all, and our Saviour. In like manner, when the Lord would fhew Ezekiel the eftate of his church, he brought him in the fpirit, and fet him in a valley full of dry bones, and caufed him to pafs 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 fhewn all this in a vifion, the Lord asked, to try him, "Can these bones live?" and he anfwered, "Lord thou knoweft ;" and the Lord faid to him, "Thefe bones are my people;" they are now in a low and dead eftate, and they have no more hope that I will deliver them, than that the dry bones fhall 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 Ifrael; then fhall ye know that I am the Lord, when I have brought you up out of your graves, O my people, and fhall put my Spirit in you, and ye fhall live. In this vifion three things are typified, First, the deliverance of the captive Ifraelites. Secondly, the falvation falvation from the dead state of nature by Chrift; And, Thirdly, the laft refurrection, which fhall be effected through the fame divine hand of our only "Lord Jefus, who can fubdue all things to himself," and raise up all that innumerable company who have lept in the graves, and who are now returned to duft, and scattered and difperfed far and near.* I fhall not here fpeak of the temporal deliverances of Ifrael, nor of the refurrection, but of our lost and dead condition by nature, and of our falvation, and rifing again to a new life, through the grace and Spirit of our Lord Jefus Chrift. This I will do when I fpeak of the text more immediately, and now will make a few obfervations on the vifion. I look upon it as one of the livelieft fimilitudes in the feriptures, and from whence a minifter and fervant of Jefus may learn many excellent leffons, and indeed all others alfo who would be wife to falvation. By the valley we may understand this lower world, and by the bones all the whole race of mankind; for fuch is our ftate fince 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 asunlikely to live, foare we, and fhall never be otherwife but by an immediate work of Almighty God. Thus has the Holy One compared our ftate, and thus we are in his eyes, therefore he brings his fervant to fee a valley full of bones, and bids him walk round about, and go through, and obferve them narrowly, and he fays, "behold they were very dry." When a true fervant and minifter of the gospel would defcribe the condition of loft mankind, he muft fo describe it, as dead and helpless, even as dry bones; and neither can he compare unregenerate inen to any thing better, nor the focieties of chriftians with all their best forms and orders, who enjoy not Chrift in them; they, like all others, are dead, and like the houfe of Ifrael in Ezekiel's time. When God asked Ezekiel if he thought the bones could live he answered modeftly, Lord, thou knoweft; as if he would have faid, to all outward appearance, and according to all human thoughts, they cannot live, but thou knoweft, thou art God, and can't do what thou wilt in heaven and earth, to thee all things are poffible. Should a minifter, or any awakened foul, take a view of our natural state, make a narrow fearch into the depth of our misery and finfulness; or be led by the Holy Ghost to see how far we are gone from God, and how funk into the arms of fatan, he would fcarce make any other anfwer than this, Except Almighty God be their Saviour, except the Creator and Lord of all be their Saviour, they cannot be faved, they must die for ever. The feripture obferves of the bones, that they were very dry, to fignify the very barren and lifelefs nature we are poffeffed of, and yet directs Ezekiel to prophecy or preach to them. Had he meafured the word of God by the rules of human wifdom, or refolved, as too many minifters do, to believe and teach nothing but what they can compre. hend, nor do any thing without being able to account for their manner of acting, reasonably, then he must have replied, Lord, to what purpose fhall 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 minifters only does our Saviour ufe. For of what fervice is the vessel that is not paffive? Or to what purpose are minifters fent to preach the word of God, who are determined to be led by their carnal reafon, the philofophy of the fchools, and the wifdom of men, fince all the doctrines of Chrift are against such, and teach us, that it was by fuch wisdom the world knew |