This must be done rather through the press than through the pulpit. We must spread our tracts before them; we must demand the refutation or the adoption of our views of the sense of the prophets; we must summon them to the field of argument, and say in the words of the Most High to Job, "gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me." Immense obstacles created by pride and prejudice may indeed stand in the way, but if there be truth in the oracles of God, the inveteracy of Jewish unbelief is yet destined to succumb to the force of evidence. Let but our own conviction of the high destiny that awaits them herald theirs, and the work is virtually accomplished. Let there be the voice,' and there will soon follow the shaking,' and the shaking' will be the sure precursor of the resuscitation.

VERSE VIII.

: T:

ENG. VERS.

And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them,

but there was no breath in them.

HEB.

and the skin covered them above עָלָה וַיִּקְרָם וּבָשָׂר עֲלֵיהֶם עור

8. 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. Heb. . Gr. arεiua. The process of reviviscence is as yet but partially completed. The bones have been built into skeletons, the skeletons clothed with sinews and flesh, and the flesh enveloped in skin. But still they are mere bodies, and not men. No pulsations of life throb beneath their "ribs of death." No motive power resides in their inert limbs. An immense multitude of exanimate corses, they lie prostrate on the ground, awaiting the quickening fiat which can alone infuse into them the vital breath, and thus complete the new creation.

The symbolical purport of all this, in its application to the Jews, we think it not very difficult to determine. It seems distinctly to convey the intimation, that a day of small things is to mark the commencement of Israel's restoration, whether considered in its literal or spiritual bearing; for, as we have already remarked, we cannot but conclude that both aspects of the event are contemplated in the present prophecy. Taken in the former sense, the imagery represents a very feeble and gradual beginning of a course of events, which is to issue in the most stupendous results. The dispersed and downcast remnant shall, one after another, turn their faces to Zion, and in sparse and scattered bands find their way to the land of their fathers. Thus shall "bone come to his bone;" one Jew shall meet another, entering from different quarters of the globe upon the predestined soil of Palestine. Urged by different motives, the natives of Poland, Germany, Holland, Spain, Africa, and the East shall drop in, in scattered groups, to the cities of Judah, with the hope of depositing their bones in the tombs of their patriarch fathers.

But in all this there is as yet no striking symptom of spiritual life. Here and there converted Jews may be found of the number of immigrants, attracted perhaps by the establishment of a Judeo-christian worship at Jerusalem, of which a beginning has already been made under the auspices of a dignitary of the English Church. Still they will be but" a feeble folk," and the mass of them being actuated by worldly, rather than by religious promptings, will but verify the mystic portraiture of the vision in presenting to the Christian eye the spectacle of a gathered multitude of human statues formed of flesh and blood, but devoid of animating breath. Indeed, it may safely be affirmed that this has hitherto been but too faithful an image of Jewish conversions. Even where there has been adequate ground for thinking charitably of the work of grace in their hearts, still the predominant character of Jewish piety has been timid, wavering, and weak. It has not been a piety of life and power. No specimen of the glowing ardor of a Paul has yet been witnessed. The converted Jew has seldom evinced a complete disenthralment from the yoke of Rabbinical bondage, even when baptized into the liberty of Christ. He has almost never appeared walking with erect front and firm tread upon the platform of Christianity. Reared under the unfriendly influences of the synagogue, he seems not to be at home in the precincts of the church. He is but slowly naturalized to his new citizenship, and though disposed to walk and to work under the guidance of Christian teachers, yet there is apparently but little that is spontaneous and independent in the goings forth of his better impulses. We do not say this by way of disparagement, nor in ignorance of the many causes which would naturally operate to prevent the converted Jew from rising to the loftiest form of Christian character. But we are safe in affirming the fact, and safe also,

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we conceive, in the position, that a far higher order of piety is yet to be attained and exhibited by the believing sons of Abraham. They are yet to come under a dispensation of the Spirit, which shall be one of power on a large and magnificent scale. An energy and intensity of life shall be hereafter breathed into their religious character, which shall render them the brightest lights of Christendom, and realize in their full extent the words of the prophet, Zech. 12. 8, " And he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God." The quickening breath of the Holy Spirit is alone adequate to remove that moral asphyxia under which they labor. This will be the result of the crowning influence of the life-giving spirit here announced. All that has hitherto been done for them falls short of the effect that is yet to be produced when the dead bodies shall be endowed with the vital principle.

VERSE IX.

ENG. VERS.

Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of

saith the Lord GoD; Come from O

HEB.

IT:

man, and say to the wind, Thus הִנָּבֵא בֶן־אָדָם וְאָמַרְתָּ אֶל־הָרוּחַ the four winds, o breath, and כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יְהוָה מֵאַרְבַּע breathe upon these slain, that they רוחות באִי הָרוּחַ וּפְחִי בַּהֲרוּגִים

may live.

GR. OF LXX.

,

Καὶ εἶπε πρὸς μὲ, Προφήτευσον ἐπὶ τὸ πνεῦμα, προφήτευσον υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, καὶ εἰπὸν τῷ πνεύματι, Τάδε λέγει Κύριος, Εκ τῶν τεσσáçov пvevμáτov 29è, nai eu φύσησον εἰς τοὺς νεκροὺς τούτους, καὶ ζήσατωσαν.

TARG. OF JONATHAN.

And he said unto me, Prophesy to the spirit (or wind), prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit (or wind), thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four spirits (or winds), and unto these slain, that they may live.

אֵל הָרוּחַ

ENG. VERS.

And he said unto me, Prophesy upon (or concerning) the spirit (or wind), prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit (or wind), Thus saith the Lord, Come from the four spirits (or winds), and blow upon these dead, and let them live.

VULG. VERS.

Et dixit ad me, Vaticinare ad spiritum, vaticinare, fili hominis, et dices ad spiritum, Hæc dicit Dominus Deus, a quatuor ventis veni spiritus, et insuffla super interfectos istos, ut reviviscant.

COMMENTARY.

9. Then he said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind. Heb. It has been previously observed that the Heb. term is variously rendered wind, breath, or spirit, in different connexions. It is here the same word which is rendered in the context

T

by spirit, and it would perhaps be putting the English reader on the best ground for judging the true sense of the original to adhere uniformly to that rendering. Whether it is to be understood of the atmospherical element which we breathe, of the vital principle of the human body, of the intelligent and sentient spirit of man, or of the Holy Spirit of God, can only be determined by the connexion. How it is to be interpreted in the present passage will soon appear. We have already remarked that the phrase "prophesy upon the dry bones" properly imports, in this connexion, " prophesy respecting the dry bones ;" and a similar import is doubtless to be recognized here also, which is distinctly warranted by the Greek, ngogýzevovv šnì rò пvɛúμa, prophesy upon or concerning the Spirit. The Syriac and Arabic give the same rendering. The most ample authority for this sense of the Hebrew particle may easily be adduced. Thus, Ezek. 13. 16, "The prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem (3), and which see visions of peace," &c. 1 Sam. 1. 27, "For this child (in men by) I prayed," &c., i. e. concerning or with reference to this child. 2 Kings 19. 32, "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria (2), he shall not come," &c. Is. 19. 11, "How say ye unto Pharaoh (3), I am the son of the wise," &c., i. e. concerning Pharaoh. Examples of this usage might be indefinitely multiplied. The case is too clear to admit of doubt, that the Spirit here spoken of is to be understood of the Holy Spirit. Consequently the prophet's being commanded to "prophesy concerning the Spirit," implies his explaining those prophecies which relate to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of God, "in "connexion with the event here shadowed forth. At the same time, the tenor of the ensuing part of the verse makes it evident that the prophesying was in some way to be conducted in the form of an invocation to that same Spirit whose influences are to be employed in effecting the work. The grand duty enjoined in the words is undoubtedly that of prayer; but it is prayer of a somewhat peculiar character-which consists in an earnest pleading of those prophetic promises that assure the literal and spiritual restoration of Israel. One who prays for this object in the full faith of those predictions which announce it, may be said to prophesy both to and concerning the Spirit which is to be poured out from on high to give life to the dead.

Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. The view which we have above suggested of the import of this language presents a very interesting and momentous aspect of the whole subject. Considering Ezekiel as sustaining in this mystic

transaction a symbolical character, and representing the persons of those who, in subsequent ages, should be the accredited organs for giving utterance to the voice of the church, we are obviously taught that the mere argumentative development of the prophetic Scriptures announcing the future destinies of the Jews, is not sufficient to produce the "consummation so devoutly to be wished." However well adapted in themselves to arrest attention, and to awaken inquiry in the Jewish mind, the most luminous expositions of holy writ fall short of imparting spiritual life to the nation. They may sow the seeds of a national movement-they may, according to the burden of the vision, cause a shaking among the dry bones-but an inwrought energy from the Holy One of Israel is indispensable to that moral quickening of the inanimate mass which is requisite to their complete vivification. This influence is to be secured by prayer-prayer founded upon the express promises of Jehovah to this effect-in a word, prophetic prayer-and this, too, throughout the bounds of the Christian world. The reviving spirit is to come from "the four winds of heaven," or from the four quarters of the earth, in answer to the prayers which shall be preferred by the faithful from all the various regions of their habitation. Every department of Zion is to be enlisted in this work of supplication, and to contribute its respective quota of hallowed agency in drawing down the influences of the Spirit upon the morally defunct multitudes of the house of Israel. As scattered portions of this people are to be found in every region of the globe where Christianity is established, so from the Christians of every region are those prophetic intercessions to ascend to the ears of the Lord God of Sabbaoth; and the fact that the objects of their petitions are before their eyes in all the eloquent and affecting necessities of their condition will, no doubt, go to add an increased fervency and intensity to their suit.

We know of nothing, then, that ought to operate with more imperative conviction upon the minds of Christians than the fact conveyed by this mystic scenery, that the regeneration of the Jews is to be effected mainly by the instrumentality of expounded prophecy and fervent prayer. These are the two great means on which we are to rely for the promised result. Without derogating in the least from the ordinance of preaching, in its common acceptation, as a means of evangelization, we may still maintain, that the case of the Jews is so peculiar-the Gospel encounters in them an attitude of mind so unique and distinguishing-that we cannot anticipate those legitimate effects from that source for which we are authorized to look in the case of other people-a remark which holds true, to a certain extent, of the Mohammedans also. In regard to both there is a prior admission, through a perverse inter