THE

PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES.

EZEK. Xxxvii. 4.

O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

ALL our ideas of spiritual objects are comparative, taken from matter, and carried up to spirit. In our present state we have no knowledge but what is first sensible, but what comes into the mind from some of the senses, and is borrowed from objects upon which they can make their observation. This is at present a received truth among the learned. Happy for us, that it is received, because scripture knowledge is conveyed in this manner. God accomodates his instruction to our capacities: he makes use of outward and sensible objects to explain inward and spiritual: he applies the book of nature to illustrate the book of grace, thus bringing heavenly things down to the level of our understandings, and setting them (as it were) before our eyes by their natural pictures and just similitudes.

The very language of the Old Testament is of this nature. Every word stands for some sensible object, and from thence raises the idea of some correspondent spiritual object. Since this is the genius of the Hebrew tongue, it is not to be wondered, that it should so much abound with what some call figures and metaphors; these are not the ornaments of language or beauties of diction, as it hath been supposed, but they

are of the essence of the sacred tongue: neither is this method of using natural objects to give us ideas of spiritual the oriental way of writing, as we have been told, as if it delighted in bold figures and lofty metaphors; but it is the method of instruction, which man's present state renders necessary. While we are here in the body, we have no means of discovering spiritual objects but by divine teaching. God informs us, that such an object in the natural world stands for, and is the perfect representation of such an object in the spiritual world; and this kind of information he has given us in every Hebrew word: like a parable, it teaches and illustrates heavenly things under the expressive figures of earthly. And while men were accustomed to this method of instruction by the very nature of their language, one might expect it would run also into their compositions; which we find from fact that it has. The Old Testament, the prophetical writings especially, abound with natural images; and the great Prophet of the New Testament made such use of them, that without a parable spake he not unto the people. Wherever he was, the objects before him gave him an opportunity to spiritualize them-And this application of material things to illustrate spiritual, is what the scripture calls a parable. Of this kind are the words of the text. They are a parable in which the all-wise Spirit teaches us the things of God, by comparing them to material and outward objects. The lesson he would teach us is of eternal moment; and may the Lord God take the veil off all your hearts while I am explaining this part of the Old Testament. May he give you to understand it, and to profit from it, and to experience the truth of the whole parable in your own souls.

The prophet gives us the literal sense in these words. "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me "out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the "midst of the valley, which was full of bones. And "caused me to pass by them round about, and behold "there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they

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"were very dry. And he said unto me, son of man, "Can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord "God thou knowest. And again he said unto me, "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. So I prophesied, as I was "commanded, 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. "Then said he unto me, prophesy unto the wind, pro"phesy, 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. "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."

Now what instruction are we to receive from this scripture. It was certainly applicable to the state of the Jewish church, which was then deprived of all its ordinances. It was carried away captive into Babylon, where it had neither a temple nor the presence of God, neither an officiating priest, nor a sacrifice, and was as void of spiritual life as these dry bones were of animal life-To the church in this state the application is made-God himself makes this use of it. "Then he "said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole "house of Israel: behold they say, Our bones are "dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts; therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus "saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel,

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"and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have"opened your graves, O my people, and brought you' up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your 66 own land, then ye shall know that I the Lord have "spoken it and performed it, saith the Lord."

In this sense the scripture was then fulfilled, when God did bring the Jews from their graves: he placed them in their own land, and restored the life of their civil and ecclesiastical policy. He performed what he had spoken, and they knew that he was the Lord their God. But is this the full sense and meaning of the parable? Are we to understand nothing more by it, than this outward completion? Are we to rest here? By no means. It is of more general use and instruc tion. We may all receive profit from it, as I hope the following reasons will convince you. And,

First, We are assured by the apostle, that "no "scripture is of private interpretation." It was all written for the general use of the church of Christ, in all times and circumstances, therefore we may not yet rest in the private interpretation of this parable, applicable to the Jewish church in the Babylonish bondage, but we must look out for a more extensive sense, applicable to the catholic church of Christ: For,

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Secondly, We otherwise get no farther than the literal sense. It was a matter of fact, that God did bring the Jews after 70 years bondage up again to their own land. This is the letter of the parable. But the apostle forbids us to rest here. We must seek for the spiritual sense; "Because the letter," he says, "kill"eth, but the spirit giveth life." And that we may and must attain the spiritual, which is the life-giving sense, he expressly teaches us, when he declares

Thirdly, That God's outward dealings with the Jewish church were a type and figure of his spiritual dealings with the Christian church. For thus he says, 1 Cor. x. 11. "That all these things happened unto "them for examples, and they are written for our ad

"monition." Among the rest, what happened to them in the Babylonish captivity was for an example to us, and this parable treating of their state under it, and of their deliverance from it, was written for our admonition, and is to have its completion in us spiritually, as it had in them bodily.

These arguments may suffice to prove, that this parable cannot be of a private interpretation. It has a spiritual as well as a literal sense, which belongs to us, which is to set before us an example, that we are to follow, and from which we are to receive admonition and instruction to our souls. And it sets before our eyes some of the great truths of the gospel in a most striking light. We have here an affecting representation of our lost and dead state, while we are in the bondage of sin, and of our happy revival to newness of life, when we are born again of the Spirit of God. These are the great out-lines of the parable, which may the divine grace deeply impress upon all your hearts, while I am giving you a short paraphrase upon the words, and then applying them as God shall enable me to each of your consciences.

The prophet begins with informing us, that it was the eternal Spirit who shewed him this vision. "The ❝ hand of the Lord (the power of Jehovah) was upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the Lord, and "set me down in the midst of the valley, which was "full of bones," even in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death, where I saw sin and corruption reigning, and where I beheld the souls of men as dead in trespasses and sins, as dead to God and to the things of spiritual and divine life, as dry and dead bones are to the offices of animal life. When the scripture speaks thus of the death of the soul, the idea is evidently taken from the death of the body: for as the body, when it dies, ceases to be actuated by the natural agents which carry on animal life; so the soul, when it dies, ceases to be actuated by the divine agents, which carry on spiritual life. But this spiritual death does not imply any