ye shall pine away for your iniquities and mourn one toward another." Ezekiel xxxiii. 10, 11. "Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, thus speak ye, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; . . . . . turn ye, turn ye from your evils ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Here we perceive, that they were not to die a moral death, for they were already morally dead. And this moral death was the very cause that should produce national death.

....

These are a few of the many scriptures we might bring forward to prove, that the house of Israel pined away in their iniquities, and died as a nation in the land of their enemies; but these few abundantly establish the fact, that the captivity of the Jews among the heathen on account of their transgressions was considered a national death. They died to all their religious privileges, lost their national existence, and pined away in their iniquities in the land of their enemies.

It now remains that we show, that their return to their land at the end of their captivity, when they rebuilt the temple under Cyrus, is represented by a resurrection to national life. Ezekiel xxxvii. 3- 14. "And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered,

O Lord God, thou knowest. 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, 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. 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. Then said he 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. 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 own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord."

Thus we see, it is most plainly revealed, that when the house of Israel sinned, and became careless and insensible respecting the favors of God and the threatenings of his word, they were suddenly roused from their dreadful slumberings by the approach of the king of Babylon, who burnt their temple, led them into captivity beyond Babylon, and held them in bondage seventy years. There they pined away in their iniquities, and became as a valley of dry bones. They were dead to all their privileges and enjoyments as a nation. Their government was demolished, and their national existence was no more. They were not only dead in this sense, but in their graves, and buried. They hung their harps in mournful silence upon the willows, along the cold streams of Babylon, and exclaimed, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land!" But their bones were gathered, flesh came up upon them, their graves were opened, the earth gave up

its dead, and they were brought into the land of their fathers, their temple was rebuilt by order of Cyrus, their theocratical government was established, and they lived once more as a nation before God.

SERMON XXVIII.

THE SECOND DEATH ILLUSTRATED.

[Concluded.]

WE are now to prove, that the events recorded in our text took place at the destruction of their second temple, when their government was again demolished, and they as a nation were destroyed and dead before God.

In order to bring this part of our subject plainly before you, we shall have to make a pretty extensive appeal to the Scriptures; and I harbour but little doubt, that I shall abundantly satisfy my hearers of the correctness of my views on the second death.

The Jews, though subject to the Romans, were nevertheless permitted to enjoy their own theocratical government, and all their modes of worship in the temple. John xviii. 31. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. John xix. 7. "The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God." From these scriptures it it is evident, that the Jews had a government distinct from the Romans. But they had killed the true prophets, made void the law of God through