SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the Prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols. Ezekiel xiv. 4. STATELY thy walls, and holy are the prayers, Which day and night before thine altars rise; Not statelier, towering o'er her marble stairs, Flash'd Sion's gilded dome to summer skies, Not holier, while around him angels bow'd, From Aaron's censer steam'd the spicy cloud, Before the mercy-seat. O Mother dear, Wilt thou forgive thy son one boding sigh? Forgive, if round thy towers he walk in fear, And tell thy jewels o'er with jealous eye? Mindful of that sad vision, which in thoughtm From Chebar's plains the captive prophet brought To see lost Sion's shame. 'Twas morning prime, The dazzling lines of her majestic roof Cross'd with as free a span the vault of Heaven, As when twelve tribes knelt silently aloof, Ere God his answer to their king had given”, Ere yet upon the new-built altar fell The glory of the LORD, the Lord of Israel. All seems the same: but enter in and see What idol shapes are on the wall pourtray'd": And watch their shameless and unholy glee, Who worship there in Aaron's robes array'd: Here Judah's maids the dirge to Thammuz pour P, And mark her chiefs yon orient sun adore. m Ezekiel viii. 3. n 1 Kings viii. 5. • Ezekiel viii. 10. Yet turn thee, Son of man-for worse than these Thou must behold: thy loathing were but lost On dead men's crimes, and Jews' idolatries Come learn to tell aright thine own sins' cost,And sure their sin as far from equals thine, As earthly hopes abus'd are less than hopes divine. What if within His world, His church, our LORD If, when the LORD of Glory was in sight, Which dim-eyed men call praise and glory here; If, while around thee gales from Eden breathe, Thou hide thine eyes, to make thy peevish moan Over some broken reed of earth beneath, Some darling of blind fancy dead and gone, As wisely might'st thou in JEHOVAH's fane Turn thee from these, or dare not to enquire Far better we should cross his lightning's path Than be according to our idols heard, And GoD should take us at our own vain word. Thou who hast deign'd the Christian's heart to call Thy Church and Shrine; whene'er our rebel will Would in that chosen home of thine instal Belial or Mammon, grant us not the ill We blindly ask; in very love refuse Whate'er thou know'st our weakness would abuse. Or rather help us, LORD, to choose the good, Else, though in CHRIST'S Own words, we surely pray amiss. EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. Ezekiel xx. 35, 36. IT is so-ope thine eyes, and see What view'st thou all around? A desert, where iniquity And knowledge both abound. In the waste howling wilderness The Church is wandering stilla, Back to the world we faithless turn'd, a Revelations xii. 14. |