Lesson VI. the month. He mentions also the to Thy marvellous works, and give place, adding, As I was among the glory to Thy name, O LORD. Free. captives by the river of Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. He makes known also the time, adding: On the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity. And also, that he may clearly indicate the person, he makes known his birth, when he proceeds: The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi. BUT the first question which arises for us is: Why does he who as yet had said nothing, begin thus, saying, And it came to pass in the thirtieth year? For the word And expresses a connection; and we know that there can be no connection except between a word that precedes and another that follows. Why then does he, who had said nothing, say, And it came to pass? since there is no preceding word to which he joins this, which stands first. We answer, that by this we are to perceive that, as we behold bodily objects, so in like manner the Prophets by an inner sense behold spiritual things; and to them those things are present which, to our ignorance, seem to be absent. Whence it comes to pass that in the mind of the Prophets, inward things are so united with outward, that they behold both at once, and that in them the word which they hear inwardly is combined with that which they speak outwardly. THE reason then is clear why he to And the use of reason, learned speech is not found except in mature age. Whence also the LORD Himself in the twelfth year of His age willed to be found sitting in the temple in the midst of the doctors, not teaching, but asking questions. Ry. We looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble: we acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness: forget us not for ever. y. We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness, O LORD, in all Thy righteousness. Forget. Glory. Forget. Rz. vii. Blessed are the people whom the LORD of hosts hath blessed, saying, Thou art the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance. Y. Blessed are the people, whose GOD is the LORD JEHOVAH, and blessed are the folk that He hath chosen to Him to be His inheritance. Whom. Ry. viii. Two Seraphim. p. xxviii. On Wednesday are said the RyRy set down for that day; but on Saturday the 1st Ry. is, Blessed are, as above, with the 2nd and 3rd of Monday. MONDAY. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. AND he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have trangressed against me, even unto this very day. For they are impudent children and stiffhearted. I'do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD GOD. And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Ry. He hath redeemed His people, and ransomed them: and they shall come and sing in the heights of Sion, and they shall flow together for the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. . And their soul shall be as a watered garden. And they. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. Lesson I. Chap. iii. MOREOVER he said unto me, Son eat this roll, and go speak unto the of man, eat that thou findest ; house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of thy bowels with this roll that I give man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. Ry. At Thy presence, O LORD, and by Thy fierce anger, the whole land is desolate:* yet have mercy, O LORD, and make not a full end. V. O LORD our Governor, how excellent is Thy name! Yet. Lesson II. FOR thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. Ry. Gird about this city, O LORD; and let Thine angels defend its walls: *hear Thy people, O LORD, in Thy mercy. Let Thy fury, O LORD, be turned away from Thy people, and from Thy holy city. Hear. Lesson III. MOREOVER he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the LORD GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. Ry. On a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, have mercy, * O LORD GOD. . Repent of this evil against Thy people. O LORD. Glory. O LORD. WEDNESDAY. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. Lesson I. Chap. vii. MOREOVER the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the LORD GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land. Now is the end come upon thee, and I will send mine anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ry. He hath shewn thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee: * but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy GOD? . Put thou thy trust in the LORD, and be doing good: dwell in the land. To do. Lesson II. THUS saith the LORD GOD; An An end is come, the end is come: it evil, an only evil, behold, is come. watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and acI will judge thee according to thy complish mine anger upon thee: and ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee abominations that are in the midst of according to thy ways and thine thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth. Ry. I am straitened. p. cl. BE Lesson III. EHOLD the day, behold, it is come: the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded. Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of their's: neither shall there be wailing for them. The time is come, the day draweth near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive. Ry. My God. p. cl. THURSDAY. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word. Ry. I saw the LORD. p. cxlviii. Lesson II. HAVE ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken? Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the LORD GOD. And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD GOD. Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter. Ry. Look down. p. cxlviii. Lesson III. fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it. Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it? Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it. So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter. Ry. Behold, O LORD. p. cxlviii. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. Lesson I. Chap. xv. ND the word of the LORD came AN unto me, saying, Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or I will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire deVoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned? Ry. I have set. p. Lesson II. THEREFORE thus saith the LORD GOD: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the SAY unto them which daub it with LORD GOD. untempered morter, that it shall Ry. With Thine. p. cxlix. Lesson III. Chap. xvi. AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus saith the LORD GOD unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. Ry. We looked. p. cxlix. SATURDAY. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. Lesson I. Chap. xix. OREOVER take thou up M lamentation for the princes of Israel, and say, What is thy mother A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men. And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring. Ry. Blessed are. p. cxlix. Lesson II. THEN the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit. And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. Ry. I am straitened. p. cl. Lesson III. BUT she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground. And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod This is a to be a sceptre to rule. lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation. Ry. My God. p. cl. If November have five Sundays, on the 2nd are read the following lessons from Ezekiel; but if only four, the lessons from Daniel, set down for the 3rd Sunday, are read on the 2nd; and on the two following Sundays are read the Minor Prophets. SECOND SUNDAY IN NOVEMBER. Of Ezekiel the Prophet. AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel, and say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword |