nd grave, took a broad flat tile, and sketched on it the outline
of a besieged city, and lay on his left side, silently contemplating the
symbol of his country's fate (chap. iv.) The strange act of the revered
man attracted many eyes, and stirred new questionings in many hearts.
Equally graphic is the representation of Israel's captivity, in the
dramatic parable recorded in chap. xii., where the prophet personally
enacts the melancholy process of packing his goods, and escaping as an
exile.

From the subsequent history, we learn that this significant act arrested
attention; the people gazed in wonder on the sign, and anxiously
inquired into its meaning.

It is eminently worthy of notice that the lavish and bold imagery of
Ezekiel effectually served the immediate purpose for which it was
employed; it attracted the people's regard, explained the prophecy to
their understandings, and fixed the lessons in their memories. It is
true, indeed, that they did not repent; but this only shows that
parables, even when dictated by the Spirit, have not inherent power to
convert; even God's word may, through the hearer's sin, remain a dead
letter in his hand. It emerges incidentally in the history that the
preaching of Ezekiel was eminently popular; crowds came out to hear and
see.

The ultimate spiritual success lies in other hands; but in as far as the
instrument is concerned, it is proved, from the experience of this
ancient prophet, that the mastery of analogies draws the people round
the preacher's feet, and brings his lessons into contact with their
minds and hearts.

In modern times, much argument is employed to prove that the drama may
be pure in itself, and effectual as a moral educator,--argument which,
however excellent it may be in theory, has hitherto proved impotent in
fact. But from the beginning it was not so; Ezekiel was a dramatist; he
acted his prophecies and his preachings on a stage. The warnings were in
this form clearly articulated, and forcefully driven home; if they
failed to produce the ultimate result of repentance, the obstacle lay
not in the feebleness of the instrument, but in the wilful hardness of
the subject whereon the instrument was plied. Dramatic representation in
the simplicity of its infancy was a golden vessel of the sanctuary,
employed in the service of God; long ago it was carried away into
Babylon, and profanely used as a wine cup in the orgies of idols.
Whether it shall ever be wrenched