Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh… I. THE SOUL OF MAN IS, LIKE THE STONE, A MYSTERY. Here is a stone. I see it, weigh it, feel it. But what is it? Colour, weight, and tangibility are not entities. These are mere qualities which belong to entities. By these qualities we may recognise the entities and form an opinion respecting them. In this sense the stone, itself a mystery, may be looked on as a type or picture of every soul, saved or unsaved. Every soul feels, reasons, and think; — and yet the soul is neither feeling, reason, nor thought: these are mere qualities which form no part of its essence. In itself it is a mystery. II. THE SOUL OF THE UNREGENERATE, HOWEVER, IS, LIKE THE STONE, VERY HARD. 1. All stones are not equally hard, though hardness is a characteristic of each. 2. Neither are all souls equally without feeling or moral susceptibility, though all are sadly deficient in this respect. This is illustrated — (1) By the cruel practices of Pagan nations. Infanticides, parricides, self-torture, human sacrifices, Sutteeism. etc. (2) By the indifference of those who are not Pagans — even Christians, to the welfare of others. (3) By the difficulty invariably found of awakening the soul to an earnest inquiry for its own personal and highest interest. III. THE SOUL OF THE UNREGENERATE IS, LIKE THE STONE, NOT WHAT IT ORIGINALLY WAS. The stone has not been always as hard as it is now. Every pebble or grain of sand was once a part of a great rock, and that rock itself a soft material; but heat, pressure, and time combined made it hard. Even flint existed in a soft and pulpy form. Similar is the history of your soul, my unregenerated brother. It was once soft, tender, and full of felling, though now it is hard. This is proved — (1) From the universal traditions of men. (2) From man's intuitive ideas of the moral nature of God. (3) From the infallible testimony of the Scripture. IV. THE UNREGENERATED SOUL HAS, LIKE THE STONE, BEEN GRADUALLY HARDENED. Even Nero, who assassinated his mother, set fire to the Roman capital, and brought to an untimely grave in misery thousands of men, women, and innocent children, had once a tender heart, like others. "Would to God I could not write!" was his feeling exclamation once when a death warrant was presented to him for signature. V. THE UNREGENERATED SOUL, LIKE THE STONE, BEARS IN ITSELF A FAITHFUL RECORD OF ALL THE POWERS WHICH HAVE HELPED TO MAKE IT WHAT IT IS. In the stone, some of its particles are spherical, showing that once, after having been broken from the mother rock, they were for centuries under the action of flowing water; others are crystallised, showing that once they were in a state of solution; others are organic, showing that they were once the seat of vegetable or animal life. In the form and composition of these particles we find a record of the various changes through which the stone has passed, as well as the numerous influences which have been at work in the effecting of those changes. The soul of man is similar. In eternity it may be possible to trace distinctly in every soul in heaven or hell a faithful record of all the influences which, on earth, have ever tended to elevate or degrade it. VI. THE UNREGENERATED SOUL, LIKE THE STONE, MAY BE SOFTENED BY THE APPLICATION OF APPROPRIATE ELEMENTS. The flint, may be reduced to pulp by chemical reagents, and moulded like the clay to any form. The hardest metals may be dissolved. So may also the hardest heart. The love of Christ is the dissolving element for souls. (Evan Lewis, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. |
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