The argument of Ezekiel is clear. His appeal is to Egypt. Having related the fall of Assyria the great, he turns to Pharaoh and to his people, and reminds them that the fate which overtook Assyria is not impossible to them. Greatness is manifestly no security against judgment. It is no sure defense against the arms of men, and no defense at all against the judgments of the almighty Ruler of mankind.

I. GREATNESS MAY AND OFTEN DOES SECURE THE ADMIRATION AND EVEN THE ADULATION OF MEN.

II. BUT EARTHLY GREATNESS IS AS NOTHING IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.

III. IT IS NOT GREATNESS, BUT RIGHTEOUSNESS OF ACTION AND FAITHFULNESS TO ITS VOCATION, WHICH IS A NATION'S TRUE SECURITY.

IV. A TIME OF PRORATION COMES TO EVERY NATION, WHEN UNFAITHFULNESS AND SELF-CONFIDENCE MEET WITH THEIR DESERTS IN CHASTISEMENT AND HUMILIATION.

APPLICATION. Greatness is best shown in

(1) subjection to the King of all, and

(2) service and help rendered to the feebler and less favored. - T.

Whatever may be the primary meaning of these words, they have a very blessed application to those who have gone forth from so many Christian families into heathen lands. For no choice of their own, and simply in obedience to their King's command, hundreds of our sons and daughters have gone forth to dwell in the midst of the heathen. They have taken up their home amid conditions which they would not have chosen had it not been for the constraining love of Christ, and the imperative need of dying men; and as fond relatives and friends regard their lot from a distance, they are often filled with anxious forebodings. May they not be involved in some sudden riot, and sacrificed to a frenzy of hate? May not the sanitary conditions and methods of life be seriously detrimental to their health or morals? "Oh, if only I could be there," you sigh. Hush! Christ is there; as near them as He is to you, casting over them the shadow of His presence, beckoning them to His secret place. He is the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land; or like the canopy of cloud that hovered over the camp of Israel by day, screening it from the torrid glare. Do not fear to trust your loved ones to the immortal Lover, who fainteth not, neither is weary. The hand that would harm is arrested and paralysed when it attempts to penetrate that safe enclosure.

(F. B. Meyer, B. A.).