“And all the trees of the field shall know that I,
Jehovah, have brought down the high tree, have
exalted the low tree, have dried up the green
tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I,
Jehovah, have spoken and have done it.”-Ezekiel
17:29.
Can your minds fly back to the time when there was no
time, to the day when there was no day but the Ancient
of Days? Can you speed back to that period when God
dwelt alone, when this round world and all the things
that be upon it, had not come from his hand; when the
sun flamed not in his strength, and the stars flashed
not in their brightness? Can you go back to the period
when there were no angels, when cherubim and seraphim
had not been born; and, if there be creatures elder
than they, when none of them had as yet been formed? Is
it possible, I say, for you to fly so far back as to
contemplate God alone-no creature no breath of song, no
motion of wing-God himself alone, without another?
Then, indeed, he had no rival; none then could contest
with him, for none existed. All power, and glory, and
honour and majesty were gathered up into Himself. And
we have no reason to believe that he was less glorious
than He is now, when his ministers delight to do his
pleasure; nor less great than now, when he has crested
worlds on worlds, and thrown them into space,
scattering over the sky stars with both his hands. He
sat on no precarious throne; he needed none to add to
his power; he needed none to bring him a revenue of
praise; his all-sufficiency could spirit of no lack.
Consider next, if ye can, the eternal purpose of God
that he would create. He determines it in his mind.
Could any but a divine motive actuate the Divine
Architect? What must that motive have been? He creates
that he may display his own perfections. He does beget,
as it were, creatures after his own image that he may
live in them; that he may manifest to others the joy,
the pleasure, the satisfaction, which he so intensely
feels in himself. Certain 1 am his own glory must have
been the end he had in view; he would reveal his glory
to the sons of men, to angels, and to such creatures as
he had formed, in order that they might reflect his
honour and sing his praise. You are not ignorant, my
brethren, of the fact that sin entered into the world.
You know that the creation, which had been harmonious
as a psalm in God’s praise, voluminous and exhaustive
as a book in which he revealed his own character-this
creation, once exceedingly fair, became foully marred.
Rival instincts were produced, and rival Interests were
set up. Man’s will stood up against God’s will; mar’s
profit against God’s honour; man’s device against God’s
counsel. Eve took of the accursed fruit, and Adam
partook of the same, and henceforth man became a rival
to God, just as Satan, aforetime, had rebelled against
the blessed and only Potentate, and usurped authority.
From the time when Satan fell, God’s purpose was to
break down everything which set itself up in opposition
to him. From that day till now, no matter how great,
how lofty, how apparently excellent a thing might be,
it has been the rule with God to pull it down if it did
not stand in him, and for him; yea, and wherever he has
looked, no matter how mean a thing may have been, how
low, how degraded to outward appearance, it has been
God’s constant rule to lift it up, if it stood in him,
and for him. Or if, by the lifting up of the humble, he
might throw scorn upon the haughty, he would thereby
magnify his own absolute right to exercise sovereign
control, and to do with men as he willed.
Oh! that I could command the words of some of the
mighty masters of song, or that I had an angel’s voice,
so much rather would I hymn this high majestic theme
than speak of it in listless prose. But I cannot rise
to the awful heights of this incomparable design. I
contemplate it with awe not unmingled with
admiration-the Eternal God withstanding everything that
opposes itself against him-thrusting down the mighty
from their seats, plucking off crowns from the heads of
princes, degrading the escutcheons of nobles, trampling
in the mire the fine linen and the scarlet of the rich,
setting at nought the wisdom of the wise, divesting the
philosopher of his toga, rending in pieces the robes of
the priest, end pouring contempt upon everything that
vaunts pretension or arrogates prestige in defiance of
his sacred prescriptive, irrevocable lordship. There is
no power or permanence, no warrant or worth, in any
claim to greatness or goodness independent of God, or
antagonistic to him. My conceptions are too dwarfish,
my language is too feeble, to compass the grandeur of
this theme. It’s truth commends it, and its usefulness
enhances it: since it bows the heart before God. and
convinces us that then only are we in a fit state to be
filled with his fulness, to live in his life, to be
wise with his wisdom, and to be glorious in his glory,
when we are emptied of our own conceits. Mine, however,
will be a more practical lesson at this time; and I
shall use more homely words than that nobler subject
might have demanded.
METHINKs I see a great forest which reaches for many a
league. The trees are of divers growths, and of various
ages. Some of them are very lofty. Here a towering
cedar and yonder the storks have made their nests among
the tall fir trees. Stout oaks there are that laugh at
storms, and elms that will not be twisted with the
tempest. See how they rival each other! And there are
lowlier trees; some bearing fruit, though scarcely
seen; others, like the vine, creeping upon the
ground-so obscure they can hardly be observed. It is a
strange forest in which trees of every clime are to be
found; some green, verdant, lader with blossoms and
with fruit; others dead, dry, withered, with scarce
here and there a leaf. It is the evening, the cool of
the day. The Lord God that visited the fair garden of
Eden is come to walk in this forest. Along those deep
glades, amidst that thick shade, the Almighty appears.
He comes. How see I him? Bears he in his hand an awful
axe, and cloth he pass his finger along its edge to see
that it be keen? Strong is the arm that wields it.
Howl, cedars, if once he life that axe against you.
What means that Woodman to do? Wait, and let us hear
him speak. Oh! ye trees of the field be silent before
the Lord. Clap not your hands until we have heard him
speak. “The trees of the field shall know that I the
Lord have brought down the high tree-beware, ye
towering cedars!-”that I have exalted the low
tree”-take courage, ye lowly vines!-”have dried up the
green tree”-wail, ye verdant elms-”and have made the
dry tree to flourish”;-hope, ye withered boughs!-”I the
Lord have spoken, and have done it.” Let the trees be
silent before the Lord, for he cometh to judge them,
and he judgeth them with much jealousy. That forest I
have before my eyes; men like trees appear to me in the
vision. While I gaze on this dense mass of people
listening to my voice, let me interpret the Mighty
Woodman’s words to you. There are four notes of which
we shall speak one after the other. May God sanctify
the emblems to our profit, touching our ears, and
teaching our hearts, that we may rightly understand
what the Lord saith to the trees of the forest.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
