228 BOYS OF THE BIBLE.

‘So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophe-
sied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones
came together, bone to his bone. And, when I beheld, lo,
the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, proph-
esy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord
God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon
these slain, that they may live.

‘So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath
came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their
feet, an exceeding great army.

“Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried,
and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. ‘There-
fore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God;
Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause
you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the
land of Israel.

‘““And ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

We cannot stay longer here. These two great prophets
drank in the inspiration that made their lives so noble, when
they were boys. From their earliest days they were much about
the temple of God. When Jeremiah saw that temple
destroyed, it broke his heart. When Ezekiel rose to the solemn
claims of life in Babylon, he devoted himself to the mainten-
ance of the worship of the God of Israel, and if you would
know how dearly Ezekiel loved the church of God, though
in a foreign land, you will find it all set beautifully forth in
that sweet and sacred psalm of exile:

‘By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we
wept, when we remembered Zion.