"The Desire of Thine Eyes"

BY KAREL OOMS, A RECENT GERMAN ARTIST.

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Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.”—Ezekiel, 24, 16.

E

ZEKIEL was married, happily married we must

judge, for as the last and hardest of those strange "types" through which he lived with so much of personal discomfort and even agony, there came the loss of his wife.

His little home of happiness by the river Chebar was made desolate. He was told by "the word of the Lord" that his wife was to die; yet must he "Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men."

"So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded." That is to say, he made no sign of mourning, but went forth as if unmoved, and dressed for travelling, yet without food. The Hebrews around were filled with puzzling, and asked the prophet of his purpose. He told them that even so, when their beloved Jerusalem fell, the people would be too stunned and desolate to weep, they would be driven forth as captives.

EZEKIEL XXXIII—GOD'S JUSTICE ARGUED

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3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver

his soul.

6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

7 So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

9 Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

10 Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way to live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, Ŏ

house of Israel?

12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13 When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust in his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.