Ezekiel 37:8

There was no breath in them.

No life apart from the Spirit of God

I. The servant of God, anxiously engaged in his work, often sees among the people to whom he ministers, a state of things which may be thus described: “There was no breath in them.” This may be said where there is--

1. Theology without religion. Theology is truth. Religion is life. And a framework of bones without living breath in it, aptly represents a well-arranged scheme of doctrine without an inspiring spirit to animate it. The doctrines may be as beautifully set as is the wondrous human frame--everything in its place; but if that be all, there is a grievous defect--there is no breath in them! Glorious as Gospel doctrine is when it is alive in living souls, there is nothing so hateful as dead doctrines held in dead souls.

2. Knowledge without service. There is a man who is ever making researches in one direction or other--in philosophy, literature, science, history, or art. Never a day passes but he makes some fresh acquirement. His memory is so retentive he lets nothing drop out, and can summon at will any thought or fact from the recesses of his brain when it is required. His mental digestion is marvellously strong; his reading well-nigh universal. The laws which minister to health, and the laws which lead on to wealth, he knows with a clearness and fulness beyond those of most men. But all that he knows is merely so much dead material; like so much magnificent furniture covered up in an unused drawing room: an index of wealth, but of no manner of use.

3. Faith without works. There is a man who has been brought up from childhood in the beliefs of the doctrines of the Gospel--and he does not doubt one of them--but with him, these beliefs are all dogmas dead as a corpse; they never stir. He is not moved by them to penitence, or to love. Here is a mass of useless capital--which, though more precious than gold, is lying idle as lumber.

4. Teaching that is without heart. Have not most of us had experience enough to understand what this is? Mr.

is a clear thinker, a close reasoner, and an eloquent speaker and preacher. You listen. The words pour out uninterruptedly, without difficulty, without a flaw; faultlessly accurate, and yet somehow, you know not how, they leave no impression behind. Rather give me a plain, humble discourse from a man who has a heart, than all the fine words and faultless harangues in the world, if there is no breath in them!

5. Organisation without animation. That is just what a breathless, but otherwise perfect skeleton would show. The ordinary machinery of Christian work moves on without discomfort. Orthodoxy unimpeachable. Propriety unspotted. But it is like being in an ice house to be there. Official mechanism smothers, suppresses, stifles all eagerness; that would be irregular, and nothing but a stereotyped conventionalism is permitted. Earnest souls speed elsewhere in despair. Bone fits to bone--but there is no breath in them!

6. Ceremonial worship without devotion. The water imparts spiritual life; the bread and wine nourish it. The priest absolves--the priest at the font--the priest at the marriage altar--the priest at the communion--the priest at the confessional--the priest in sickness--the priest at the article of death--the priest at the grave! Oh, the miserable sham! The mere skeleton work of a religion. No life--no breath in it!

7. Words without deeds. Fluency of tongue may be a blessing, but it is often a snare. And where God has imparted this gift, which, when put to high and holy uses, is of vast service, yet its use may bring its own temptation with it. The fairest talker may not be the man of holiest life. He may be an accomplished critic, having a keen eye for the defects of his fellow members, and perhaps a ready flow of wit, which he does not hesitate so to use as to sting and wound another. But all the while he forgets to turn the talk upon himself; he never thinks of criticising his own acts and words, nor of setting them in the light of the holy and searching law of God: nor does he care to inquire how he stands in the sight of Him with Whom he has to do! His religion is but superficial and empty. There is no breath in it.

8. Profession without possession, or church membership without real godliness. His religion, such as it is, is of a neutral tint. He does not offend by provocation: nor does he help anybody in religion, as if his heart and soul were inspired for Christ. No fervour--no glow. The bones, at the prophet’s voice, have come together, bone to his bone, and the skin covers them above, so that they do not drop to pieces again--but there is no breath in them!

II. What is to be said of such a state of things?

1. Such a state of things is extremely unsatisfactory. This indeed is saying little; for the fact is that in each case there is a dead failure. What purpose can a row of corpses answer, however perfect the skeletons? The world is none the poorer for the bones of the dead dropping to pieces in coffins underground; and if theology be dead, and beliefs be dead, and churches are dead, away with them! No loss if they go! The loss of lifelessness is one which both the world and the Church can well afford to bear; and, indeed, it is one of God’s mercies that dead things must go!

2. “No breath in them.” Looking at Ezekiel’s vision, we see that, in that case, bad as it was, it had been even worse. For these dead bodies were organised. We do not know of any revealed law of God by which breath could come into a promiscuous collection of bones! But let chaos cease, let order reign, let bone fit to bone, and skin cover them above, and then there is, at all events, something for the living breath to animate. So that--

3. The case is not a hopeless one. For if at the appointment of God, when s prophet spake to dead bones, there was a rustling, a shaking, so that bone came to his bone,--that looks as if God did not mean things to stop there. “No breath in them.” But God wills that there shall be.

4. Thus the case is one which indicates duty. Namely, the duty, the important duty of pleading with God. “Come from the four winds, O breath.” (C. Clemance, D. D.)