Leviticus 13:16

Or— But. Houbigant.

REFLECTIONS.—We have here the treatment of the plague of leprosy. 1. In the examining of it, the priest was to use the greatest circumspection and deliberation. Rash censures, or hasty conclusions, ill become God's ministers. God lays down his rule of judgment. By the word of God must every man's spiritual estate be determined. 2. If, after the leper was shut up, the sore were deep, and spread, then he was pronounced unclean. Scandalous sins are a just cause of exclusion from the church of God; and when, instead of mending after reproof, the evil spreads, then there is little hope. 3. No time need be spent in waiting where raw flesh appeared in the sore. Pride and self-righteousness are evident marks of a confirmed state of spiritual leprosy. 4. But if he were white all over he was pronounced clean. They who see and feel their universal depravity and corruption will come to Christ to be made whole. 5. After inspection, though clean, he must wash his clothes. We need not only have our sins once pardoned through the blood of the Lamb, but must every day come to the same fountain.