1 Kings 12:33

REFLECTIONS

WHAT a sad page for the most painful reflection doth the Holy Ghost give us in the view of Rehoboam's folly and Jeroboam's sin! what a train of evil is induced by the fall! what is every man by nature but blind, ignorant, wayward, and perverse! Reader! have you ever remarked how sinners, like Jeroboam, work all uncleanness with greediness? Like soldiers in Satan's army; they enlist under his banner; they wear his uniform; they volunteer in his service; they clothe themselves with his armour, and wield the weapons of sin, enmity and malice. And unless recovered out of the snare of the devil, if living and dying in his service, their end must be destruction, and their wages everlasting death.

Precious, precious Jesus! what everlasting thanks hath my soul to offer to thee, thou great and glorious captain of my salvation, in that thou hast, at no less expense than thine own blood and life, brought me out of his slavish ranks, and made me free indeed in thy service. Oh! Lord! give me grace to reverence thy temple, thine ordinances, thine house of prayer, thy sabbaths; and never more, like Jeroboam, set up in my poor heart any idol of abomination. Let every imagination be cast down, and every high thing that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God, be taken away, and let every thought be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Be thou, dearest Lord, everything to me that is precious; and do thou reign and rule in my heart, the hope of glory!