2 Chronicles 30:27

REFLECTIONS

READER! while we pay all due respect to this beautiful piece of history in the church, and find cause to bless God for raising up his servant Hezekiah in such a time for the recovery of the land from idols, let you and I have our thoughts exercised in the contemplation of the mercies we are called to in the free, and full, and seasonable enjoyment of our gospel ordinances under the rich profusion of the means of grace the Lord our God hath reserved to us. Are we as a nation, as a people, better than our fathers? Have we merited the blessings we possess in our hallowed things? Are we not gone away in a thousand instances from his sacred word, from the love of his truth, from the grand distinguishing doctrines of the gospel; from the love of ordinances and from a well-grounded confidence in him? And doth the Lord amidst all our provocations, still preserve to us those best of all privileges, our sacred things, our sabbaths; his holy word and ordinances. Oh then, let the example of Hezekiah and his people stir us up to an earnest, hearty, and sincere return to the Lord. Let us send out missionaries to the various kingdoms of the earth, as he did his posts to Israel, and invite all ranks and orders of people to come to Jesus. And oh! let our return to the Lord be with an eye to the person, blood, and righteousness of Jesus. He is our passover, he is our peace, our propitiation, our altar, our sacrifice, our righteousness, our all. Yes! blessed Jesus! thou art divinely prepared and graciously furnished by God our Father, a suited Saviour for fallen, sinful men. Sweetly and secretly in thy person are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: and in thy finished work the life, safety, present peace, and everlasting happiness of thy people is contained. Lord! to whom shall we go but unto thee, thou hast the words of eternal life. Thou art our passover sacrificed for us. In thee, and on thee, we would keep an everlasting feast. And oh! do thou bless us as a High Priest of our calling, and may our God and Father answer it, and confirm it in heaven his dwelling place, the habitation of his holiness and his glory.