Ezekiel 8:18

REFLECTIONS

READER! let us pause over the sad view of this Chapter, in the contents of it, for it is most solemn: and consider well, the dreadful representation here given, of the human heart! Could it have been conceived possible, that while a whole nation was reeking under the Lord's chastisements, in one of his sore judgments of captivity; that the few which were saved by divine mercy, could have braved divine justice, with such horrible impiety! But Reader! in Israel, we only read the history of all the world, and every heart. So very true, and so universally just, is that scripture, all the world is become guilty before God. Who shall count the many transgressions which arise in one heart, and in one day only, against the sovereignty of God? Who shall write down the multitude, which in the aggregate, are found in that day, in a single town or village? And who shall describe the patience, and long suffering of God, before whose view, and to whose all discerning eye, the great mass of human transgressions, from the whole earth, comes up every day, and all the day, in an accumulated cloud of daring offence? Oh! how blessed, how truly blessed that proclamation made by the Lord of himself, in the holy mount, when he passed by and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness, and truth! Precious Lord Jesus! how truly is it seen in thee, and in thy great salvation, the evidences of this divine truth! Here indeed thy Church behold the wondrous grace and mercy displayed to the full. In thee the Lord Jehovah hath shown, that he keepeth mercy for thousands, and forgiveth iniquity, transgression, and sin. In thee, and by thy blood, and righteousness, the Lord hath clearly testified that he doth by no means clear the guilty, without an equivalent sacrifice. Lord! help both Writer and Reader, to fall down under the deepest sense of sin, and to look up, under the humblest hope of acceptance, in Jesus. Blessed forever, blessed be the Lord, who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.