Numbers 19:22

REFLECTIONS

ONCE more, my soul, contemplate the gracious condescension of thy GOD, in thus manifesting the infinite work of thy divine Redeemer, by shadowing forth the outlines of his great salvation in continued type and figure! everything I view in the Old Testament scripture, in relation to sacrifices and offerings, doth but the more point out the infinite love of the FATHER, in giving his SON; and the infinite love of the SON, in coming as a propitiation for the sin of his people. And oh! thou ever-blessed, ever-precious JESUS, thou, who like the red heifer, wert offered without spot or blemish to GOD, for the sins of thy people, and didst suffer without the gate, as the heifer was appointed; oh, enable me by the influences of thy blessed SPIRIT, to go forth unto thee without the camp, bearing thy reproach. Thanks be to GOD, that his people are now brought under that mild dispensation that though we are all in ourselves polluted, both by the death of our friends, and the dying state of ourselves, yet in the LORD JESUS, we are washed, we are sanctified, we are justified, by the SPIRIT of our GOD. Lead me to see, O LORD, in consecrated ashes, the incorruptible and everlasting efficacy of the righteousness of GOD my Saviour; and in the running water, the preciousness of that all-cleansing grace of the HOLY GHOST, the streams of which river makes glad the city of our GOD. May it be my portion, thus, to be cleansed daily from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that I may perfect holiness in the fear of GOD.