Joshua 2:24

REFLECTIONS

PAUSE, my soul, over this chapter, and contemplate the several parts of it, and beg of God the Holy Ghost, who hath caused it to be written for thy instruction, to be thy teacher.

Do not I behold, in the instance of Rahab the harlot, the testimony of that blessed doctrine, that where sin hath abounded grace should much more abound: and as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Take courage, my soul, in this, and in every other instance of the triumphs of God thy Saviour. Even in Jericho the Lord will seek out and save his people, if a soul of his be there. The Lord knoweth them that are his. And from all their filthiness, and all their idols, Jesus will cleanse them. Through him shall publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God, while self-righteous Pharisees are cast out. Dear Lord! may thy precious blood be sprinkled on the door of my heart, as the scarlet thread was fastened to the window of the harlot t ' s house, that in the hour of visitation, as in the destruction of Jericho, thy destroying angel may see that sweet token between my God and me, and spare my soul. And convinced of my security and shelter in thy blood and righteousness, may my faith stand firm within, and never go out while the judgments of my God are passing, as in the case of Jericho, on the un godly: for sweet is that assurance, he that believeth shall not make haste.

But chiefly, dearest Jesus! may my soul pause over this Chapter, and contemplate thine unequalled condescension and love, in the instance of this woman. Was it not enough, O thou Son of God, in thy pity to our fallen nature, that thou shouldst leave the glories of eternity, and take upon thee our flesh; but that thou shouldst stoop to the lowest possible abasement in the assumption of our nature, and condescend to spring from a stock such as this woman! Was it not enough, that our nature, when thou tookest it upon thee, had been sunk to the deepest misery and sin, short of hell, but as if to surprize and overpower the mind both of angels and of men, even Rahab, was made choice of to be thine ancestor after the flesh! Oh! thou holy, harmless, undefiled Lamb of God, how hast thou endeared thyself to the most affectionate feelings of thy people, by such testimonies of thy love and mercy. And though, in taking our nature upon thee, thou hast taken none of the pollutions of it, yet in making choice of such channels, thou hast effectually put out the pride of all human glory: and hast most convincingly taught us by this process of grace, that in thy Gentile, as well as thy Jewish pedigree, all is grace; mercy, and love, in every act of thine concerning thy people. All flesh is corrupt before thee, and all alike filthy and polluted. It is thine own arm which hath brought salvation, and to thee alone be all the glory?