What God's will, what
Christ's mercies may be to them, we know not. That He has mercy for
them, if their ignorance is not their own fault, we doubt not;
perhaps, even if their ignorance be their own fault, we need not
doubt that He has mercy for them, considering the mercy which He has
shown to us, who deserved no more than they. But His will to us we
do know; and His will is this--our holiness. For He came not only to
assert His own power, to redeem his own world, but to set His people,
the children of men, an example, that they should follow in His
steps. Herein, too, He is the perfect king. He leads His subjects,
He sets a perfect example to His subjects, and more, He inspires them
with the power of following that example, as, if you will think, a
perfect ruler ought to be able to do. Josiah set the Jews an
example, but he could not make them follow it. They turned to God at
the bidding of their good king, with their lips, in their outward
conduct; but their hearts were still far from Him. Jeremiah
complains bitterly of this in the beginning of his prophecies. He
complains that Josiah's reformation was after all empty, hollow,
hypocritical, a change on the surface only, while the wicked root was
left.
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