2 Chronicles 33

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXXIII.- What a grief it would be to many godly parents to return from death, and behold the abominations of their children! Nations and churches readily relapse into their wonted abominations, from which they had been reformed with infinite pains. They become inhuman, unnatural, and infatuated, when God gives them over to their own hearts’ lusts. They turn from and provoke God, their best friend, and depend on Satan their worst enemy. How quickly Hezekiah’s boasted treasures are carried to Babylon, and his son to attend them! But O the mercy of God in giving repeated warnings to the most vile and obstinate sinners; or in afflicting them, in order to awaken them! He can convert and forgive the greatest monsters of wickedness. 7 But bitter are the griefs, and visible the fruits, of real repentance, particularly when the subjects were once remarkably wicked. What care to restore the worship of God which they have defaced, and to reform the persons whom they have seduced! Though God cast their sin behind his back, they never forget it themselves; nor think themselves worthy of ordinary honours, whether in life or in death. And it may be useful for us to remember that our sins, with their aggravating circumstances, as well as our returns to our duty, are exactly marked in the registers of heaven. But with what a dreadful career, and unwitting obstinacy, do some men post to eternal rain! They greedily copy their parents’ wickedness, but never their repentance