Josiah "_began to seek after God_." The other day I saw a young art
student copying one of Turner's pictures in the National Gallery. His eyes
were being continually lifted from his canvas to his "master." He put
nothing down which he had not first seen. He was "seeking after" Turner!
And thus it was with Josiah. His eyes were "ever toward the Lord!" He
studied the "ways" of the Lord, in order that he might incarnate them in
national life and practice. Wise doings always begin in clear seeing. We
should be far more efficient in practice if we were more diligently
assiduous in vision. It is never a waste of time to "look unto Him."
Looking is a most needful part of our daily discipline. "What I say unto
you, I say unto all, _Watch_!"
And because Josiah saw the holiness of the Lord he saw the uncleanness of
the people. He had a vision of God's holy place, and he therefore saw the
defilement of the material worship.
"_In the twelfth year he began to purge Judah._" Yes, that is the
sequence. The reformer follows the seer. We shall begin to sweep the
streets of our own city when we have gazed upon the glories of the holy
city, the New Jerusalem.