In 2 Chronicles xxx. we have a refreshing and encouraging record of a passover kept in the reign of Hezekiah, when the visible unity of the nation was broken up; and failure and ruin had come in. We do not attempt to quote the whole passage, much as we should like to do so, for it is most precious and soul-stirring. We merely give the closing lines as bearing upon our thesis. "So there was great joy in Jerusalem: _for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem_." Here then we have a lovely illustration of the grace of God meeting those of His people who owned their failure and sin and took their true place in His presence. Hezekiah and those with him were fully convinced of their low condition, and hence they did not presume to keep the passover in the first month. They availed themselves of the provision of grace, as recorded in Numbers ix., and kept the feast in the second month. "For a multitude of the people ... had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, The good Lord pardon _every one that prepareth his heart to seek God_, the Lord God of his fathers, though ... not according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord harkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people" (Chap. xxx. 18-20). Here we see divine grace meeting, as it ever does, those who truly confess their failure and weakness. There was no assumption or pretension, no hardness or indifference, no attempt to hide their true condition, no setting up to be all right; no, they took their true place, and cast themselves on that exhaustless grace which never fails to meet a contrite heart. What was the result? "The children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days _with great gladness_: and the Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing with loud instruments unto the Lord. And Hezekiah spake comfortably [to the heart] unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers. And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days: and they kept other seven days with gladness" (Chap. xxx. 21-23).