Now, what, we ask, would have been God’s rejoinder to such a reply? If the reader will just turn for an instant to Joshua vii, he will find as solemn an answer as could well be given. Let him draw near and carefully inspect that “great heap of stones” in the valley of Achor. Let him read the inscription thereon. What is it? “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of His saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about Him.” “_Our_ God is a consuming fire.” What is the meaning of all this? Let us hear it and consider it. Lust had conceived in the heart of one member of the congregation, and brought forth sin. What then? Did this involve the whole congregation? Yes, verily; this is the solemn truth. “_Israel_ [not merely Achan,] hath sinned, and _they_ have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them: for _they_ have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and _they_ have put it even among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because _they_ were accursed: _neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you_.” (Josh. vii. 11, 12.)
This is peculiarly solemn and searching. It most assuredly utters a loud voice in our ears, and conveys a holy lesson to our hearts. There were, so far as the narrative informs us, many hundreds of thousands, throughout the camp of Israel, as ignorant as Joshua himself seems to have been of the fact of Achan’s sin, and yet the word was, “_Israel_ hath sinned—transgressed—taken the accursed thing—stolen and dissembled.” How was this? The assembly was one. God’s presence in the midst of the congregation constituted it one—so one, that the sin of each was the sin of all. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Human reason may demur to this, as it is sure to demur to every thing that lies beyond its narrow range. But God says it, and this is enough for the believing mind. It doth not become us to ask, Why? How? or Wherefore? The testimony of God settles every thing, and we have only to believe and obey. It is enough for us to know that the fact of God’s presence demands holiness, purity, and the judgment of evil. Let us remember this. It is not upon the principle so justly repudiated by every lowly mind, “Stand by thyself; I am holier than thou.” No, no; it is entirely on the ground of what God is.—“Be ye holy, for I am holy.” God could not give the sanction of His holy presence to unjudged wickedness. What! give a victory at Ai with an Achan in the camp? Impossible! A victory under such circumstances would have been a dishonor to God, and the very worst thing that could have happened to Israel. It could not be. Israel must be chastised; they must be humbled and broken; they must be brought down to the valley of Achor—the place of trouble, for there alone can “a door of hope” be opened when evil has come in.
Let not the reader misunderstand this great practical principle. It has, we fear, been greatly misunderstood by many of God’s people. Many there are who seem to think that it can never be right for those who are saved by grace, and who are themselves signal monuments of mercy, to exercise discipline in any form, or on any ground whatsoever. To such persons, Matthew vii. 1 seems to condemn utterly the thought of our undertaking to judge. “Are we not,” say they, “expressly told by our Lord not to judge? Are not these His own veritable words—‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’?” No doubt; but what do these words mean? Do they mean that we are not to judge the doctrine and manner of life of such as present themselves for Christian fellowship? Do they lend any support to the idea that no matter what a man holds, or what he teaches, or what he does, we are to receive him all the same? Can this be the force and meaning of our Lord’s words? Who could, for one moment, cede aught so monstrous as this? Does not our Lord, in this very same chapter, tell us to “beware of false prophets”? But how can we beware of any one if we are not to judge? If judgment is not to be exercised in any case, why tell us to beware?
Christian reader, the truth is as simple as possible. God’s assembly is responsible to judge the doctrine and morals of all who claim entrance at the door. We are not to judge motives, but we are to judge ways. We are directly taught, by the inspired apostle, in the fifth chapter of 1 Corinthians, that we are bound to judge all who take the ground of being inside the assembly. “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. _Therefore_ put away from among yourselves that wicked person.” (Ver. 12, 13.)