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souls — you took possession of all the inheritance of the saints on earth, and of their inheritance in heaven.1
II.
The Valley of Trouble.
1. The valley of Achor became the scene of a great tragedy. Just after the capture of Jericho, at the time when the chosen people had invaded the Land of Promise, it came to light that a certain man, Achan, " the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah," had taken a portion of the spoil which ought to have been reserved for the treasury of God Himself ; he had hidden it in his tent, and it had brought defeat upon the whole army, and now he was found out. His sin had been brought home to him, and " all Israel stoned him with stones until he died," and " they raised over him," says the sacred historian, "a great heap of stones, unto this day. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The Valley of Achor (i.e., the Valley of Troubling), unto this day."
It was treachery that Achan had been guilty of. He had been the friend of the friends of God ; he had gone in and out with them ; he had shared their hopes, their efforts, their successes. Who can doubt that in the service of the sanctuary he had knelt side by side with those upon whom he was bringing at that very time the curse of shame ? This is what makes sin always most sinful and shameful — its treachery. We do not suspect it. We do not believe it. We are not armed as we might have been against it. The poison spreads and spreads, and nobody knows it. " There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, 0 Israel."
Tj Leaving the ten gulfs of torment, where fraud meets its due, the pilgrims, by the aid of a giant, are lowered into the last dismal pit of hell. This nethermost circle is buried in the heart of the earth ; it is the region of pitiless cold ; every spark of warm love is banished from this spot where treachery is punished. When the false heart has sold itself to the deceit which works evil against those to whom it is bound by ties of
1 0. H. Spurgeon.
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blood or gratitude, love flies from it. In such a chill heart pity cannot dwell ; and, alas ! the penalty of evil is to place itself under influences which tend to perpetuate the evil. The false, cold heart dwells where the icy blast does but intensify its cold- ness ; the breath which beats upon it freezes all it touches. This, the possession of a heart out of which love has perished, is the last doom of sin ! The Psalmist, who delineated the downward progress of sin, expressed the final stage as the incapacity to hate evil; man at the worst is the man of whom it can be said, " Neither doth he abhor that which is evil." *
2. The sin was discovered and confessed. Slowly but surely the sin was brought home to the sinner. First it was fixed upon a tribe — " the tribe of Judah was taken " — then upon a house, the house of Zabdi, then finally upon the guilty man. "And he brought his household man by man ; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken." Observe what follows. The words of Joshua seem strange and hard at first. " My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him ; and tell me now what thou hast done ; hide it not from me." They are strange words, indeed, and hard. " Give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel." But it is best that the truth should come to light. It is dreadful that sin should exist, but more dreadful that it should exist and not be known. When it comes to light, although the revelation be heartbreaking, although it prove not only weakness but wickedness, yes, and wickedness in the hated form of cruelty and treachery, to exist in the very heart of God's people, let us be thankful at least that we know how bad we are or may be. Let us " give glory to the Lord God of Israel."
Confession unto God — that is the first thing. For it is He whom we have grievously offended. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight," " Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ; and renew a right spirit within me." And then confession unto man. He who will tell all the truth in the hour of his judgment is not so bad as he who departs with a lie upon his lips.
Tf His soul was thirsting for confession as pilgrims in a desert thirst for the spring of living water. When sin warps the soul
1 W. B. Carpenter, The Spiritual Message of Dante, 88.
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out of line, repentance springs it back again to its normal place. He who has pondered long life's deepest problems knows that memory holds no dearer recollection than hours when the erring child moves from sin toward confession and forgiveness. Dis- obedient, the child fears the parent's disapproval. Dreading the discovery, it conceals that sin through deceit. Soon the sweetness of the stolen pleasure passes away. Eemorse makes a dark cloud to overshadow the child. Each moment increases the gloom. And when the darkness falls, and the prayers are said, and the light is turned out, and the mother's kiss leaves the child alone, with solitude comes increased sorrow. Because its first lie is a sin greater than it can bear, the child calls aloud, and flinging itself into the arms of the returning mother, in a wild, passionate abandon of tears and sobs pours forth the full story of its sin, and, mingling its torrent with the parent's tears, is cleansed in that deep fountain named the mother's heart. What hour in life holds a happiness so deep and sweet as that hour of confession and forgiveness for the child, when it falls asleep, having re- covered its simplicity ? And men are but children grown tall and strong.1