h Jer. xiii. 15 — 17.
Blessed be God, though Achan's confession did not avert punish- ment from him, ours shall from us, provided it be truly inge- nuous, and deeply penitential. The Lord Jesus Christ never yet spurned from his feet a weeping penitent. He shed his blood even for the chief of sinners, and " will save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him." But confession on our part is indispensable : his word to us is, " Return, thou backsliding sinner, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you ; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever: Only acknowledge thine iniquity1." Let us but do this aright, and we shall soon be enabled to say with the Psalmist, " I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; and so thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin."]
j Jer. iii. 12, 13.
Josh. viii. 26. Joshua drew not his hand back, wherewith he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.
WHATEVER instruments God is pleased to make use of, it is by his hand alone that any thing is wrought : and he will be seen in his works. For this end, he has frequently appointed such means to be used, as had, in reality, not the smallest degree of fit- ness to the end proposed ; and which were of no other use, than to direct the eyes of men to him as the true agent, and to constrain them to acknowledge him in the effects produced. The stretching forth of Moses' rod neither had, nor could have, any direct influence in producing the plagues of Egypt, or in opening a passage through the depths of the sea : but it marked, in the most signal manner, the power of Almighty God, who had engaged to accomplish his wonders by those means. Thus it was, that God decreed to give to Joshua the victory over Ai, by the stretching forth of his spear. The Israelitish host had been repulsed before Ai: but now they were ordered to attack it again. Means of every kind were to be used, as if the victory were to be gained by human skill and valour. Thirty thousand men were to be placed in ambush : and a feigned retreat was to be made, in