[The soldiers whom Joshua was disbanding had continued with unshaken fidelity to fulfil their engagements : and though they had been detained from their families and possessions for seven years, they never once murmured or repined at the delay : yet Joshua did not on that account think that his religious counsels to them were superfluous. Nor should the most established Christian imagine himself to be beyond the reach of danger, or to have attained such eminence as not to need every possible help for his furtherance in the divine life. St. Peter, writing to those to whom " the divine power had already given all things that pertained to life and godliness," says, " I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth." And indeed the counsel in our text intimates, that, in order to do the commandments, we must " take heed," yea, " take diligent heed" to them; so many are our tempta- tions to violate them, and so averse are we by nature to observe
them In a general way, the truth of these observations
will be thought so obvious, as that they scarcely deserved a mention: but experience proves, that they need to be insisted on with all possible earnestness: for, whilst the professors of religion depart from open iniquity, there is in every one of them some besetting sin, which they are prone to cherish and indulge. Moreover, their blindness with respect to that sin is most astonishing : for, not only are they unconscious of its domination, but they are even ignorant of its existence in them ; and not unfrequently do they give themselves credit for that as a virtue, which others see to be their greatest defect. How blind are men to their pride, their vanity, their world] i- ness ! How often does an angry and bitter spirit habitually prevail in men, who never mourn over their unchristian tem- pers, or appear even to be aware of them ! We call
upon all then to "be jealous over themselves with a godly jealousy;" and to hear the exhortations of the Gospel with an especial reference to themselves, searching out their own spirit, and striving to attain the full " mind that was in Christ Jesus."]
III. That a state of peace and prosperity is a season
of peculiar danger —
[Now the disbanded soldiers were returning to the bosom of their families, and the peaceful prosecution of their worldly business : and, as Moses had long since warned them, they were in danger, whilst enjoying " houses which they built not, wells which they digged not, and vineyards which they planted not; they were in danger, I say, of forgetting the Lord their God." And who does not feel how apt the mind is to yield to the pleasures of sense, and to relax its ardour in the pursuit of heavenly things, when it has no trials or troubles to stimulate