The Pulpit Commentary — Joshua — Section 150

ove_r the _story of this cho.pter. It ha,e leeeone which will never clie, anc1 a,ppea.le whwh will never grow olc1. It is e, testimony against a form of evil so co=on anc1 BO dangerous that all branches of the Church of Christ suffer from it. It brings before us the question of the neglect of sacraments, and the wisdom of repairing that neglect. To bring the chief points before us, observe first- I. WE ARE PRONE TO NEGLECT THE BACRAMENTS OF Gon. The neglect reported here strikes us ae very strange. With the great miracles in recollection which had accompanied their leaving Egypt, it should, we feel, have been impossible for them to have forgotten or disobeyed their Goel. But here we have the statement that the entire nation had neglected the sacramental circumcision; and the narrative leaves some uncertainty as to whether there had not been some irregularity in the observance of the passover as well. It is not easy to explain such neglect. Per· haps the first sacmment was overshadowed by the law given at Sinai, the pre- occupation with the new rites leading to the neglect of the old. The more so as, excepting the precept implied in the word," No uncircumcised person shall eat thereof," there was no precept given at Sinai concerning this rite. Probably th, neglect of the one carried with it the neglect of the other. Possibly some sullen, ness and dissatisfaction with the length of their desert wanderings intensified this feeling. However that may be, here we have the fact that beneath the eyes of the law-giver the people neglect the observance of one or both of these rites. It ie not, I think, that they are under any interdict, ae some have imagined. Tl,cre is no trace of a prohibition to observe them. It seems to have been simple, sheer neglect. If we feel it strange they should neglect these rites, we ought to feel it stranger still that they find so many to-day who resemble them in doing so. Like Israel, we have sacraments. As they had one for the individual confession of be- longing to God, we have the rite of Baptism ; as they had the socie,l sacrament of the Passover, we have that of the Lord's Supper. But everywhere, from some , reason or other, we see both neglected. Both meant to be observed by those who can make intelligently the avowals which they express, both a.re neglected. Sometimes, through carelessness and misconception, baptism will be neglected ; but sometimes, merely because it is irksome, or because it seems not essentie,l to salvation, or because it carries with it reproach for Christ, or involves responsi- bility, persons are found neglecting the rite of baptism, which the Saviour meant them to observe. And for much the same reasons the other, the socie,l sacrament, is neglected. Around every Christian Chnrch there is a fringe composed of persons alive to the glory of the gospel who yet shrink from the forma.1 rites of covenant with God. How much they lose by it, none can tell. The menta.l clearness ; the safety that lies in a well-defined position; the higher purpose ; the greater ease with which the confession of Christ is made and the denial of Christ avoided; the closer and firmer fellowship with God's saints, with all its quickening influences- these are all forfeited by the dull neglect of a blessed rite. And how much the Church and the world lose by their lukewarmness, by their refusal of service, by their unintentional but serious influence in abating the spirit of religious earnest- ness I Of these they never think. It is more agreeable to the indolence of th_eir natures, or the timidity of their hearts, to abstain from all avowals; and so, like Israel, they neglect the sacraments of Goel. Let those guilty of such action remember that the sacraments are commandments which cannot be neglected without sin on the one hand and danger on the other. Secondly observe- !!. Goo PERMITS us TO REPAIR OUR NEGLECT AND ENTER INTO COVENANT WITH Hm. It is a marvellous thing that we should be permitted to enter into covenant with God; that in rites in which all the promises macle a.re made by Him, not by us, He should bind Himself to be our retleeming Goel; that in the one sacrament He should make offer of cleansing from all guilt, and in the other of the bread of immortal life. It is a matter more marvellous still that to those who have neg- lected those rites for stretches of years He yet extends the permission to approach them. But so it is. Here is an illustration of this willingness. He had little hope of much honour or satisfaction from Israel. They would be a rebellious autl goiu- sayiug people through all their futw·e. Yet here He :i.llows tl,cm again to resume RG 'rttE BOOK OF ;toStttlA. [on. v. 10-i!a,