old for their sins, and He does so still. Nor does He net otherwise with individuals. He lrns declared thnt sin brings punishment in its train • bnt men sin wantonly 1 a.nd hope to escape its nece~sary consequences. But eithe:: in this world or tho next these consequeuc~s a1:·ive. What God has said will slll'ely come to pa.ss. And then mnn ·w1Shes m v11,m that he had never offended Him. As in I-Iiel'e case, so now, God fulfils to the Yery letter the predictions He has uttered. Let us be wise in time, and so nrniil the misfortunes which a presumptuous contempt of God's ·word is sure t-0 bring on us.
HOMILIES DY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Yers. 22-24.-A city of destruction. If any city ever was such a "City of Destruction" as Bunyan fancied, it was Jericho. Itself and all within it were de,·oted to destruction, only Rahab, like another Noah, with her family escaping. It is nn awful fact to contemplate the destruction of a whole city. No escape, and little warning! Old and young, one day in possession of wealth, ease, comfort, and the next day captureil and destroyed. The judicial principles on which God acts and on which He here commands the destruction of Jericho, are beyond us, but some of the lessons are clear and useful. Study these : I. THERE IS A PESALTY FOR SIN. There is nothing wanton in God's ways. Israel was God's chosen, and the nations of Canaan Hie rejected, because morally the former, w:itll all its faults, infinitely surpassed the latter. You get glimpses of the e,il of the primitive races with their religions in the story of Baal-Peor; in the ,ice and atrocity which perpetnally mark every relapse of Israel into idolatry; in the nameless defilements of modern heathenism. Dr. Arnold, no narrow theo- logian, defends the destruction of the Canaanites as a great gain to the welfare of humanity. It is these cruelties and abominations of heathenism which required and explain the destruction of the Canaa.nites. For God punishes sin. There is no truth more undeniable, and none the knowledge of which is more widely spread. We suffer for every fault we commit. As root and fruit, so wrong and wretchedness, go together. However subtle the fault, God's providence operates in penalties still more subtle. The eating of any forbidden fruit always has its two penalties-loss of power, and loss of some sort of Eden. Sins of sinners have their penalties. And God's people recei.e " double for all their sins "-a heavier stroke for the less excusable trans- gression. It is not because God is wrathful that He punishes, but because He is grac1011s. God is love, and therefore will not let us hM"m owrselves or others. His infinite love impels Him to " stamp out" evil by penall;y. It is blasphemy to tllink God can sit still and see, with indifferent eye, the poison of sin working its miscllief in the world. For love is neither in God nor man a merely sentimental thing. It is wise, it is strong, it is stern. "Love is inexorable," says one of our greatest teachers (George Macdonald). So God's love makes Him "a consuming fire." He pardons sin, when His grace working penitence has got it out of us, but punishes it until we deplore and loathe it. The creed of Jericho was probably a very free and easy one. But as God's facts do not accommodate themselves to our creeds, it is better to adjust our creed to God's facts. Your sins will not pass unpunished. Blessed be God"s name, He loves us too well for that. There will be an element of correction in all penalty, until correction becomes impossible ; and then, in mercy at once t.o ourselves and others, God steps in to prevent the further accumulation of guilt by us, and the further infliction of mischief on others. T~e city of sin is a city of destruction, and your sin will receive the penalty due to it, howeyer secure you may feel in your power to evade it. JI. l'E~ALTY IS OFTEN LONG DEFERRED, AND IS THEN SUDDENLY INFLICTED, Jericho had, I snppo6e, stood long. The destruction of the cities of the plain had not extended to it. It is possible that, alike from the calamitie~ of war a_s well ns tllose of nature it had been free. And its prosperity and wealth, its abounding trade with East and West, suggested that there was really no reason to be afrai~ of God's \udgments. Yet suddenly, like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, destruction fell on OH, VII, 1-li.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 118
them. There ie often delay in inflicting a punishment. God prolongs opportunity. " Thie year also" He spares the barren fig tree, reluctant to destroy what might produce fruit. He ie not willing that any should perish. He iR "slow to anger." His long-suffering ie eo.lvation. He lengthens "the days of tranquillity" that we may at last repent. But when all delay is abused, and the postponement of doom only awakes presumption, at last the stroke comes," suddenly and without remedy." The flood came suddenly, and eo did the destruction of Sodom, so did that of Jezebel and Nabal, and Belshazzar, and Herod, and Judas, and that of multitudes that cannot be numbered. Do not mistake postponement of penalty for pardon of sin. Of all our unrepented sin that has not yet been smitten, the punishment is only suspended. We cannot dig so deep but God will find us, nor strengthen our defrnce so stoutly as to defy His power. Be wise and use the days of reprieve for repentance. "Seek the Lord while he may be found," as we are here taught there is a penalty for every sin, and that, long suspended, it yet at last falls sud- denly. So observe also lastly- III. THEY WHO WOULD AVOID DESTRUCTIOS lffiST BECO:lIE FOLLOWERS OF THE Gon OF ISRAEL. Only one woman with her relatives seems to have done this. We do not read of any persons fleeing from the city of doom, or making any pro- vision for capitulation or escape. The enervation of luxury and immorality is on them. They alternately sink in despair or are puffed up in the confidence of their walls. But one person, rising in repentance from the guilt of a long neglect, sees the glory of God and chooses Him as her hope and Master. When she cannot save the city with her, she eaves herself, and, expecting the wonderful works of God, enlists in His service. Repent thou, and take J e~s Christ as thy Lord, ending with serious change of thought and action all the evil of your life. And then the infinite love which weeps when it can only smite will pardon the sin that you forsake, and give you " a place amongst the children," and the great salvation which you long to enjoy.-G.