HOMILETICS. Vera. 6-15.-The humiliation. I.-TJII!: BITTERNESS OF REPENTANCE. 1. The sting of sin is shMper than its pleasure. The uneasiness which followed on Achan's transgression far outweighed any pleasure he could have derived from it. For, first, the possession of his treasure was itself a trouble. He had to hide it in his tent, and to watch carefully lest any one should discover it. Next, he brought death upon thirty-six of his innocent fellow-countrymen. Lastly, he brought the keenest distress and humiliation upon Joshua and the whole congregation. So it always is. The sting which follows on our first deliberate disobedience of God's commands is always far keener than the pleasure that disobedience gave us. The fear of detection, the oppression of a guilty secret, far outweighs any happiness sinful indulgence can give. And the distress which our misdeeds are apt to bring on those who are bound to us by the nearest and dearest of ties is frequently altogether out of proportion to the momentary satisfaction we have derived fr,.,n our wrong-doing. 2. The reaction that follows on sin is often fatal to faith. Thus Joshua's courage gave way. He reproached God, he made sure of defeat and destruction, he wished he had never crossed Jordan. So are we often weakenecl in our warfare against God's enemies by the discouragements and disasters the sins of Christians (perhaps unknown to ourselves) have brought on us. So in our own hearts, after some great failure, the consequence of hidden evil within us which we have not been careful to detect, we are overwhelmed with sorrow and confusion, we think it useless to strive, we are tempted to abandon our Christian profession, we wish we had never undertaken its responsibilities, we cry, " Would God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan! " Il.-THE REPROACH OF SIN. Achan's sin brought not only sorrow, but disgrace, after it. "The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it." . Consequences flow from sin which we had never thought of when we committecl. it. Our relatives and friends have to suffer for our misdeeds. Our order in society must bear the burden of our misconduct. The cause of Christ must be beaten back because we have abandoned it. There is a never-failing connection between sin and shame. If we do not feel it for our ourselves, others must feel it for us. Ill.-THE PRG1'1PT MEASURES NECESSARY TO AVERT ITS CONSEQUENCES. This may be regarded. as affecting religious bodies or individuo.ls. (1) Exco=anica- tion has fallen into disfavour, and indeed it has been shamefully abused. And yet the expulsion of the offender, at least until he gave unequivocal proofs of repentance, was one of the first principles of the Christian Church (see 1 Cor. v.). Ancl so now, no society owning the name of Christ ought to tolerate within its borcl.ers any person whose life is a scandal to the religion he professes. ",vitli such an one no not to eat" is a. Scripture maxim. And observe the holy eagerness Joshua dis- played in the matter. There was no delay. He rose up eo.rly in the morning. God left him no doubt about the course he ought to pursue. Aml the eYil was at • once and for ever put· away. It were "much to be wished" that the "godly discipline " of the early ages of the Church wero restorecl. Calvin an,l many other of the Reformers laboured hard to restore it; but they too often lacketl jmlgment and mercy. Yet it were well could the congregation of the Christim foitliful resolve to "put a.way from" them adultery, fornication, drunkenness, dishonesty, open and notorious covetousness or profaneness, and to refuse to live in friendship or intimacy with those who thus bring disgrace on the Christian name. (2) Our dealings with ourselves should be on the. same principle. There should be no delay in our repentance, no dallying with ~in. As so~n as we are conscious of its evil _presence, we shoulcl. do our best to cast 1t out. If 1t be not cast out at once 1t will be our ruin. We must "rise up early in the morning," examine our actions one by one, bring our dispositions and habits to be test~cl by the unerring jnclgment of _God, nnd that one which He pronounces to be guilty must be conclemned arnl sacnficed THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [oH. VII, 6-lo.
to His jnsl Ycngea~ce. And we may remark, moreover, how often sin lurks within us, nnsnspected even by onrselYes. We go out to battle like the children of Israel against God's enemies, unconscious that there is a traitor within the camp. Whe~ we meet >\ith disgraee and disaster in a conflict in which God is pledged to aid us, we may be sure that t~ie ~ault is within ourselves. We ought at once to betake ourselves to self-exammation, to detect the hidden e~il and when found we ought at once to put it away. '