atioally _as. if there were no Go~. Thus we read of no very serious results flowing from thIB madvertence. God 1s "not extreme to mark what is done amiss " and distinguishes between human infirmity and human depravity. ' l. "THE CHILDREN OF THIS WORLD ARE WISER IN THEIR GENERATION THAN THE CHILD.REN OF LIGHT." T~e Canaanitish kings see the necessity of union. They act W1th one accord. It 1s strange that God's people should find it more difficult to unite than others. It is, however, but an illustration of the old adage, "Corruptio optimi pessima." It is zeal for the truth, which, when carried to an extreme, becomes bigotry, and leads to dissension. Thus the Jews at the siege of Jerusalem were divided among themselves when Titus and his legions were at the gates. So now Christians are quarrelling among themselves when infidelity is abroad, and threatening the very foundations of the Christian faith. We are wrangling about non-essentials as though they were essentials, and men thus come to think that there can be no truth at all among those who seem unable to agree on a single point. We strive for pre-emiuence, social, political, numerical, and while we strive, the enemy of souls comes and carries off too many of the p1izes for which we are contending. We are united upon the fundamentals of the Christian faith, yet we fail to see it ourselves, so eagerly do we contend for the objects of our unchastened desires. The heathen rebuke us, for they could act unitedly in a moment of danger for a common cause. The very devils shame us, for they combine to thwart, were it possible, the counsels of the Most High. It is only Christians who can carry on their intestine conflicts when the foe is thundering at the doors. Could we but learn (1) what are the fundamentals of the Christian faith, and (2) that whatever lies outside these is legitimate matter for argument and amicable controversy, but not for strife and disunion, we should no longer have to deplore souls lost to Christ for this cause, and it alone. II. WE OUGHT TO REFER ALL OUR ACTIONS TO Goo. Joshua and the princes in this narrative made a distinction which many of us make, and which is not warranted by the Word of God; the ilistinction, that is, between matters of import- ance, which we should never think of deciding without prayer, and comparatively unimpo1·tant matters, in which the exercise of our own judgment is sufficient. But the truth is, that no matter is unimportant. Everything, strictly speaking, shoulcl be the subject of prayer; not necessarily of formal and prolonged prayer, but of a momentary ejaculation to God for help. This may be thought impossible, but it is in truth the secret of Christian perfection. " Pray without ceasing," says the Apostle, and he only has the true key to Christian progress who has acquired the habit of continual approach to God in prayer. Prayer should be the golden.thread which binds together our whole life, consecrating every act and thought of it silently and secretly to God's service. This habit is only gained by perseverance, and it must itself be sought with prayer ; but only he who has attained it can be truly said to "walk with God." III. A PROMISE IS SACRED, AND MUST BE KEPT AT ALL RISKS. There may, of course, be exceptional cases in which a promise may not be kept. If we have promised to do what is wrong, it were clearly worse to keep our promise than to break it. But then it must be clear that it would be morally wrong to keep our promise. Israelite casuistry here decides that a positive command of God-one, that is, which is not grounded upon a moral necessity-is outweighed by the obliga- tion to keep an oath. God had commanded them to make no covenant with the people of the land, and they had unwittingly bound themselves by an oath to break that commoml. It was a nice point for the moralist. There was no moral necessity to put men to death. The command to exterminate the Canaanites was imposed upon them as the ministers of God's vengeance. But the duty of keeping an oath was of universal obligation. To absolve one's self from it would be to set one's self free from the elementary principles of morality. Thus the duty of keeping one's word ot is important enough t~ outweigh even a command God, where that ~ommand is not of primary necessity. It would be wrong, for mstance, to commit a murder, or a theft beca,use we had promised to do so. But if we had wrongly promised to neglect s~me one of the external duties of 1·eligion, it woull1 seem that we were 154 THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [cH. IX, 1-27,
lw1111d t-0 keep our promise, unless it were clear that God's co.use would suffer thereby. It is, however, difficult to find any precept of God's law under the Chris- tian dispensation which we may venture to neglect; beoause the ceremonial Jaw is abrogated, and there is no precept of Divine obligation left which doen not inrnlve the weightier matters of the law. Two considerations may be drawn from this history. • l. Be vc1·ycaref11,/ how yoit pi·omi.se. Joshua and the Israelites promised lightly, &na founrl to thci, regret that they ought not to he.ve promised at all. Many young Christians entangle themselves as lightly in engagements which they find should never have been made, and thus involve themselves in troubles and difficul- ties from which Christian prudence would have kept them :free. 2. Keep yo1tr promi.se, when made, unless, as has been s11,id, to keep it would be a sin. The difficulties in which it involves you are sent by God to make you more careful for the future. They will not overwhelm you if you have faith in God. But it were better to suffer some anxiety and annoyance than lose your hold on truth. Inconrnnience is no sufficient reason for breaking one's word, .though it may be for not gi,ing it. It is as true, as a rule, of promises made to man, as of vows made to God; "better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow, and not ray."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.