HOMILETICS. Ver. 18.-The lot of Joseph. I. No COll£PROMISE WITH SIN, The Israelites, as we have seen, were promised the possession of Palestine on condition that they should exterminate its inhabitants. They did not do this, either (1) because they were indisposed to the exertion, as in the case of the J ebusites (eh. xv. 63), or (2) because they found the process of exacting tribute more convenient. No type of the ordinary conduct of Christians is more precisely accurate. Constantly in youth they either (1) will not give themselves the trouble to root out evil habits, but give way to them, because the task is so difficult, or (2) indulge themselves in sin because it is so pleasant. The consequences are a disastrous captivity to sinful habits which lasts half a lifetime, and leaves its mark upon the sinner for his who'le life. Great and mighty deliverers may arise within, as they did in Israel, but there is a liability to relapse, which long asserts itself. Instances of these truths a.re hardly ili.fficult to :find. II. THEY THAT TOUCH PITCH SHALL BE DEFILED THEREWITH, The command to exterminate the Israelites was not an arbitrary one. It was given because of the terrible depravity of the Phcenician people, and .because of the equally terrible attractiveness of their sins. God well knew (and the narrative in Num. xxvi. is sufficient to prove it to us) that the Israelites could not resist the contamination of this eYil influence if they allowed themselves to be exposed to it. But they did not, or would not, believe this. And consequently, till the Babylonish captivity, with its stern lessons, taught them better, they continued to fall lower and lower into the abominations of the abominable, revolting, and unfeeling worship of their neigh- bours ; nor was it surprising, when we :find that Solomon, with all his wisdom, could not escape the contagion. We may learn thus that neither intellect, nor prudence, nor even the sanctifying influences of a holy calling, will enable us to resist the allurements of bad comp11,Dy, when we voluntarily surrender ourselves to them. The only safe way for the Israelites to meet the Canaanites was in battle array, with arms in their hands. So the Christian's only safeguard against evil company is never to enter it, save on the path of duty, and never to part with his weapons of faith and prayer. "Surely," then, "in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird" (Prov. i. 17). III. WE MUST MAKE THE MOST OF THE OPPORTUNITIES WE HAVE. Ephraim com- ~lained of the narrowness of his lot, instead of cutting down the woods and thus finding room in what had been assigned to him. He is the type of many Chris- ti.ans who complain of the scantiness of their opportunities, while they are leaving one half of them unemployed. God will not vouchsafe us more opp.1rtunities if we neglect those He gives us. He did not give five more talents to the ,uan who kept the one he had wrapped in a napkin. 01!, XVII. 1-18.] THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 265
IV. WE MUST NOT MAKE CIRCUMSTANCES A REASON FOR NOT DOING OUR DUTY, The Ephmimites wanted o.n increo.se of territory, no doubt at some one else's expense, while they did not m!l-ke the most of their own. __ They not only did not cut down the wood, _but the:y ass11l'ned ~s a reason for n?t drivmg out the Canaanites that they ho.d chanots of iron, m spite of the prormse God hacl given them that these should not be a hindrance to their success. So men assign circumstances now (1) as a r~ason ".l'hy they succumb to temptation, (2) as a reason why they do not combat evil habits, (3) as a reason why they leave work undone which they ought to have undertaken and carried out. Let such remember Joshua's words, " Thou ehalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong." V. GoD's BLESSINGS Wll.L NOT BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO NEGLECT THE CONDI- TIONS UNDER WHICH THEY WERE PROMISED. Ephraim had inherited blessings, and was fully conscious of the fact. Yet he makes this a reason why God should prosper lii.m without any effort on hie own part. So Christians very often expect God to work out their salvation for them without any labour or effort of their own. They permit evil tempers to take root in their hearts, and to grow and flourish there. They make no effort to cast them out, because " God bath blessed them hitherto." They are called to inherit God's blessings, and so they think they will have them without any trouble. They are "called to be saints," and expect to be so without the self-discipline saintliness requires. Goel will not fulfil such expectations. He has promised '' His Holy Spirit to them that ask it," but He expects them to "work out their own salvation" with His aid. Those who would appropriate the promises of Christianity without the endeavour necessary to give th1>m effect, either become self-deceiving professors, who "have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof," or if more sincere in heart and less capable of hypocrisy, fall back into a state of indifference because their Christian calling has failed to rea.Jise all the hopes that they had formed.