Ver. 14.-The call to God's service. I. THE CALL, (1) It is a direct appeal. Religion is prn,ctical, and preaching must be practical. We must not be satis- fied with the exposition of truth. We must aim at persuasion such as shall affect the conduct of men. For this purpose there is room for direct exhortation, Men are ready to admit the truth of propositions which lie outside the sphere of their own experience. The difficult matter is to translate these into principles of conduct and to apply them to individual lives. The Bible is sent for this ultimate purpose. As a message from God the Word of God is not merely a revelation of truth ; it is supremely a call from the Father to His children, God is now calling ilirectly to us by the undying voice of Scripture, by providence, by His Spirit in our consciences (Rev. xxii. 17). (2) The call is based on a review of past ezperience. After this review Joshua says, "Now, therefore, fear the Lord," &c. God's goodness to us in the past is a great motive to incline us to serve Him (a) because it lays us under a great obligation to Him (1 Cor. vi. 20!, and (b) because it reveals His character as that of a Master worthy of derntion and delightful to serve. (3) The call is urged with the last words of a dying man. Joshua is old and about to die. At such a time an address would naturally be characterised by supreme earnestness. What is then urged would be felt by the speaker to be of first importance. Mere conventionalism., objects_ of passing political expediency, trifles and crotchets sink out of view. The dying message of the old leader must concern the highest welfare of the people. With all the force of these circumstances Joshua selects the need to fear and serve God for His one urgent exhortation. Surely this fact should lead us all to put it before our• selves as a question of first importance, taking precedence of all considerations of worldly pleasure and interest. II. THE OBJECT OF THE CALL. (1) The end to be aimed at is to " fear and serve the Lord." The fear characterises the spirit of internal devotion, the service covers the obedience of active work. The fear precedes the service ; because we cannot rightly sene God with our hands till we are devoted to Him in our hearts. The fear of God here required is not the abject terror which the slave feels for the tyrant, but reverence, awe, worship, the dread of displeasing, and the h~~le sub- mission of our souls. This must be found in all true devotion. Yet 1t 1s most prominent in the stem Hebrew faith (Psa. ii. 11). For the Christian, love is the leading motive, though this love must be an awed and reverent affection. ~fter the fear, then, must follow the service; for God will not be satisfied with passive vene- ration, He requires active obedience. (2) The essential characteristic_ of the f~ar and service here noted is sincerity. There is always danger of worslnp becommg unconsciously formal even when it is not knowingly hypocritical ; because pure worship involves the highest effort of spirituality, great abstraction from sense, and ell. xxrv. 1-2B.J THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 361
a purity of thought which is very foreign _to the habits of sinful beings (2 Tim. iii. 5). Yet Go<l a~l.10rs unreal <levot1on (Isa. _xx1x. 13), ancl can only be worshipped at all ~hen He 1s _ser~ed spmtually (John 1v. 24J. (3) '£he necessary condition of this tear an~ service 1~ a d~parti,r_e fro'"': all things inconsistent with it. The people 11:1usl give up all lmge~·rng hab!ts of idolatry. We must repent and forsake our old ems. ',Ve cannot retam devot10n to the worlcl and to sin whilst we devote ourselves to Goel. No man can serve two masters. '£herefore choose.-W. F. A.