The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1883-08-21

ia
will say this is a very interesting story, this
about Al and Achan and the defeat Of the
children OF Israel These were queer times
then, when walls fell down at the blast of
trumpets, and when the Lord took SO much
pains to find out and punish one sinner. How
many will study this lesson and MOI remember
that it has an application for them-that the
God of Israel is the God OF America-that He
hates sin now as He hated sin then-that He
keeps his eye on the sinner now as He did
then, and that sin is just as much personal
transgression of law nineteen hundred years
after Christ as itw fourteen hundred years
before His coming. Oh, that we could trans
late this story into modern language, and feel
it-forget for the time that the plains of Jeri-
eho are 6Co0 miles away, and that Joshua and
Achan have been dead thirty hundred years
Remember there are Joshuas and Achans in
these streets Of ours; that there are victories
and defeats taking place all around US every
day; that God is God, that sin is sin, and that
punishment still follows sin as darkness fol-
lows the setting of the sun.
The victorious march of the children OF
Israel to possess the promise and received a
sudden and severe check when their chosen
$500 fled before the men OF All. Nothing conld
seem to be more disastrous, for with their cour-
could they expect In fighting the fiercer enc
mics of the mountains? No wonder that JOSH
ua rent his clothes and threw himself on his
face before God and cried, "Alas, 0 Lord God,
wherefore hast thou at all brought this people
over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the
Amorites to destroy us.?" No wonder that
Joshua thus felt, but it was not the right way
to act, nevertheless. 1t was his duty to find
out the cause of the disaster-to turn defeat
into victory-not TO weep and wall And 80
the Lord said to him, in a tone of reproof,
Get thee MP, wherefore liest thou upon thy
face?' and then he told him a grievous sin had
been committed, and the defeat came to pun
ish that sin. Joshua loses no time in carrying
out the Lords command, and now follows that
wonderful ferreting out of the criminal from
among the hundreds Of thousands in the camp.
II dramatist 5hould take this story in hand
the plot for one of the most thrilling tragedies
ever enacted might be found in those few quiet
Bible verses. Terrible retribution overlook
Achan and all his family.
Let us not be SO taken 10 with the oriental
surroundings Of those scenes in that camp life
on the edge of the Promised Land-the child
he ID age Of the world in which the occurrences
took place-as to lose from our minds the les-
sons here for us. Bot remember that in this
changing world there are some things which
do not change, some things as important to
know as for the wandering tribes of Israel.
Sitting few evenings since on the shore of
Saco Bay-with thoughts OF this lesson to pre-
majestically from its bed in the Esa, gathering
new brightness every moment as 1t mounted
higher and higher in the heavens; the little
billows breaking from the crest of every wave
seemed turned into molten silver under her
rays as they chased each other up the sand;
the promontories and islands stood out clearly
in the subdued light-a scene of magnifcence
and beauty unequaled-a symbol CT Gods un-
chaDgeabeness and mans fuctuating changes.
That me On which has rEen for thousands of
L. IL j.. 4
pearance and has mounted into the heavens
never delaying, never hurrying, never spark
ling with brighter lustre or shining with a
radiance more divine. During these ages up
on ages past, men nave come and gone. Chal-
deans, Egyptians. jews, Romans, Gauls, En-
glishmen, Americans, have filed the planet,
but she shone on placid, calm, unveiled, like
one of the principles of Gods nature.
Here too is this old tide always, always wash
ing up this old shore with the same dull thud
when the winds are boistereus; with the same
light swash when the winds are calm. Com
ing and going, coming and going, as when
Cain killed Abel, when Enoch walked with
God, when Mo-es received the law on the
mount, when Jo3hua marched into Jericho,
when Samuel judged Israel, when David sung,
and Isaiah prophecied and Paul preached and
Luther thundered-those old waves came and
@ent with ceaseless flow. The slowly ascend.
ing moon, the incoming tide-perfect pictures
these of constancy and fixed, unalterable law
the ripples and the quavering moonlight, per-
feet pictures of restless change. So with the
great principles of Gods character and govern
ment-they alter never, like the moon and
tide, but in the midst of these men come and
go as the ripples on the crest of the waves
The ripples make no difference with the in
coming tide; the sparkles on the waves do not
accelerate or retard the moon. So mans Gus
toms, mans civilization, mans refinement or
barbarity neither retard nor hasten Gods law.
Listen to the everlasting tidal wave which
r.rh@h md Is cffI H.
ing up ON every shore. Sin is an awful thing;
that is what the crime of Achan taught $500
years ago; that is what we are taught STILL
Ceaselessly, day by day, year by year, age
BY age, ceaselessly as the tide has rolled on the
Atlantic coast, has this been made plain. God
reigns in the heavens and makes it His concern
whether or not men sin. God takes note, God
hates sin, God Furnishes sin. That is one of
the unehangeable laws that Achan's sin
teaches u.s. The punishment of Achan's sin
followed at once as swiftly as it did surely. At
once, following the lightning flash of sin, de-
scended the thunderbolt of punishment and
Israel was defeated at All. Another one Of the
tidal waves of mighty principle which has
been rolling in; little more obscure than the
principle already referred to, but it belongs to
the same class. Punishment and sin go to-
gether, as the shadow follows the object which
casts the shadow. We lose great truth out OF |
our theology when we relegate all punishment
to the future world. Achan's sin and Israeps
SWlIt punishment HeIe medut ~ Cdil OuL at
tention to this often neglected truth. "That
word future must be one of Satan's Devices"
says an eloquent writer. Let us never think
that punishment is all future; that every
wrong-doing does not bring its own
penalty. The punishment which fell
upon Israels army because of Achans sin
was swift, we think, but it was slow-footed
compared with the penalty which every sin in
flcts upon the soul of the sinner. But now
what shall be done? The sin has been COM
wedge of gold and the Babylonish |
garment have been stolen-the punishment is |
come-the army is fleeing from All The text |
tells US: "Get thee up; whelefore liest thou |
upon thy face?" Israel cannot prosper while |
she harbors the sinner, and the first thing to |
do is to put away that sin out of your midst.
Remove the cause. Here is lesson for us OF |
and manliness. If we are sinners |
we are still men, and have the power, through
Christ, of putting out of the camp the evil |
thing which is working our destruction. Up |
then and sanctify yourselves and put away the
sin out of your midst. The speaker then fol- |
lowed with an application of the subject to |
national sins and the great evils of Sabbath |
breaking, plaspnemy, perjury and poltlcai cor
ruption. The discourse closed with an impreS-
sve appeal to resist not the onsweeping tide OF
Gods Interchangeable law, which intiicts penal
ty for sin.