The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1888-11-03

vlUO IN silver anu WV III ROiu. No Wee
stoned to death. and burned with all his
possessions. II his children suffered, they
must have been partakers Of the guit The
punishment WA 90 severe because thu sin
was very aggravated. 1t was wilful die
obedience, it WAS high treason, it was lying,
stealing and murder; for thirtysix men
died In consequence Of it. II endangered
the whole nation and the true religion II
was necessary to show the people that they
must obey il theytwould succeed.
CoMMBETs-After crossing the Jordan,
and capturing Jericho, Achan, instead Of
obsying the command Of the Lord, appro-
priated some Of the spoil Of the enemy for
his own purposes. This he did secretly.
Soon the lsraelites went forward 70 the
capture Of the city Of Al As it was small
place, Joshua sent only detachment TO
take it. But instead Of gaining victory,
they were severely defeated, and ran be-
fore their enemies. At that time, this was
q very serious thing, for il was important
that the banner Of victory should remain
with the Israelites, so Is TO inspire their
enemies with awe. Joshua was over
whelmed ut the news, and seems to have
lost his faith for awhile. He fell upon his
face before the Lord. ana bewailed thor
evil fate. In his distress he was Joined by
the elders Of the people, who thought that
an irreparablo disaster had befallen them.
They seem to have thought that oil was lost
In answer TO the bitter cry OF Joshua, God
told him that there was y traitor in the
camp who had dlsObeyed the command OF
God. and had taken of the accursed thing
God told Joshua that the evil-doer must be
discovered, and be punished, or no prosper
| L., taI oh no
10 not told IN our lesson, IL is told further
on, and Achan was punished. The story is
a most solemn one, and well fitted to bring
out the truth that sin is sure TO be found
out at last.
"Be sure your sin Will find you out"
Achan thought that he was safe, for he had
hidden the result of his theft and no one
knew of 1t. Yet before he was through
with that plumber, all was made as clear AS
the monday sun. Just 80 to-day, there are
young men who begiu to do what they know
is wrong, in the hope that they can escape
detection. Sometimes they 90 on for
while in safety, and then they grow bold
and are careless in the way in which they
commit their transgressions. But were the
truth known, we should be surprised At the
smalness of the number of those who long
escape detection Many and many young
man is caught in his very first crime, and
where one escapes, there are probably two
who are at once caught. But even if men
are not caught by earthly magistrates,
there is coming time when they will be
unable to escape from the Judge Of all men.
For the day is coming when all the deeds
of men will be brought to the light Of day,
and then all effort to conceal our deeds will
be vain. Every secret thing" will one
day be made clear, and then, o, how the
SINNER will wish that he had left the wicked
| deed undone!
| But there is another lesson 10 learn from
| this story, in the way in which Achan went
| from bad TO worse. In his excuse that he
made TO Joshua, he tells the story Of his fall
himself You may read u IN verse 81 Of this
same chapter Note ~ he saw. There
was nothing wrong in this. Many OF the
| Israeitcs besides him saw, as well as he.
Had he seen and at once destroyed all
would have been well. But he went further
| than this. For GU he coveted. Here his
| sin began. The desire to take that which
| God had forbidden was sinful Yet he
might have resisted this, If he had at once
asked God for His help. But he seems to
have allowed this desire to gain mastery
over him. He harbored the sinful wish,
which soon ripened into something more
| than mere desire For as we go on we
read, 81 l took. Yes, mere desire
has now ripened, and the wish is father 10
| the deed He who was a thief in desire has
! become a thief in reality. How quickly he
has passed over from the ranks OF the hon.
| est into those of the dishonest Now only
ono thing more remains for him to do, and
we may be sure that II will not be long be-
fore he has taken that one step a. hid.
| OF course he hid. What else could he dot
| He had taken the other steps, and there
was nothing else left. Then he kept on hid
ing, and acted the part Of liar. Thus he
filled up the measure of his crime. and not
only cursed himself, but all Israel as WE'LL
Rev 4. f. SchutlDfer.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.
| /. The sin Of one man is trouble TO all
with whom he is connected, IN family,
church or community.
| 2. The whole community are in a degree
responsible for the crimes Of its members.
| 8 Note the way to crime: ~ Achan saw &;
| (o) he coveted; a) he took; a. he con-
cealed; ~ he deceived; co. he was disoov-
cred; "a remorse; o. punishment
| L Take every trouble to God In prayer.
| 8. There Is . time when confession and
remorse are too lata
q Those who partake n Ne sin partAhIs
alpo in Vie pun6hRsaS
. God can not prosper US % long - ~