The procession of the army round Jericho, would represent the survey on all sides which is made by the soul, of the system which is opposed to its spiritual progress. The procession moved on in solemn silence, except that the priests sounded the trumpets as they passed along. The silent march would represent meditation, contemplation of the character of this error, in every part. The sound of the trumpets would represent the proclamation of the whole bearing of divine truth, that it requires justice, love, wisdom, order and obedience. The rams' horns which were used as trumpets, would represent the truths of charity. Sheep in the Word are the types of the good affections of charity, which make the Christian kind, and disposed to follow and obey the great Shepherd in His works of mercy. John x., Matt. xxv. The ram, the male of the sheep, would represent the intellectual side of these affections, or the firm thoughts and strong determinations which sustain and defend such gentle affections. The horns, by which the rams exert their force, correspond to the truths of the Word by which strong-minded Christians exert their force. Using these horns for trumpets, would represent the earnest publishing of the truths of charity from the Word. Love the Lord, love your neighbour, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the widow, defend the fatherless, aid the sick, set free the captive. "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." These are rams' horns that sound aloud against a system of "only believing." These send terror into the conscience of one who has unhappily been led to trust in a mock religion, and are as formidable as, no doubt, the alarming blasts of the rams' horns were, to the terror stricken, guilty inhabitants of the polluted Jericho, when the majestic army of Israel went round the devoted city. The march on each of the six days, would represent consideration and comparison of this dangerous delusion, in relation to all the states of the regenerate life. The states in which there are labour, struggle, and temptation, are represented by the six days of labour; and the rest that follows, by the seventh day, or the Sabbath. The seven times of making the circuit of the city on the seventh day would correspond to a full, complete, and entire devotion of the whole good affections and thoughts of the mind, to the overthrow of this delusion, and its expulsion from the soul. All the previous operations represent man's obedience to the divine teachings. They were uttered to Israel by Joshua, they are uttered to the spiritual Israel, by the Lord Jesus. He is our Divine Joshua, and when we faithfully obey, then comes the time for the divine operation. We cannot remove interior evils, or interior false delusions, of ourselves; but when we in faith obey, carefully following the Lord in our duties and our trials, the fulness of time comes, when the divine spirit of our Lord removes them as triumphantly now, as it did the walls at Jericho. When all the people shout, indicative of the fervour of the whole soul, then the Lord acts. Omnipotence takes the strength from the frowning bulwarks, and they crumble to dust. When power from the Lord smites them, they become very weakness, as at the Red Sea, when, "The Lord but looked out from His pillars of glory, So, here, at Jericho, the walls fell flat. The defences were gone. The panic stricken inhabitants saw they were utterly helpless. The hour of judgment was come. Israel went straight before them. Doubtless the extirpation which followed by divine permission, was a necessity for the health of the universe, as the removal of an ulcer is occasionally for the health of the body. But it represented also the removal in the soul of the falsities and evils of the dangerous system represented by Jericho. Nothing is so black, so defiled, so full of horrors as that least read of all books, the unregenerate heart. It is a dark chamber of horrors, a miniature hell. When it resists purification, under whatever pretence, or whatever doctrine, it is resisting the only means of ever attaining happiness, of ever reaching heaven. When the light of divine truth has laid its inner character quite open, by every fancied excuse, and all false pretext falling down like the walls of Jericho, then, all that the better principles of the soul have to do is to go straight before them, destroy all the nest of evil impulses and evil thoughts, taking up the words of the Psalmist. "Innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to look up, they are more than the hairs of my head."-Ps. xl. 12. "They compassed me about, yea, they compassed me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them."-Ps. cxix. 11. The inward sins thus unfolded to us will perish and die. While every good, like Rahab and her house, will be preserved, and thus far we shall have attained the greatest of all victories, the victory of self, and be able to lay the crown at the adorable feet of Him whose name is Jesus, because "He saves His people from their sins." SERMON LVI. ACHAN'S SIN AND ISRAEL'S DEFEAT. "And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it."-Joshua vii, 20, 21. After the signal triumph of Israel in the conquest of Jericho, with its strong walls and numerous population, the army was elated, and buoyant, as they well might be. With so striking an evidence that the Almighty was with them, they readily concluded that they must be victorious: nothing could stand before them. So long as they were obedient no doubt this was true. The divine promise had been given, and was always maintained. "The Lord shall establish thee a holy people unto himself as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in His ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee." How soon they were to learn that the golden thread of obedience was the bond of all their success. That broken, and they were not only weak as other nations, but weaker than they. Long sojourn as slaves in Egypt had made them slaves in soul. They were especially subject to panic. They fled almost when not pursued. "They had trembling hearts, failing eyes, and sorrow of mind." With God, none so strong; without Him, none so weak as they. This was speedily exemplified in their shameful retreat from before Ai. About twelve miles from Jericho was that royal and ancient city, a stronghold of the Amorites, in a strikingly beautiful and mountainous region, of what afterwards became the province of the tribe of Benjamin. We read of it in the time of Abraham. It was about five miles east and south of Bethel. It was glorious with ancient recollections, but now filled with a polluted though resolute race. Joshua, like a skilful general, lost no time in surveying the neighbourhood of Ai While the impression of the fall of Jericho was fresh, he sent forward spies to view Ai and its neighbourhood, who reported that it would be an easy prize. Three thousand men they said would be quite competent to take this city, and more than that number would be unnecessary. Three thousand men were sent, but instead of effecting their object, or finding the men of Ai daunted, the latter turned out vigorously, and though only thirty-six of the three thousand were killed, the whole body were driven in cowardly and headlong flight, "wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water." Judge what must have been the feelings of the valiant Joshua. He fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide. He was bowed down with shame and sorrow. The success he had so recently gloried in was wrested from him; and the most appalling calamities threatened the whole host. The great cause of which he was the leader would fail unless this tide of defeat could be speedily rolled back, and the cause of so great a disaster be discovered. He lay before the Lord; where the sin-stricken and sorrowing should ever lie, until they learn why they have been chastened, and where is the offending evil, and what is the repentance required. It was revealed to the humbled and sorrowing chief, that the divine ordinance concerning Jericho had been broken by some concealed traitor, and instead of the devoted goods of Jericho all being destroyed, this greedy traitor had concealed a portion. Instead of the gold and silver being all brought into the treasury of the Lord, and consecrated to sacred uses, a base person had secretly held some back. To give a salutary lesson to the whole host, an examination of the whole, according to their tribes and households, was to be made by lot, until the guilty individual was found, and the sin entirely put away by his destruction. Early the next morning the faithful Joshua roused the camp, and the Divine Will was stated. An examination was made from tribe to tribe, from family to family, and from man to man, and at length the lot fell upon Achan, whom Joshua charged to confess his guilt, which had thus perilled Israel's safety, and brought such shame upon them. Achan did confess in the words of our text. "I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish The garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them and took them." Joshua sent messengers, and verified the confession. objects were found hidden in, and under Achan's tent. They were brought out, Achan and his family were stoned to death, and the whole of the objects and the dead bodies were burned with fire. A great heap of stones was raised upon the spot, and the place was called the valley of Achor, (trouble) a name which marked the spot for centuries of after time. It seems at first sight as if the punishment was extremely severe. But we must remember that Israel's existence as a nation depended upon obedience. Israel's existence, as the representative of a Church, until the coming of the Lord, was essential even to the existence of mankind, for unless there was a Church among the human race, that race would perish. It was essential, therefore, that the Sin of Achan should be thoroughly rooted out, by condign chastisement; and, consequently, it was permitted by Him who sees and knows all things, and whose mercy endureth for ever. To destroy one offender whose sin endangers millions, is no doubt truest mercy. But, when we consult the spiritual import of what Achan did, it will open to us the counsels of Divine Wisdom still more fully, and enable us to gather lessons of instruction for ourselves, and for every age of the Church. Achan, the troubler, as the name implies, the covetous one, being so soon discovered in Israel, brings strongly before us the truth, that only by degrees can regeneration be effected. has just accomplished a signal victory. They would, no doubt, suppose that now all would be easy; but almost directly afterwards they discover evil in their very midst. How often is this the Christian's experience! One day he feels he has accomplished a glorious triumph, but the next he is humbled, even to the very dust. In the morning, he will be full of gratitude, thanksgiving, and heavenly emotions; but ere the day is over some trouble arises, and reveals how little progress he has made in heavenly advancement, and he almost despairs of solid success. The overthrow of Jericho, as we have previously seen, represented the overthrow of that system opposed to all true preparation for heaven, which makes salvation consist in making the Lord merciful, who is ever merciful, instead of in making man pure, good, and heavenly. This system is a very compound one. There is a mixture of good in it, as well as of evil; of truth as |