SERMON I. THE SURE DETECTION OF GUILT. NUMB. XXXII, 23. "BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT." THE circumstances under which these words were spoken were briefly these:-The people of Israel had been nearly forty years wandering in their journey through the wilderness, and were arrived at the east side of the river Jordan. The tribes of Reuben and Gad having much cattle, and seeing that the land was suitable for cattle, came to Moses, and said, If we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. And Moses said unto the children of Gad, and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? Wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? He then shows them how similar conduct had brought down the wrath of God upon B Israel soon after they left Egypt, and adds, Behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness, and ye shall destroy all this people. They reply, by saying, that it is their intention to leave behind their wives, their little ones, and their cattle, but to lead forth their men, ready armed, before the children of Israel; and further they promise not to re-cross the Jordan until every man of the children of Israel has obtained his inheritance. To this, Moses replies, If ye will do this thing; if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan before the Lord until he hath driven out his enemies from before him, and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. But if ye will not do so, behold ye have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. Happily events proved, that the suspicions of Moses, (however natural and probable in themselves,) were, on this occasion, unfounded. The two tribes were not insincere in their proposal, and therefore the warning of Moses was not, in this instance, followed by any practical exemplification of the truth |