“And Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
“And Joshua said, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done, hide it not from me.
“And Achan answered Joshua and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done.”
And there Kenrick stopped, while Wilton said, “My son! You see Joshua still called him ‘my son’ in spite of all his sin and mischief.”
“Yes, Raven boy, but that wasn’t why I read you the story which has often struck me. What I wanted you to see was this: The man was detected—the thing had been coming, creeping horribly near to him; first his tribe marked by the fatal lot, then his family, then his house, then himself; and while he’s standing there, guilty and detected, in the very midst of that crowd who had been defeated because of his baseness, and when all their eyes were scowling on him, and when he knows that he, and his sons, and his daughters, are going to be burned and stoned—at this very moment Joshua says to him, ‘My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the God of Israel.’ You see he’s to thank God for detecting him—thank God even at that frightful moment, and with that frightful death before him as a consequence. One would have thought that it wasn’t a matter for much gratitude or jubilation; but you see it was, and so both Joshua and Achan seem to have admitted.”
“Ah, Kenrick!” said Wilton, sadly, “if you’d always talked to me like that, I shouldn’t be like Achan now.”
Kenrick said nothing, but as he had received infinite comfort from Dr Lane’s treatment of himself, he took Wilton by the hand, and, without saying a word, knelt down. Wilton knelt down beside him, and he prayed for forgiveness for them both. A few broken, confused, uncertain words only, but they were earnest, and they came fresh and burning from the heart. They were words of true prayer, and the poor, erring, hardened little boy rose from his knees too overcome to speak.