CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Fellowship in Achan’s Fall | [1] |
| Joshua xxii. 20. | |
| Silent Sympathy | [6] |
| Job ii. 13. | |
| The Tempter’s “It is Written” | [10] |
| St. Matthew iv. 6, sq. | |
| Royalty Reminded of the Poor | [15] |
| Daniel iv. 27. | |
| Wind, Earthquake, Fire, and still small Voice | [32] |
| 1 Kings xix. 11, 12. | |
| Haman Hanged on his own Gallows | [41] |
| Esther vii. 10. | |
| To-day’s sufficing Evil, and To-morrow’s forecast Care | [47] |
| St. Matthew vi. 34. | |
| Medicamental Music | [55] |
| 1 Samuel xvi. 23. | |
| Free from Righteousness | [60] |
| Romans vi. 20. | |
| The Service of Freedom | [66] |
| St. Matthew xi. 29, 30. | |
| The Discreet Silence of Folly | [70] |
| Proverbs xvii. 28. | |
| Penal Prevision | [76] |
| 1 Samuel xxvii. 19, 20. | |
| Beatific Vision and Overshadowing Cloud | [86] |
| St. Luke ix. 34. | |
| The Spreading Gourd and the Speeding Worm | [91] |
| Jonah iv. 6-8. | |
| Self-praise | [96] |
| Proverbs xxvii. 2. | |
| Painted Face, Tired Head, and Exposed Skull | [101] |
| 2 Kings ix. 30, 35. | |
| The Carcase of Jezebel on the Face of the Field | [104] |
| 2 Kings ix. 37. | |
| “Consider the Lilies” | [109] |
| St. Matthew vi. 28. | |
| A Histrionic Aspect of Life | [114] |
| 1 Corinthians vii. 31. | |
| Pharaoh’s Alternations of Amendment and Relapse | [125] |
| Exodus vii.-x. passim. | |
| Sleep and Death | [134] |
| St. John xi. 11-14. | |
| Eliab and David in the Valley of Elah | [139] |
| 1 Samuel xvii. 28. | |
| The Prophet in his own Country | [143] |
| St. Luke iv. 24. | |
| Desired Boon: Realized Bane | [147] |
| Psalm cvi. 15; lxxviii. 22, sq. | |
| “And He Died” | [156] |
| Genesis v. passim. | |
| An Ultra-Protester | [165] |
| St. Matthew xxvi. 33-35; 69-75. | |
| Fleeting Shadows | [170] |
| Job xiv. 2. | |
| Haran taken: Terah left | [182] |
| Genesis xi. 28. | |
| The Mote and the Beam | [187] |
| St. Matthew vii. 5. | |
| Strangers and Pilgrims | [192] |
| 1 Peter ii. 11. | |
| The Falsity of the Familiar Friend | [200] |
| Psalm xli. 9. | |
| “Judge Not” | [208] |
| St. Matthew vii. 1. | |
| Part-Knowledge | [224] |
| 1 Corinthians xiii. 9. | |
| Ruling the Waves | [231] |
| Psalm cxiv. 1-5; St. Mark iv. 39. | |
| In deadly Peril unawares | [237] |
| 1 Samuel xxvi. 8-25. | |
| No Leisure | [242] |
| St. Mark vi. 31. | |
| A Prophylactic Knife to the Throat | [249] |
| Proverbs xxiii. 2. | |
| Hazael’s abhorrent Repudiation of his future Self | [255] |
| 2 Kings viii. 13. | |
| The Open Right Hand’s Secret from the Left | [259] |
| St. Matthew vi. 3. | |
| To-morrow | [263] |
| St. James iv. 13, 14. | |
| The Divine Authorship of Order | [273] |
| 1 Corinthians xiv. 33, 40. | |
| Sweet Sleep and its Forfeiture | [282] |
| Proverbs iii. 24. | |
| Once Denied, Thrice Denied | [286] |
| St. Matthew xxvi. 69, sq. | |
| Linked Lies | [290] |
| Genesis xxvii. 19-24. | |
| A Time to Weep, and a time to Laugh | [296] |
| Ecclesiastes iii. 4. | |
| Disallowed Designs | [301] |
| Proverbs xix. 21 | |
| Man Devising: God Directing | [305] |
| Proverbs xvi. 9. | |
| A Pursebearer’s Protest against Purposeless Waste | [309] |
| St. John xii. 5. | |
| Light at Evening-time | [313] |
| Zechariah xiv. 7. | |
| Wished-for Day | [323] |
| Acts xxvii. 29. | |
| The More than Brotherhood of a Bosom Friend | [328] |
| Proverbs xviii. 24. | |
| Many Years to enjoy Life: this Night to Die | [333] |
| St. Luke xii. 19, 20. | |
| Great Babylon Built: a Builder’s Boast | [337] |
| Daniel iv. 29-33. | |
| Invocation and Inaction | [342] |
| Exodus xiv. 15. | |
| Co-operant Units | [348] |
| Ephesians iv. 16. | |
| Subordinate, not Superfluous; or, Depreciated Membership | [353] |
| 1 Corinthians xii. 22. | |
| The Wrath-dispelling Power of a Soft Answer | [357] |
| Proverbs xv. 1. | |
| A Twice-told Tale of Years | [361] |
| Ecclesiastes vi. 6. | |
| Daybreak no Solace: Nightfall no Relief | [365] |
| Deuteronomy xxviii. 36, 37. | |
| Buyer’s Bargain and Boast | [367] |
| Proverbs xx. 14. | |
| Gray-haired Unawares | [372] |
| Hosea vii. 9. | |
| Restrained Anger | [376] |
| Proverbs xvi. 32. | |
| Evanescence of the Early Dew | [381] |
| Hosea vi. 3. | |
| Ears to Hear | [386] |
| St. Luke viii. 8. | |
| Not Alone in the Valley of Shadows | [389] |
| Psalm xxiii. 4. |
SECULAR ANNOTATIONS
ON
SCRIPTURE TEXTS.
FELLOWSHIP IN ACHAN’S FALL.
Joshua xxii. 20.
When Achan the son of Zerah committed a trespass in the accursed thing, wrath fell not alone upon Achan, but upon all the congregation of Israel; “and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.” The text is one to arrest the thoughtless, and to suggest even to the most thoughtful matter for very serious consideration.
“Should one man sin, and would God be wroth with all the congregation?” That deprecatory question had been put twenty years before Achan’s trespass, by the congregation of Israel, in the matter of Korah, when they fell upon their faces and pleaded with God, the God of the spirits of all flesh. And some centuries later the confession of King David in time of pestilence took this form: that he had sinned and done wickedly; but those sheep—those subjects of his, involved in the penalty of his transgression, and dying off like sheep in a flock to the right and left of him, seventy thousand of them from morning to evening, from Dan even to Beersheba,—what had they done?