Homilist Joshua 3:14-17 And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan… Observe the sublime calmness of these priests — these leaders of the people; they stood firm in the midst of the waters till all passed over. The circumstances suggest two remarks about their firmness. I. THAT IT WAS RATIONAL IN ITS FOUNDATION. 1. It was not stolid indifference. 2. It was not confidence in their own power to keep back the mountain of water. 3. It was not, of course, faith in the laws of nature. These men were firm in defiance of nature's laws. 4. What, then, was the foundation of their firmness? The word of God. Now, our position is, that it is more rational to trust the word of God than the laws of nature. (1) Because His words bind Him to action; the laws of nature do not. (2) Because deviation from His word would be a far more serious thing to the universe, than deviation from the laws of nature. Were He to deviate from His word, virtue would be at an end, moral government would be disobeyed, the grand barrier between right and wrong, truth and error, heaven and hell, would be broken down; and anarchy and misery would deluge the moral creation. (3) Because He has departed from the laws of nature, but has never swerved an iota from His word. "Heaven and earth shall pass away," &c. 4. Two inferences necessarily flow from the foregoing considerations — (1) That it is more reasonable to walk by faith than by sight. (2) That apparent impossibilities can never be pleaded against Divine predictions. II. THAT IT WAS SALUTARY IN ITS INFLUENCE. 1. The force of human influence. The millions of every age follow the few. 2. The philosophy of useful influence. Fidelity to God is the spring of useful influence. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people; |
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