The works of the Rev. William Thom, late minister ... - waughfamily.ca

110 SERMONS.from me :" I imagine, I fay, that fev/ •vwould make aclean bread, or anfwer with a candour fimilar to thatof Achan. Woiikl a treafurer, deeply guilty, an undcr-treafurer,or teller in exchequer, fay, I beheld thegold as it lay fparkling uj3on the table ; I was ftruckwith its beauty ; I coveted it ; I took ir; it is hid inmy hcufe j I have bought land with it ; or it is fecuredfor me in a foreign bank.—Or would a generalmake anfwer, J might have got myfelf informed.about the motions of the enemy before they fell uponmy army in the night-time •, but I liked to favefor myfelf as miich of the gold as I couldj and hadnot fpies enougli to britig me proper intelligence.Or, indeed I have finnted ; I was in force to attackthe enemy in their trenches, and difperfe their army;but, liking the honour and emoluments of my office,I was afraid the war m.ight end too fv>on, whereby Iwould fink to the rank I had held before I got thecommand of the army.—Or another j it is true, I believethe revolted provinces, where I was flationed,might have fubmitted to the clemency of my royalmailer ; but I kept faft hold of the gold wherev/ithaiI fhould have clothed and fed my men : I faw myfoldiers hungry and naked, and, inftead of leadingthem to fupport m.y brother general, who about thattime was made prifoner, I let them loofe to pillagethe houfss, and drive av/av the cattle of the innocentpeafants *, if any of thefe peafants pretended to defendor hide their efFe6ls, or to convey their cattleout of my way, I nrfl called them thieves, next fellupon them w^ith the fword, and then fet fire to theirvillages, and burnt them to the ground.—Or if, bythe rueful efFecl: of his violent and foolifh meafures,a flatefman is forced to acknowledge part of his guilt,will he, like Achan, make a thorough confeflion ?will he make that confeffion frankly, whilft it may.''be available to remove the public curfe You may,perhaps, hear him fay, I made rapidly feveral X'iolent