A SERMON

BY

DAVID OSGOOD, D. D.

PASTOR OF A CHURCH, IN MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

JOSHUA Xxiv. 15.

As for me and my houfe, we will ferve the Lord.

ON the death of Moses, Joshua his favorite minister succceeded to the supreme command over all the tribes of Israel, and was constituted their head and leader. Under his conduct they passed over Jor. dan, attacked the nations of Canaan, and in the course of a few years, made a complete conquest of the country. This renouned general and ruler presided in the partition of the lands, and in settling their civil and religious polity. Through the whole of these great transactions, he approved himself to God and his people, exhibiting all those noble qualities of heart and understanding which rendered him worthy of his high station. When some years had elapsed, and Joshua was now advanced in age, and the time of his departure was at hand, he gathered all Israel to Shechem, that he might give them his farewell discourse, his last, solemn, dying charge. A scene more striking rarely occurs in history. How august was the assembly of a great nation, with its Elders, Judges, and officers, civil and sacred, all attending the man who had rendered them such various and important services! They now behold for the last time, the Hero, who had been foremost in every danger, leading their armies to battle through many successive campaigns, and under whose conduct, they had become masters of one of the finest countries in the

world, 'a land flowing with milk and honey.' Their eyes are fixed on the venerable patriot, whose noble disinterested exertions, whose wisdom and counsels had established them in the quiet possession of liberty, peace and plenty. Their attention is summoned by the aged prophet, who had long been the oracle of the Most High unto them, who had taught them the good knowledge of God, and how to serve him acceptably This prophet now addresses them with his last message from the Almighty, Was it possible for them not to be affected with the farewell discourse of one to whom they were under such manifold obligations? They were affected, and at no time did this people discover a temper more susceptible of good impressions, than was that exhibited on the present occasion.

In a nervous and pathetic address, Joshua recapit. ulates some principal events in their history, in which the arm of the Almighty had been made, bare on their behalf. He reminds them of their small origi. nal, and of the divine favor and protection to their progenitors, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob down to the period when the family became resident in Egypt. He sets before them an account of the signal interpositions of heaven in their deliverance from the Egyptian bondage; the wonders wrought for them during their progress through the wilderness, and while making a conquest of Canaan and getting pos session of that good land. Having endeavoured to warm their hearts with a sense of these blessings from Jehovah, he comes to the main point, which is, to fix them in a steady adherence to his worship, and guard them against every species of idolatry. With great earnestness and affection he applies to them, Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth;' adding in the verse of which the text is a part, And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you will serve

whether the gods which your fathers served, that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell.' We are not to conclude from these words, that Joshua was apprehensive that the people were at this time actually wavering in their opinion concerning the object of their worship. He speaks like an orator; he invites them to choose, merely because he supposes the choice already made. Just as if he had addressed them thus; put away from you every object of idolatry, and determine to serve the Lord only. Ah! whom will you serve, speak candidly, whom will you serve, if you refuse him your homage? Where could you hope to find a God, worthy to be compared with him? If the worship of those gods which your ancestors worshipped beyond the Euphrates, hath the sanction of antiquity; ye know on the other hand, that Abraham openly abjured that worship, that from his heart he renounced those idols, and that thereby drawing upon him the benediction of the Most High, he obtained from his munificence, as his inheritance, the country of which you now have taken possession. As to the gods of the Amorites, I know you are convinced how despicable those impotent idols are, whose worshippers ye have subdued. Yet make your choice however. Nothing should be more free than the preference given to a religion. But know, O Israelites ! the choice of Joshua no longer remains to be made; I and my house; I and all my family, if I am master of it, will serve the Lord, and remain faithful to him even to death."

Such was the pious resolution of this great and eminent personage, and thus firmly was it expressed, with an air, a voice and looks---all bespeaking his glowing zeal for God and his affectionate concern for Israel. The large and solemn audience heard him with attention, felt the force of his words, and in a kind of religious transport, exclaimed God for

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bid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods...we slso will serve the Lord for he is our God.' How happy was the preacher in being able thus to impress the sentiments of his own heart on the hearts of his hearers, and in bringing them into the same resolutions with himself, to avouch the Lord to be their God, and to a solemn promise of fidelity to him!

Joshua's example, as the head and master of a family, is now, my hearers, proposed for our imitation; and to persuade those of you who sustain a similar relation, to come into his views and adopt his resolution for yourselves and families with respect to the service of God, is the design of the present discourse. What the service of God was under the law, none, who are acquainted with the writings of Moses, can be ignorant. Under the gospel, the mode of serving him is different. No longer encumbred with manifold rites and ceremonies, with tedious forms of outward purifications, nor requiring costly oblations; it is plain and simple. In the direct and immediate sense of the text as applicable to ourselves, the service of God consists in our grateful acknowledgment of the true and living Jehovah for our God; in rendering him the homage required in his word, in calling upon him in our families and closets; in attending the public ordinances of his worship, in professing our faith in Christ, our regard for him as the medium of our whole intercourse with the Father and the basis of all our hopes; and in a course of persevering obe. dience to his precepts. As our whole duty is com prised in what Christ has enjoined, the service of God requires, that, in obedience to our coustituted head and leader, we persevere in the practice of all the branches of piety, benevolence and sobriety, regulating our hearts and lives by the rules of the gospel, and exerting our whole influence to promote the interests of christian virtue and holiness in the world. In this comprehensive sense, every sincere christian

is devoted to the service of God, and firmly resolved to persevere therein to the end of life. That this should be the resolution of each one in this assembly is, in itself, a matter of the greatest and most weighty concern. It is however, especially incumbent upon those who preside as heads of families. Personal re ligion is essentially necessary in order to give rise to such a resolution as is expressed in the text, and to the keeping and fulfilling of it afterward. It is indispensably requisite to the right performance of those various duties to which an householder binds himself when he says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Whatever of religion he here promises for his family, should be the fruit and effect of vital religion in himself. In order therefore, to the governing of a family in a religious manner, it is high ly important,

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That the master of it should himself possess the power of Godliness. Some indeed, who are strangers to vital piety, may yet, from worldly consider. ations, be induced to keep up the forms of religion in their families: but as their hearts are not engaged in such observances, it cannot be expected that they should be so steady, and exemplary in them, as the man who has entered into the spirit of religion and has a feeling sense of its reality and importance.... For the good of their families then, as well as for their own future and everlasting welfare, it is of the greatest moment that householders should be truly religious, and each one, with the good man in the text, resolve for himself in the first place, as for me, I will serve the Lord: What resolution can be more rational or more advantageous than this? Has not God every imaginable claim to our service? He made and upholds us in life, and is, every moment, pouring his providential bounty around us. But, what ought still more deeply to effect us, when we had undone our. selves and were sinking under loads of guilt and mise