[2.] Against superiors, especially because invested with magistracy
1 Dr Sibbes.
30O AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 16.
or ministry. Some men are of a yokeless, libertine spirit, will acknow- ledge no other law but their own lusts, as in the text, ' Murmurers, walking after their own lusts ;' think magistracy to be an encroachment upon their freedom, and therefore cannot away with any established order ; and as for ministry, that ' all the Lord's people are holy/ Num. xvi. 3 ; what need any to be set apart for that work ? Thus would they level all things in church and commonwealth, as those rebels rose up against Moses and Aaron. But though not against the office, we may murmur at the persons that are advanced, as if we would teach God how to govern the world, and whom to lift up and cast down ; or else by finding fault with their government without a cause. Some presumptuous persons, that never learned obedience, are always un- satisfied. It was observed of Egypt, that it was Loquax et ingeniosa ill contumeliam 'prwfectorum provincia ; si quis forte vitaverit culpam, coniumeliam non effugit. Many such un governed spirits there are, that are always traducing public government, especially when it is most faithfully managed, and to the discouragement of opinionists and evil-doers. God will not suffer this evil to go unpunished, Exod. xvi. 8, and 2 Sam. xviii. 7. The calling is his ordinance, the persons are de- signed by his providence, and the luorh concerneth his glory ; and therefore God taketh himself to be much interested in the quarrel.
2. There is a murmuring which is immediately against God him- self. Since the fall man is always quarrelling with his Maker, either against his decrees, or his laws, or his providence.
[1.] Against his decrees. Proud man cannot endure to hear of God's absolute sovereignty ; we will do what we will, but we will not give leave to God to do what he will. The good man of the house was fain to plead his right. Mat. xx. 15, ' Shall I not do with my own ? ' &c. We can see no reason why God should pass by one and choose another : though we can see no reason, it is enough it is God's pleasure. Mat. xi. 26. God hath his arcana imperii, as well as earthly princes, and we have cause to admire what we cannot understand ; things may be just, though his reasons appear not to us ; God is not bound to give us an account, or to tell us all his secrets ; human reason groweth giddy by prying into the depth of God's decrees. It is good to change disputes into wonder and reverence : Eom. ix. 20, ' Who art thou, 0 man, that disputest with God ? ' We may chop logic one with another, the potsherds of the earth with the pot- sherds of the earth, but God's prerogative is above the tribunal of our reason.
[2.] His laws. A proud creature cannot endure to hear of restraints ; we could love other things in God, but not his legislative power, Rom. viii. 7 ; the carnal mind will never stoop, but complaineth of him as harsh and severe, as if he had forbidden us the satisfying of those desires which he hath planted in us. The Israelites murmured thus : the land was a good land, but there were giants and sons of Anak, Num. xiii. 32. The heaven promised is a good heaven, but the way is rough and impassable ; duties are difficult, and it is cumbersome to thwart our lusts. The project of carnal nature is to find out an easy and smooth path to eternal happiness : see Ps. cvi. 24, 25, ' They despised the pleasant land ; they believed not his word, but murmured
VeR. 16.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 301
in their tents,' Heaven, figured by the land of Canaan, is not counted worth the pains and difficulty of getting thither.
[3.] His providence. In general, when the wicked prosper, it is a temptation that hath shaken the tallest cedars in Lebanon : David, though afterwards he was ashamed of it, and counts it brutish ignor- ance, Ps. Ixxiii. 22 ; so Jer. xii. 1-3, and Hab. i. But let us come to temptations that are of a more particular and private experience. We murmur either for what we luant, or for what we have lost, or for what we affect.
First, For what we want. As soon as we are straitened we com- plain presently ; this is not so bad as when we murmur out of wanton- ness. The Israelites, I observe, did fall a-murmuring either out of want, and then they were spared ; as for want of waters, Exod. xv. 24 ; for want of meat, Exod. xvi. 2 ; want of bread. Num. xx. 3 ; but at other times out of wantonness. They ' loathed manna,' must have quails ; but then some special judgment or other broke out upon them. But, however, it is bad enough when our necessities extort these complaints from us : want is a time of praying, not of murmuring. The throne of grace was erected for a ' time of need,' Heb. iv. 16. But it is man's usual custom to change duties into sins, as admonition into censuring ; instead of speaking to men, we speak of men ; so in- stead of complaining to God, we complain of God, and so make mur- muring take the room of prayer. Necessity is a time to put the promises in suit, to try faith, to awaken affections, not to provoke murmurings : ' I was dumb, and opened not my mouth,' saitli David, Ps. xxxix. 9. We may open our mouths in confessions of sin, humble narratives, pleading of promises, but not in self-justifications, stormings against providence, or words of unbelief and impatience ; so Ave must be dumb, and not once open our mouths.