(2.) He was a very meek man : Num. xii. 3, 'Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.' This commendation the Spirit of God giveth to Moses, though by Moses' own pen. Now meekness is a virtue which keepeth a mean in anger and avenging ourselves when we are offended, wronged, and contemned ; yet this meek man could be thus angry : Ps. cvi. 32, ' They angered him also at the waters of strife ; ' and ver. 33, ' They provoked his spirit.' In the holiest men there are relics of sin unmortified, and such weakness as they may readily fall into sin in the hour of tempta- tion, and such sin as may cost them dear. Who would have thought his spirit should be so grieved and embittered ? It is a dangerous sin to mingle our passions with God's public service, or to go about the work that he sets us to do with any carnal perturbation. There- fore we had need watch over ourselves.
(3.) He was a man greatly provoked, yet this doth not exempt him from blame and correction. Though men are to be pitied who are provoked to sin, yet the provocation excuses not the sinner. Moses had led them by God's direction to this place, and there they murmured against him when they wanted water, and to such a height that he was fain to take shelter in the sanctuary to avoid their fury. But this doth not excuse Moses : Ps. cvi. 32, ' They angered him at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes.' Their peevishness provoked him, yet because he commanded not his passion, he was punished with an exclusion out of Canaan. Aaron upon another occasion thought to excuse himself : Exod. xxxii. 22, ' Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot ; thou knowest this people, that they are set on mischief,' &c. But Aaron's sin was so great that God was very
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angry with him, and thought to have destroyed him, if Moses liad not prayed for him ; as you may see, Deut. ix. 20, ' The Lord was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.' Alas ! these excuses are frivolous ; it is along of others, and consider the great injuries I received. Every man is to answer for his own actions, and cannot he hurt by others without his own consent.
(4.) Both the persons were in public offices, the magistracy and the ministry, and the highest and most eminent of their rank ; the one chief governor of Israel, the other high priest. God will spare none ; yea, the higher they are, the greater are their offences, because of the influence of their example ; and therefore their lot will be the harder ; God will reckon with them when he passes by others. If any, the duty of whose place obliges them to be eminent in faith and holiness, mis- carry, the provocation is the greater. As David's sin is aggravated by his office : ' I anointed thee king over Israel,' 2 Sam. xii. 7 ; and the priests are sorely threatened : Mai. ii. 7, 8, ' The priests' lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth ; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way, ye have caused many to stumble at the law, ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the Lord of hosts.' Their negligence and errors are greater than others; they should be 'Examples to the flock,' 1 Peter v. 3.
Secondly, The nature of the crime.
(1.) It was a spiritual one. They did not sanctify God in obeying and depending upon his word before the eyes of the people. We only look to outward gross sins, but spiritual sins we take no notice of. There are sins in genere nioris, and in genere fidei — sins against our moral duty, and sins against the rule of faith. There are peccata majoris infamcc, and i^eccata majoris reatus — sins of greater infamy, and more publicly hateful, and sins of greater guilt. Of the first sort are murder, adultery, theft, &c. Natural light puts a brand upon these : ep'ya aapKo^ (^avepa, Gal. v. 19, ' The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lascivious- ness.'- These smell rank in nature's nostrils, every one knoweth them to be great sins, and a child of God doth hardly fall into these sensual villanies. But there are other sins of a more spiritual nature, such as want of love to God, and faith in Christ, and hope of eternal life ; or such necessary degrees of either as may enable us to honour him in the world. Few take notice of these, but God judgeth not as man judgeth; these may be more dangerous, as being not only against our duty, but our remedy. Few think distrustful thoughts, or distracting cares, or sinful fears, or immoderate sorrow are such grievous distempers as they afterwards prove to be, till they cherish them so long that they find the grievousness of the sin in the greatness of the punishment.