with the imperious dictates of the worldq. Behold! the Pillar and the Cloud are ready to conduct your path. The great I AM is for you : who then can be against you I Go forth ; and universal nature shall applaud your steps r.]
<i Pharaoh, after many successive plagues, agreed first that they should sacrifice to God in the land, but not in the wilderness ; then that they should go into the wilderness, hut not far; then that the men should go, but without the women or children; then that the women and children, but not the flocks. Exod. viii. 25, 28. and x. 11, 24. Thus the world would prescribe limits to the service we shall pay to God. r Isai. lv. 12.
Exod. iv. 10 — 14. And Moses said unto the Lord, 0 my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant : but I am sloio of speech, and of a sloiv tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth ? or tvho maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not L the Lord? Now therefore go ; and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. And he said, 0 my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou unit send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses.
THAT iniquity should prevail among the blind and ignorant, is no more than might reasonably be ex- pected : but when we behold it in the most eminent saints, we are ready to exclaim, " Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou so regardest him ?" It should seem indeed that God has determined to stain the pride of human glory, by recording the faults of his most favoured servants. It is remarkable that those who are most noted in Scripture for their piety, not only fell, but manifested their weakness in those very graces for which they were most distinguished. Abraham yielded to unbelief, Job to impatience, Moses to anger, Peter to fear. The circumstances here related concerning Moses, clearly shew, not only what Moses was, but what human nature is, when put to the trial. The fol- lowing observations therefore, while they elucidate the text, will lead us to behold our own faces as in a glass.
66^] MOSES DECLINING GOD's COMMISSION. 331
I. There is in man a backwardness to engage in
God's service —
[Who was this man ? Moses, in some respects the most pious of mankind. What was the service to which he was called? The most honourable and beneficial that could possibly be
assigned him Yet, with a pertinacity truly surprising,
he persisted in declining it, and desired that any one might be employed in it rather than hea.
We, it is true, are called to no such service. But is there no work committed to us ? Has not God appeared to us in his word, and commanded us to devote ourselves to his service ? Has not the Saviour bidden us to " deny ourselves, and take up our cross daily, and follow him 1 " And have we not shewn an utter aversion to obey his call % Glorious as his service is, have we not declined it ; and, like Moses, been more studious of our own ease than either of God's honour or the benefit of our fellow-creatures ? Because we have foreseen difficulties, we have been unwilling to embark in the cause of God and of our own souls; when we ought rather to have gloried in enduring hardships for God, and closed with the proposal at once, saying, " Here am I, Lord; send meb."]
II. We are prone to cloke this backwardness with
vain excuses —
[Moses would not in plain terms refuse to obey his God; but he tried by every method to excuse himself from under- taking the office assigned him. He first pretends to decline through modesty c : and we might have given him credit for real humility, if his subsequent refusals had not shewn that he was actuated by a far different principle. When God has obviated all objections arising from his unworthiness, then, in direct opposition to God's promise, he objects, that the people will not believe his message d. To remove all apprehensions on this ground, God works three miracles before him, and commissions him to perform the same in the sight of Pharaoh and the people of Israel e. Still averse to engage in this work, he pleads his want of eloquence, and his consequent unfitness for such an undertaking*. To obviate this, God asks him, " Who made man's mouth;" and whether He, who had given him the faculty of speech, was not able to give effect to his endeavours ? Yea, he promises to "be with him, and to teach him what he shall say." And does not all this overcome his reluctance ? No : he still declines the service, and begs that God would employ any other person rather than himself. Now we say that these were vain excuses : for the real