on which they might be received with the most implicit affi- ance ; for that God had repeatedly pledged his power and veracity for the performance of them. Thrice had God renewed that solemn declaration, " I am Jehovah," the eternal, self- existent, and immutable Jehovah : and, times almost without number, he had undertaken to execute, with his own irresist- ible arm, the whole that he had promised : " / will bring you out ; / will rid you ; I will redeem you ; I will bring you into the land ; I will give it you ; / will take you to me for a people, and / will be your Godc."]
Yet would not the people receive, or even " hearken
to," his words —
[Their minds were so wholly occupied with their present troubles, that they could think of nothing else: they were altogether overwhelmed with " anguish of spirit:" and so utterly did they despair of relief, that they desired to be left to live and die under their present servitude, rather than run the risk of augmenting their afflictions by any further application to Pharaoh in their behalf'1.]
Without dwelling any longer on their conduct, I beg leave to call your attention to,
II. The instruction to be derived from it —
We may notice from hence,
1. The weakness of the human mind —
[It has been justly said, that " oppression will make a wise man made:" and the common experience of all is, that " hope deferred maketh the heart sickV In my text, we see both the one and the other strongly exemplified. And, in truth, where afflictions are great and of long continuance, the mind of every man is apt to faint : nor can any thing but divine grace adequately sustain it. Even David, -when hunted by Saul as a partridge upon the mountains, forgat for a season the power and fidelity of his Protector, and in a fit of despon- dency exclaimed, " I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul." So, under various circumstances, the Church of old complained, " My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God : " yea, " the Lord hath forsaken me, and my God hath forgotten me." Sometimes her despair has been so entire, that she has even made the justice of it a ground of appeal both to God and man : " Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered ? " But this expe- rience, in whomsoever it be found, is decidedly contrary to the mind and will of God. We are never to limit the power of
c ver. 2 — 8. d Gen. xiv. 11,12. e Eccl. vii. 7. f Prov. xiii. 12.