His Church is founded on a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The enemies of our souls may follow us even to the last moment of our lives ; but when the appointed moment is arrived for the completion of all God's promises to us, our souls shall be freed from every assault, and " death and hell, with all their adherents, be cast into the lake of fire V]
1 Rev. xx. 14.
Exod. xv. 24, 25. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shelved him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance; and there he proved them.
GREAT are the vicissitudes of human life : nor is there any person exempt from them. Even the most favoured servants of God, when moving expressly in the way that he has appointed for them, may be reduced as it were in an instant from the highest pinnacle of earthly prosperity to a state of the deepest distress and anguish. Not to mention an imprisoned Joseph, a dethroned David, an incarcerated Daniel, we notice the whole nation of Israel exulting in the completest deliverance that ever was vouchsafed to any people in the world, and within three days brought down to utter despondency. But from this we may derive much profitable instruction ; whilst we notice,
I. Their trial —
This was indeed severe —
[We have no idea in general how much our happiness, and even our very lives, depend on the common bounties of Providence. We acknowledge this indeed in words ; but we have by no means a proportionate sense of our obligations to God for a regular supply of water. The Israelites had tra- velled three days, and had found none ; till at last, coming to Marah, they found an abundant supply: but, behold, the water was so bitter, as to be incapable of being turned to any general use. When the Israelites, in addition to their want, were made to experience this painful disappointment, they broke out into murmuring and complaints.]
But their murmuring was wrong —