Finally, it is the most fatal of all evils — [Other evils, if we come to God in the exercise of faith, may be forgiven : but this evil, whilst it is yet dominant in the soul, precludes a possibility of forgiveness ; because it keeps us from God, to whom we ought to come ; and puts away from us that mercy which he offers to bestow. The whole adult population of Israel perished in the wilderness. What was it that prevented their entrance into Canaan ? We are told, " They could not enter in because of unbelief11." And what is it which, under the Gospel also, is the great damning sin ? it is this : "Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature : he that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved; and he that believeth not, shall be damned1."]
Whilst the answer of God to Moses reproves this evil, it points out to us, II. Its proper antidote —
To prevent its ever gaining an ascendant over us, we should,
1. Reflect on God's power as already exercised —
[Had Moses only called to mind the wonders which God
had already wrought for his people, he would not have
"staggered at the promise" that was now given. Nor shall
we doubt the certainty of any promise whatever, if we bear in
a Numb, xxiii. 19. e Gen. xviii. 12, 13. f Luke i. 20.
g Ps.lxxviii.40— 42. h Heb. iii. 18. i Mark'xvi.15,16.
remembrance what God has already done. It is for this end that God himself refers us to all his wonders of creation, pro- vidence, and redemption. Of Creation, he speaks thus : " Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God ? Hast thou not known ? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary ? there is no searching of his understanding V So, in reference to his Providence : "Where- fore, when I came, was there no man ; when I called, was there none to answer ? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver ? Behold, at my rebuke, I dry up the sea ; I make the rivers a wilderness ; their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sack- cloth their covering1." So also respecting Redemption, St. Paul expressly tells us that God's particular design, in converting and saving him, was, to shew to all future generations his power to save, and to cut off all occasion for despondency from the whole world : " For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first (in me, the chief of sinners) God might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting111." It is in this view that the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures is of such infinite benefit to the soul : for when we see what God has already done, it is almost impossible to doubt his power to effect whatever in his mercy he has promised to us.]
2. Reflect on his veracity, as unalterably pledged —
[When did God ever violate his engagements ? His word has been pledged for many things ; and has been questioned of mankind : but when did he abstain from fulfilling it ? He said to our first parents in Paradise, " In the day that ye eat of the forbidden tree, ye shall die." No, says the tempter, " Ye shall not surely die." But whose word proved true ? Satan's? or the Lord's? Again, to the antediluvians, God said that he would destroy by water every living creature, except what should be contained in the ark. During the building of the ark, the scoffers were lavish enough of con- tempt. But did God's word fail, either in relation to those who were to be saved, or to those who were doomed to perish? The destruction of Sodom, the captivities of Israel and Judah, the sending of the Messiah, the establishment of the Re- deemer's kingdom in the world, furnished plenty of matter for doubt, before they were accomplished : but they all came to pass in their season, according to the word of God. For the