3. Those who, like Caleb, are following the Lord fully-
[Fear not singularity in so good a cause. If you are sin- gular in following the Lord fully, the fault is not yours, but theirs who presume to violate the divine commands. Go on then, though the whole universe should be against you. If God acknowledge you as his servants, you need not regard the censures or the threats of men. You are embarked in a good cause : you serve a good Master : you run for a good prize. The land of promise is before you. Press forward for the attainment of it : "Be faithful unto death, and God will give you a crown of life."]
Numb. xiv. 44. But they presumed to go up unto the hill-top.
THERE are principles in the human heart of which few people are aware. One in particular is, a dis- position to withstand the authority of God, whatever his commands may be. We see something of this in children towards their parents : the very circumstance of a thing being enjoined makes them averse to it; and a prohibition immediately creates in them a desire after the thing prohibited. St. Paul represents this to have been his experience in his unconverted state : " Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in him all manner of concupiscence," and made him rise against the commandment, as water does against the dam that obstructs its progress. Such a disposi- tion is not uncommon. There is scarcely any man, who, if he will examine carefully his own conduct, may not find, that he more readily does or forbears any thing in compliance with his own will, than when that thing is the subject of a prohibition or command. This perverse temper was very conspicuous in the Israelites when on the borders of Canaan. Being commanded, importuned, and encouraged to go up and possess the promised land, they could not be prevailed upon to go ; but, when they were com- manded to return into the wilderness, immediately they changed their minds, and would go against the