Numb. xv. 32 — 36. And while the children of Israel tvere in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congre- gation : and they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him ivithout the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.
IN great communities, instances of flagrant trans- gression will occur; nor can any mercies or judgments from God prevent them. Nothing but divine grace can keep individuals in the path of duty. The pre- sumption of those, who, in opposition to the divine command, had gone up to the hill-top to engage the Canaanites, had been severely punished : and though God had since given instructions respecting the par- ticular offerings which should at a future period be presented for sins of ignorance, he had expressly declared, that presumptuous sins should be punished with death ; and that no offering whatever should be accepted for thema. Yet, behold, scarcely had this declaration been given, before a man was found pro- faning the Sabbath-day: for which offence he was made a signal monument of divine vengeance.
His crime and punishment, which are specified in the text, lead us to notice the guilt and danger of profaning the Sabbath. Let us consider,
I. The guilt- According to the estimate of mankind in general, the profanation of the Sabbath is but a slight offence : but, in fact, it is a very heinous sin. It is,
1. An unreasonable sin — [Consider who it is that requires the observation of the Sabbath. It is that God who made us, and endowed us with all our faculties, and upholds us every moment, maintaining
a ver. 30, 31.