II. Under what circumstances they have been con- tinued to us —
If we look at Israel, they will serve as a mirror, to reflect our image to the very life. In them we may see,
1. How great our provocations have been —
[Grievously neglectful of their duties were the Israelites, during the whole of their sojourning in the wilderness. Though commanded to circumcise their children, they never administered that rite in all that timeh. Never hut once had they held a Passover ; and that was in the very first year after they had come out of Egypt1. And during the whole forty years they offered no sacrifice to God ; but, on the contrary, paid their devotions to senseless gods, and graven images k. Such was their conduct in the wilderness. And what has been ours ? Have not our most solemn duties been neglected, or performed only in such a way as to shew that our heart was not in them ? Have we attained the true circumcision, even " the circumcision of the heart, which is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; whose praise is not of men, but of God1?" Have we fed upon the Paschal Lamb, even on " Christ our Passover, who has been sacrificed for usm?" Have " we pre- sented ourselves as living sacrifices to God, which has been our reasonable service11?" Have we not rather " set up idols in our hearts0," even every heathenish abomination, and in ten thousand instances " loved and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore p?" And do we " find these things by secret search i?" No: your whole lives pro- claim it. Must we go back to the Apostles' days to find that " covetousness which is idolatry," or the people " whose god is their belly," and who have no delight in any thing but the gratification of their sensual appetites? Let us look back through the whole time of our sojourning in this wilderness, and we shall find our whole lives to have been one continued series of provocations ; as if we had determined to " weary out our Godr," and " break down his very Spirit with our whorish heart5." Yes; " this has been our manner from our youth'." God " has known this to be our walking through this great wilderness:" and our consciences also attest that these accusations are true.]
2. How entirely we have been under the influence of unbelief —
h Josh. v. 5 — 7. ' Numb. ix. 5. k Acts vii. 41 — 43.
1 Rom. ii. 29. m 1 Cor. v. 7. n Rom. xii. 1.
0 Ezek. xiv. 3. P Rom. i. 25. fi Jer. ii. 34.
r Isai. xliii. 24. s Ezek. vi. 9. * Jer. xxii. 21.