pressing upon their rear, and ready, as they thought, to over- whelm them^. When they had passed through the sea on dry ground, and seen tlieir enemies, who presumed to follow them, dead upon the sea shore, they were still as unbelieving as ever, and regretted that they had ever been induced to leave the land of Egypt. They even questioned " whether God were amongst them or not\" But a few weeks after- wards they altogether renounced God, and worshipped the golden calf. Thus it was on all occasions : whenever any fresh difficulty arose, they distrusted God, and murmured against him. When the spies brought their report of the land which they had searched out, the people universally gave way to despondency, as much as if they had never seen any one display of God's power in their behalf. On this account they were all doomed to perish in the wilderness, " God swearing- in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest." In a word, " they could not enter in because of unbelief^."]
We also are alike unbelieving in relation to the truths we hear —
[The very necessity of redemption is denied by multitudes, or at least is acknowledged only in a speculative way, and without any due sense of its importance. The Jews under the pressure of their burthens cried mightily to God, so that their groans entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. But when has he heard from us those sighs and groans by reason of the pressure of our sins ? When has he heard those earnest cries for deliverance from the guilt we have contracted, and from the power of our in-dwelling corruptions ? Alas ! when urged on these subjects, we reply in our hearts, " Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians ^" If told, that " the whole world lieth in wickedness," and that we must flee from it, as Lot from Sodom, if we will escape its ruin, we despise the warning, like the sons-in-law of Lot, and regard our monitor as " one who only mocks us" with absurd and groundless alarms.
If brought to give a general assent to the truths we hear, we still do not approve of a life of faith as the means of our final preservation. Why must we subject ourselves to so many trials and difficulties ? Why may we not go in an easier way to heaven ? V/hy must our separation from the world be so entire ? Why may we not still enjoy the leeks and" onions of Egypt, instead of subsisting upon the light and tasteless food provided for us ? Why must we be so dependent ? Why be looking every day and hour to the pillar and cloud for
i» Exod. xiv. 11, 12. > Exod. xvii. 3, 4, 7.
^ Heb. iii. 19, i Exod. xiv. 12.