HOMILETICS. Vere. 1-8.-Wrath awaked and wratli appeased. In this short pussuge we huve, in a microcosm, the whole sud history of the Church. For the history of the Chnrch, as it is glorious on the side of God and his faithfulness, so it is sad indeed on the side of m,m and his unfaithfulness. Here we mny see trial followed at once by failuro, teuiptntion by sin; failure nnd sin followed by fiery wrath. Yet wrath is ne\"er without mercy, for the fire is quenched by the voice of the mediator. Consider, therefore- !. THAT THE VERY FIRST INCIDENT RECORDED BETWEEN SINAI AND CANAAN WAS BIN. There was no gradual descent; it broke out nil at once. So it was in the begin- ning-immediately ufter the creation, the fa.II ; nnd so it was in the second begin- ning of the race (Gen. ix. 21). Even so it is still: the first nctuul fact which meets us in the history of II soul on its way to heaven is some sin or foil ure on its purt. It is the one thing which more than any other determines the chnrncter of practical religion, as distinguished from tlieoretical (Jnmes iii. 2; 1 John i. 8). Il. THAT THE ROOT OF TTIIB EVIL PLANT WAS TO DE Jl'OUND IN Tm; NATURE Oil' THE Pl!:OPLl!: 1 MADE ,CROOKED DY GENERATIONS 01! SERVITUDE, AND NOT RADlCALLY ALTERED DY THE DISCIPLINE OF A TEAR. Even so human nnture, terribly corrupt as it is, is the nature of the elect too : it is indeed sanctified nnd improved by the operations of grace, but not superseded ; it remains hum1rn nature stiJI, nnd ns such is sure to assert itself. Therefore "regenerntion," which signifies the renewal of this nature, is fndeed bestowed in time (John iii. 5; Titus iii. 5), but is also reserved for etomity ( Matt. xix. 28), in testimony that it is only partial here. One of the sadd(,st, the moat obvious, nnd yet most unlooked-for and perplexing of facts nbout regenerate 104 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [OB. xr. 1-8.
humanity is the persistence within it of evil, whether proper to the age, the race, the family, or the individual (Rom. vii. 18-25). III. THAT THE FRUIT OF THIS EVIL PLANT WAS THUS SUDDENLY RIPENED DY THE OUTWARD HARDSHIPS AND TRIALS OF THE MARCIi, Encamped at comparative ease about Sinai, the tendency to sin lay dormant, the root seemed dead : a few days, !L few hours perhaps, of scorching heat and unaccustomed toil, and the poison fruit was already matured, the whole camp was in rebellion against God. Even so there are evil dispositions latent in many (if not in all) of us which need but !L little stress of ci~umstan_ce to ~ring them into act~ve play, to ripen them into open sin, and that with startlmg quickness, unless restramed by grace. The sudden falls of good men are only sudden because we do not see the strength of evil in them which is waiting its opportunity. Hence the absolute necessity of trial and conflict to test the worth of our religion (Matt. x. 22; 2 Tim. ii. 12; James i. 12; Rev. i. 9; ii. 11, &c.; vii. 14). IV. THAT THE FORM WHICH THEIR REBELLION TOOK WAS THAT OF COMPLAINING- there being indeed nothing that they could do under the circumstances. Even so the fruit of sinful feelings and desires is quite as often discontent as anything more active, because the more active forms of sin are so often out of our reach. An evil heart is the source of all sins, and the evil heart almost always shows itself in a state of inward discontent which :finds vent in outward complaints. Hence the "unthank- ful " are next door to the " unholy" (2 Tim. iii. 2), and all one with the " evil " (Luke vi 35). A discontented heart is a hot-bed of every kind of sin (cf. Mark xiv. 10; John xii. 4-6). V. THAT THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS MORE HOT AGAINST THEM, AND THEIR PUKISilMENT MORE SEVERE, THAN BEFORE THEY CAME TO SINAI. For they had received the law, and entered into the covenant, and had the worship and presence of God in the midst of them. Even so the more light and grace we have, the more awful will it be to sin against that light, in despite of that grace. So the sin of the Jew was worse than that of the heathen; of the Christio.n than of the Jew ; of the Christian in an enlightened age than of the Chiistian in a dark age. What must be the wrath of God against the sins of an age and people such af'I this I (Luke xii. 47, 48; John ix. 41; Rom. ii. 12; Heh. ii. 2, 3; x. 26-31). VI. THAT THE PEOPLE IN THEIR FEAR CRIED TO MOSES. They dared not cry to God, by reason of their unworthiness, but they knew that if Moses prayed for them he would be heard, ~ecause he was their mediator (Gal. iii. 19, 20). Even so we, in our sin and our distress, are nejther able nor worthy to pray to God save through the mediation of Jesus Christ. •'.A.II prayer must be addressed, consciously or uncon- sciously, through him. Even the prayer of the heathen, who knows no mediator, will be heard because the Son of man receives his prayer and offers his own intercession with it. How presumptuous is it in Christian people to join in prayers which !Lre not offered in the name, or through the mediation, of the one Mediator I (John xiv •. 14; 1 Tim. ii. 5; Heh. xii. 24, and cf. Rev. viii. 3). And note, that the Lord's Prayer may be objected to this doctrine of mediation. But it is to be noted-(!) that it was modelled on the synagogue prayers before the atonemept; (2) that as a Christian prayer, it is the prayer of Christ in us, in which we share by virtue of our sonship in him (John xx. 17; 1 John iii. 1). VII. THAT THE PEOPLE CRIED TO MosEB ONLY, They did not resort to Aaron or to Miriam, because they were relations of Moses, or to Joshua, because he was an eminent servant of Moses, and had great influence with him; for Moses only was their mediator. Even so Christian people must not" cry" to any but the one Mediator, if tlie fire of God's anger against sin is to be quenched. It is one thing to ask tho pra)'ers of a fellow-suppliant; it is another and very different thing to address oneself to God under the protection, and through the mediation, of some favourite of Heaven (Heb. viii. 6 ; iL 15; cf. Acts viii. 22-24). \·1n. THAT WHEN MOSES PRAYED, THE FIRE WENT ou·r. No doubt in anfiw~r. to the prayer. Even so the intercession of Christ quenches the flames of the D1vme anger against sin. Not that the anger and the mercy of God aro rivo.l powers st~iving against one another: in eternity they act in perfect harmony; neverth~less, m the sphere of time and space they display themselves separately, and in apparent OB. XI. 1-3,] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 105