the golden calf," and rose up to play" and dance in honor to it, after the manner of the heathen. This caution was particularly necessary for the Corinthians, who seem to have had no scruple about eating things offered to idols, by which they avoided persecution on account of their religion. In justification of themselves, they pleaded, that an idol was nothing; and that, therefore, there could be no harm in eating what had been offered to it. To this the apostle replies, that though an idol be nothing; yet eating of sacrifices offered to it, was worshipping it, and acknowledging it to be our God-That the devil was the author of idol-worship; and that the sacrifices offered to the idol were in reality offered to devils. It was, therefore, a renouncing of their God and Saviour, and giving his glory to evil spirits, and to the works of men's handsan abomination to be abhorred of all Christian people.* 66 "Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed;" namely, at the sacrifices of Baal-peor; and," by the judgment of God, "fell in one day three and twenty thousand." The necessity of this admonition to those to whom the apostle was writing, appears from the proneness of the Corinthians to the crime he reproved. Of this we have several intimations in his two Epistles; particularly when he says, "Lest when I come, I shall bewail many which have sinned already; and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they have committed."t Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted" him," and were destroyed of serpents." In the history to which this relates, we find, that "the people spake against God, and against Moses; Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." The murmuring of the people against God, their distrusting his providence and power, and despising the provision of manna he had made for them, is, by the 1 Cor. x. 18, &c. 2 Cor. xii. 21. Num. xxi. 5, 6. apostle, called tempting of Christ. And from hence an argument has been drawn to prove the divinity of Christthat he was the Lord who brought the Israelites out of Egypt; who published the law from mount Sinai; who gave them manna from heaven, and water from the rock; who led them through, and supported them in the wilderness; who drove the Canaanites before them, and finally settled them in their country: and that he is the very God Jehovah whom they worshipped. . By their tempting God is meant their requiring further and greater instances of his power, when he had already done what was sufficient, which ought to have convinced them that he was the Almighty God, infinite in power and goodness. Their doubting of the power of God to provide them with bread in the wilderness, when they confessed he had brought water out of the dry rock to relieve their necessity, is called by the Psalmist, tempting God.* "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." When the spies, who were sent to examine the state of the country of Canaan and of its inhabitants, returned, and represented the country as too strong for them to conquer, the people were discouraged, and "murmured against Moses, and against Aaron;" and said, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt; or would God we had died in this wilderness. And they said one to the other, Let us make a Captain, and let us return into Egypt." For their punishment, God sent a plague among them-the angel of death -the destroyer-" him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil." And all the men, who had been to examine the country, died in the plague, except Caleb and Joshua; who had not joined in their report, nor discouraged the people, but had believed the Lord and trusted in his power. At this time, also, though God withdrew the plague, at the intercession of Moses, and did not destroy the *Psalm 1xxviii. 19. VOL. II. † Num. xiv. 2, 4. G Heb. xi. 28. whole congregation; yet in his anger he determined that none of those who came up out of Egypt, "from twenty years old and upward," should enter into rest in Canaan; but should die in the wilderness, as they had wished ;* being unworthy, through obstinate unbelief, to be made partakers of his promises. "Now all these things happened to them for ensamples" to us," and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 66 By the ends of the world," is meant the last dispensation of God to man. The Jews divided the duration of the world into three periods, which they called ages. The first was the Patriarchal age or dispensation, which continued to the giving of the Law. The second was the age of the Law; and the third was the age after the Law, or the age of Messiah. This dispensation they called the last age-the end of the ages; because no dispensation was to succeed; but the end of the world was to come, when the dispensation of Messiah should cease. According to the text, the design of God in having the crimes of the Israelites in the wilderness recorded, together with the judgments with which they were punished, was, that they might be examples and admonitions to his Church, in after times; particularly to those who live under the last dispensation of God, the age of Messiah. And the lesson we are to learn from them is, not to “lust after evil things, as they also lusted;" nor to “be idolaters," nor" commit fornication," nor " tempt Christ," nor "murmur" at the dispensations of God; of all which crimes some of them were guilty; lest we be rejected of God, as they were; and he determine with regard to us, as he did with regard to them, that we shall not enter into his rest-the heavenly Canaan-the rest reserved for "the people of God."t From the example of the Israelites, we may also learn, that the covenanted privileges which God gives to men, are not only the objects of their faith, but imply obligations of obedience to what God commands; and that without † Heb. iv. 9. Num. xiv. 28, 29. both faith and obedience on our part, they will fail and. be lost to us. We may learn also, that the greater those privileges and mercies are, the greater ought to be our gratitude; the stronger our faith; the more punctual, and cheerful, and steady our obedience. That the mercies and promises of the Christian covenant are greater and more precious than those of the Jewish, cannot be doubted; and the greater and more dreadful will be our punishment, if we be faithless and disobedient under them: For if God spared not his old people who sinned under less, how can we expect he will spare us, if we sin under greater advantages? In this Scripture, then, we see "the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell" in the wilderness, "severity; but towards" us, "goodness," (in causing their example to be recorded for our admonition) "if" we" continue in his goodness; otherwise" we" also shall be cut off."* It will now be easy to assign the meaning of the latter verse of the text; "Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." "Let him"-let every Christian-" that thinketh he standeth" high and securely in the favor of God, and that there is no danger of losing it by his own ill conduct, "take heed lest he fall" from it, through want of faith in God's promises, or by disobedience to his commands. The Israelites who came out of Egypt were once as truly the Church, or chosen people of God, as we are now. They had entered into covenant with God, as well as we have. He promised their fathers to bring their children into the land of Canaan, and give it to them for a possession. He, therefore, brought them out from their oppression in Egypt with a "mighty hand," and by "great signs and wonders; He parted the Red Sea, and made a passage for them through it on dry land; He published his Law to them, at Sinai, from the midst of thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes; He satisfied them with manna, when they were hungry; and when they were thirsty, with water from the rock; He directed their marches by * Rom. xi. 22. the pillar of a cloud; illuminating their camp by its shining, and spreading it over their whole host, to guard them from the heat of the sun, and from the attacks of enemies. They murmured; they distrusted his power; they did not believe his promises; they disobeyed his commandments; and he cast them off-" He sware in his wrath, that they should not enter into his rest"-and they perished in the wilderness. And now, what greater security have we of inheriting the promises of God, than the Israelites bad? Theirs were "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. "They had, therefore, the same security which we have yet they failed; and failed through unbelief and disobedience: And are not unbelief and disobedience as great crimes in a Christian, as they were in an Israélite? Or hath God changed his nature, and will now overlook crimes in Christians, which he formerly punished severely in the Israelites? God does not change his mind, nor alter his purpose. His promises are "yea, and amen"-sure and certain. They are made to the faithful and obedient; and if the unbelieving and disobedient fail to obtain them, it is because they want that faith and obedience on which the promises are grounded. Let us, then, learn instruction from the lesson which the apostle endeavours to teach us," by setting before us the conduct and punishment of the old Israelites-the lesson of faith and obedience to God. We have sufficient authority to say that the Church of the Israelites was typical of the Church of Christ-Their redemption from Egypt, of our redemption from sin and satan-Their baptism "in the cloud and in the sea, of our baptism with water and the Holy Ghost-Their manna and water from the rock, of the Christian Eucharist, or communion of the body and blood of Christ-Their journeyings in the wilderness, of our pilgrimage in this worldand the promised land of Canaan, of the heavenly kingdom of our Redeemer. I would to God there was no re * Rom. ix. 4. |