The Stumbling

'And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice.' — Num. xx. ii.

It was a revelation from the Lord fraught with the deepest meaning to which Eliphaz the Temanite gave utterance, when, in his turn, he felt he must begin and give some answer to the passionate complaint of Job in his distress. Thus, in mysterious tones, he tells his story to his friend: 'A thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof; an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, He put no trust in His servants, and His angels He charged with folly; how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish for ever, without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency depart with them? They die, but know it not!'¹

A little thought will soon enable you to understand exactly the idea here presented so poetically by the sage from the far East. No creature (he means to say) — not even angels, and much less man — is wholly pure before the eyes of God. There is no child of Adam that can ever hope to be acquitted, if his Maker takes a strict account with him. Even the most exalted virtue shown by one who dwells in the dust is like a garment that is only fit to be cast off, in the eyes of Him who weighs the spirits of men in His just balances. With me, you must admire the beauty of the form employed by Eliphaz to give expression to this thought. But would there really be need for further revelation being made to any one of us, in order to afford immediate assurance of its truth? Alas, even though the voice of God in Holy Writ were silent on this point, our own experience and that of others daily affords most ample ground for constant repetition of the said lament, 'In many things we all offend.'² We do not now refer to those who still are wholly carnal, sold to sin. But even when, with Paul, we can testify that we delight in the law of God after the inward man, what one of us must not, like him, confess with deepest shame, 'The good that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do'?³ Surely the sigh of that heathen philosopher who seriously doubted whether he had not two souls — the one absolutely inclined to good, the other incorrigibly inclined to evil — finds a response within the hearts of all who ever cast more than a superficial glance into the labyrinth of their own souls. Yes, even the best of us (but is not this the death-blow to that sense of one's own worth and power which swells the bosoms of such multitudes?) affords a standing proof that man, on this side of the grave, never entirely ceases to serve sin. Just as. in even the clearest winter night, the moon is never seen so free from clouds but that a single speck must, here or there, reveal itself upon the disc; so, on a close inspection, we behold, even upon the most beautiful and venerable face, the traces of a spot that witnesses to a connection with the first transgressor. Well mightest thou doubt, O thoughtful Eliphaz, whether a man is righteous in the eyes of God, — one who has been accused before his Judge! What one of us can dream of standing, when he sees even a Moses fall?

The stumbling of Moses: — are we the only ones who cast a look of sadness upon this page of his history? How wide the difference between the festive season, which we scarce could celebrate with him, and the false step we contemplate to-day! Then, he was crowned before the eyes of all, — now, he is marked as publicly with deep disgrace; then, he was almost brought within immediate sight of God, — now, he is disinclined to trust God's word; then, he was honoured with the highest favour of the God who sent him forth, — now, threatened with the revelation of His holy wrath; then, he seemed superhuman, — now (yes, that proud word must be rejected here), suddenly he has become most vacillating, weak! Were we to read that the immoveable foundations of Mount Sinai had been changed, we scarce could feel more deep astonishment than now, when — nay, it is no dream — we see the crown reel on the head of the great lawgiver, who, on Mount Sinai, entered the mysterious cloud. We could desire to blot this page entirely from the history of the man of God, or cast a veil over the sad event; rather would we conduct you to the heights of Nebo, than bid you stand and view the streams at Meribah: but we have had enough. 'Whatever any one may be, his name has been already given; and it is known that he is a man!⁴ These words of the wise Preacher will apply to Moses also; and it may be well to mark the greatest men of Scripture history in their weak moments, that we may the better see how, on the earth, they were not master-builders, but frail instruments, and that the strength they had was not their own, but God's. If all that has been written formerly was written for our learning, the remark applies emphatically to a history which offers us a ready introduction to the treatment of a subject that is difficult and delicate, yet one of most extreme importance, — the sin of those who fear God, and their guilt before His eyes. If there are any who regard such sins as trivial, we wish to bring them to a more exact consideration of the case; if there be any who condemn these sins unmercifully, we desire to bring such to a more kindly judgment. It will not be in vain that we have this day stopped at Kadesh, if, impressed more vividly than ever with a sense of our own deep corruption, we can learn to judge ourselves as rigidly as we so frequently judge others, and to be as tolerant towards them as we are, mostly, to ourselves. But I am now anticipating what will naturally find its proper place in the course of my address, while I have not yet told you of the path on which I wish to guide your thoughts today. Let Meribah, then, for the present, form the central point for meditation; and let us, in the first place, speak especially of Moses, — in the second, of ourselves. For two questions you may well expect a satisfactory reply: —

1. To what conclusion must we come regarding Moses' stumbling?

2. How should we improve the stumbling of Moses?

If the answers to these questions do not lead us to such great sublimity of thought as did our pilgrimage to Sinai, they at least will make us search to greater depths in our own hearts. Lord, who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou us, even from secret faults. And let the words of our mouth, with the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

No one who knows our human nature will be ready to allow that we are naturally prone to be too tender in the judgments which we form as to our fellow-men. But, supposing that we had not been precisely told why Moses was denied admission to the Promised Land, and that we had been left to form conjectures as regards the misdemeanour that had merited so hard a punishment, not one of us would have imagined it was such a slip as that of which the sacred documents inform us. Involuntarily we would have bethought ourselves of something extraordinary, something astonishing, something terrible, — of a deep fall like that of David or of Solomon; and if, at last, we were informed of what it actually was that brought him such sad consequences in its train, we would have almost perfect confidence in saying that most people, if not every one, would exclaim, 'Is that all? I was afraid of something much worse! 'Is that all?' 'It is well worth while to give ourselves a definite account of an extremely moderate impression such as this, that we may see which of these two is right, — our feeling that would make out Moses to be almost perfect; or our faith, that needs must bow before God's judgment. We take the balance in our hand, then, that we may, in justice and in honesty, place on the one side all that can be adduced in Moses' favour. But neither must we keep back, from the other scale, all that decides and aggravates his guilt, however much of trouble this may cost. It seems, indeed, as if it were not little that could here be urged on Moses' side. But, on the other hand, there is no lip that loudly testifies against him. Our attention must first be directed to each of these separately, if we are to obtain sufficient light for coming to a judgment as regards his stumbling.

We say, it seems that there is not a little to be pleaded in behalf of Moses here. But say yourselves, what is the nature of the misdemeanour here condemned? When was that misdemeanour committed? and through whom was it occasioned?

What is the character of the misconduct here condemned? To give an answer to that question, we must place ourselves, in thought, back in the fearful-looking wilderness, which has already received the dust of thousands of the rebels into its barren womb, and has just seen Miriam, Moses' sister, laid in her final resting-place. The Israelites once more are brought to the most pressing want; for neither at Kadesh nor in its vicinity can water in sufficient quantity be found for man and beast. The eye turns to the heavens, but not a speck of cloud appears upon the whole expanse, — and to the earth, but there is not a single drop of the refreshment found at Rephidim. Even brackish water, which had been refused at Marah, cannot here be got for gold; and the Jordan, long though men have heard of it, seems still far off. Then out there bursts the storm of loud complaints over the heads of Moses and his brother, who are but regarded as the proper cause of so much misery. Compared with such a life as Israel now leads, the fate of those who have already perished in the various judgments sent by God seems enviable. 'Have we left Egypt only to be overwhelmed beneath a flood of want and misery? 'Such a reproach, that issues from the mouths of myriads, pierces the soul of Moses like a dart. Whither shall he betake himself for refuge from this terrible display of overwhelming force, conscious as he is of his utter helplessness, — whither, but to the only One who is far more than all? With Aaron, he prostrates himself in prayer before the door of the tabernacle; and anew they press for answer to the old and rousing question, 'Is the hand of the Lord shortened?' The tokens of Jehovah's personal presence in the midst of the nation reveal themselves. Moses and Aaron are commanded to take up the well-known rod, to assemble the congregation, and, before them all, to bid the rock at once give forth its water. Such is the wonderful command, — one, too, which would be quite incomprehensible, did we not bear in mind the almighty power of Him who is creation's Lord; who often has concealed the sources of the most refreshing streams behind the granite walls of rocks almost quite inaccessible; and who can, with a single nod, bid hidden waters break forth from their prison-house of stone. But what could be too much for the faith of one like Moses, who has already found so often that the God of Israel is a God that worketh wonders? He raises no objection, — there is not even any indication of astonishment; but Moses forthwith takes the rod that lay before the Lord (ver. 9), — not, as it seems to some expositors, the almond-rod of Aaron that had blossomed, and that had been laid up in the holy place for an everlasting witness, but that rod of God which he received at the commencement of his great life-task, and which was also laid up in the tabernacle of the Lord. What grand and precious memories that staff alone awakes within the heart of him who bears and looks on it! And verily it seems that it has not yet lost its former power. Scarce has the rock been struck with it, ere there run down, in broad and silvery streams, the heaven-sent waters on the thirsty ground; in copious draughts, both man and beast imbibe health, life, and reinvigorating power, and countless hearts press forward to thank God and Moses. . . . What should keep us too from greeting him, in spirit, as a good and faithful servant of the Lord? A little matter, it is true, has, contrary to Moses' usual, been wanting in the strict performance of the mandate given. Jehovah has commanded that the rock should be but spoken to; the rod in Moses' hand, we scarce need say, was not intended as an instrument by which to smite, but merely as an emblem of authority which could be seen, so that the people might be roused to look for their relief to this great miracle about to be performed. But Moses, on the contrary, has — yes — smitten the rock; but, speak or strike, — smite once, or twice, or even thrice, — does that make an essential difference? Indeed, the nature of the sin — if that harsh word be not here out of place — has nothing which, at least at first sight, could bring even one sleepless night upon the man of God, who was now evidently discomposed.

But, furthermore, — when was that sin committed? Here we must cast a single glance backward and forward, that we may quite understand the cause of Moses' wrath — yea, we might almost say, to see how laudable his anger was. No more than a few pages intervene between this and the thirteenth chapter, where (ver. 26) we are told, as here, that Israel had encamped at Kadesh; but between these points there is an interval at least of seven and thirty years. You know the reason of that lengthened stay of Israel in the desert of Arabia. The Lord had sworn that the rebellious generation who, through foolish fear, would not march to Canaan, should not enjoy His rest. Then there succeeds a time of silence in the history of the wandering nation; the rod that wrought such wonders is at rest; the road becomes, for a time, a dwelling-place; that generation must be rooted out before Jehovah shall again speak more familiarly to the folk of His inheritance. From day to day the grave receives its prey; at last, the time of punishment has reached its end. There still remain but few of those who left the land of Egypt after they had reached their twentieth year; and these may well feel sure they shall not see another year. Joy now to you, O Moses, who, in your innocence, have been condemned so long to wander with this guilty race; the last year of the wandering has dawned! See how, once more, there is a gathering from far and near towards one central point, where, for so many years before, there has resounded the dread sentence from the Lord; a few months more, and then the foot shall tread on Canaan's soil! What else can Moses look for than that the people, after so much chastisement, after so much disgrace and suffering, shall, in some small degree at least, be wiser now? that the younger generation, risen from the dust of those who had been doomed, shall show a vast improvement on the older one? and that, in short, he now will enter and subdue Canaan, leading God's Israel, renewed and born again not merely as regards the flesh, but likewise in their minds? A pleasant dream, but one that lasts no longer than a few brief hours! The people, high and low alike, again plunge shamelessly into wild mutiny: it seems that they have not forgotten anything — above all, they have not learned anything; the old complaint, which he had thought was buried in oblivion, is raised again: 'Why hast thou brought us out of Egypt? 'Thus has the thought of Egypt once more risen in those stubborn hearts, and that, too, just when Moses is expecting that, louder than ever, they will seek to be led on into Canaan. Thus even God's heaviest judgment is in vain; and in the first experience of want, the Guide and Saviour through so many years till now is once more quite forgotten. What is it that Moses possibly can do with such a race? Must not his courage fail, when he but thinks of praying for them any more? Oh, let us not forget the words, 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil!'⁵ But who among us — if he saw that grey-haired man, with trembling hands, lift up the wonder-working rod to smite the hard rock twice — would have sufficient courage to reprove him when he cries, in anger unmistakeable, 'Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?'⁶ Verily, Israel merits something worse; yet living water is presented them, while Moses is presented with God's cup of wrath!

'To Moses there is given God's cup of wrath.' But who occasioned the commission of this misdemeanour, against which, like a thunderbolt sent from a cloudless sky, the stern condemning sentence falls, 'Ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them'? We must not deify our fellow-men; yet every one must feel constrained to overlook this one transgression, and to think upon those very many points that make us almost look on Moses, like the God who sent him, as beyond all praise from lips defiled by sin. How long a road he has traversed ere he has reached this fatal Kadesh, and how exemplary has he been throughout! How much he has endured already from the fathers of these sulking sons, without becoming wearied or embittered by it all! Israel was often like a rock, but he has never struck that rock; for 'the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.'⁷ Through all those years, his life was but a daily sacrifice of faith and true obedience, — a daily prayer for his people's good; must, then, all this be held of no account whatever, when the sum of Moses' short coming is reckoned up before the strict, unerring Judge? Even an earthly judge must not pass sentence on a crime viewed in itself, but he must ask about the former life of the accused, to see whether this tells against or for him, and the sentence must be modified accordingly. Shall heaven's great Lawgiver do less, — the God concerning whom, even under the Old Covenant, the well-known words were sung, 'He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are dust '? And Moses, if he then was wrong, has certainly not sinned designedly, but in his haste; and when is weakness visited with such severity as wantonness? Moses is old; he is already six-score years, save one; he has grown grey in serving Israel's King; may not the old man be forgiven what, in the younger, well deserved the most severe reproof? And Moses will not but grow hard, like Israel, when God reproves him for perversity, but he will make amends — if need be, publicly: is there not, even with God, for such a one as this, full pardon to be had? Then, O Thou Judge of all the earth, at least forgive us this presumptuous question, when we see a sentence such as this passed upon such a man. Is this a confirmation of the words, 'Justice and judgment are the supports of His throne; mercy and truth shall go before His face'?⁸ Yes, here too these words hold quite true; and we have possibly been seeking far too long for some excuse of what even God, with His own finger, points out in His chosen servant as a great defect. We have been hitherto conceding all to Moses that he could, with show of justice, claim; but now we turn the leaf, and give God what is His. And certainly, not less strong is the testimony borne against the man of God. To show the righteousness of our Creator, we have only to take up once more the same three questions, though now to view the subject in the light of faith, in the light of God's unerring word.

First, then, we ask again. What is the nature of the sin God here condemns? And we at once remark, that however insignificant it seems, it exactly answers to the just description which is given of sin by an apostle of the Lord. 'Sin,' says John, 'is unrighteousness,' or, literally, 'lawlessness,' — the disowning of a holy, absolutely inviolable law.⁹ At which of you, who feel the greatest sympathy with Moses, must I ask, in the name of the Lord, if Moses' conduct does not manifest the same essential character as the repeated insubordinations of the Israelites? As you are well aware, the Lord desires him to address the rock, but Moses speaks to Israel. God wishes him to speak a word to the inanimate stone, and Moses strikes it twice. God still is willing that the people shall remain as His inheritance, but Moses evidently treats them with ill-will and much offensiveness. And even the writer of the 106th Psalm, although he praises him repeatedly at other times, cannot disguise the fact that Moses' spirit was embittered, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.¹⁰ And to crown all, the Lord Himself elsewhere employs, in reference to this sin, the strong word rebellion;¹¹ and that hard word is surely not too hard. There is no distinction more arbitrary than that which we are wont to make between greater and less sins; between transgressions which we scarcely could forgive ourselves, and others with regard to which we do not much disturb ourselves. In judging thus of moral evil, we must less regard the accidental form and the outward setting of the action, than its inward and essential principle; and very much that we have set down in our list of sins as trivial, is pronounced before the bar of God as worthy of the very highest punishment. Is not one inconsiderate partaking of an apple, in its way, as unimportant as the repeated smiting of a stone? Yet, on the first, there rests the loss of Eden to our father Adam, while the other brought on Moses his exclusion from Canaan; for Moses, who smites when he should speak, rebels as much against the Lord as Israel did when they would not march forward, but preferred to go back to Egypt. The aged Moses, who smites the rock with his wonder-working rod, and the young Moses who slays the Egyptian with the sword, both let themselves be guided by the selfsame principle, — strong selfregard: 'The minding of the flesh is enmity against God;'¹² and it is quite the same whether it is obeyed in greater or in less degree. Moses cannot say he did not understand the will of God; the oracle spoke unambiguously enough. As little is it true that so much passion was required to bring about what was desired; the experience of the past reads us a lesson wholly different. And least of all can he allege that he was urged to such a course by love, either to God or to His people; for his conscience loudly testifies the contrary. Thus, then, the lawgiver has truly broken the commandments of both tables, in their spirit: but what caused this sin? Listen to the judgment of that God who knows the hearts of men unerringly, before whose eyes the deepest folds of Moses' soul lie plain and open: 'Because ye believed me not' Thus God perceived, in Moses' actions, that which Israel possibly had not once seen, — what none of us would, on our own authority, make bold to charge against the man of God; and the bitter root, from which the fruit of disobedience sprung, was unbelief. Any conclusion we may come to as regards this unbelief, viewed in relation to God's dealing here, may, in a certain sense, be quite a matter of indifference: it is sufficient for us now to mark that here is unbelief, when God has spoken! Do you know of any sin which throws a greater insult on the Lord Most High than this, by which the poor, frail creature man reproves the God of truth, full in His face, as if He uttered lies? But what was it, if not this very unbelief in God's word, that induced our mother Eve to lend an ear to the first tempter, and made Israel turn their backs upon the Promised Land? Nay, sins of unbelief are, in the eyes of the Great Judge of all, something quite different indeed from trifles that are scarce worth mentioning, especially (and do not fail to mark this) where they are succeeded by such consequences as now actually followed in the train of this false step on Moses' part. Hear what the Lord still further adds: 'Because ye (for Aaron, too, has sinned in silence, just as Moses by his speech) believed me not, to sanctify me (i.e. to glorify me) in the eyes of the children of Israel.' — 'I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me,'¹³ were the words of God to Aaron at a moment which he never could forget; and who had a more special call thus to give glory to the Lord, than Moses and himself? But now, when God is here robbed of His glory in the eyes of a whole nation, that especially regards these leaders . . . do you not think the balance that decides regarding Moses' guilt or innocence begins to veer towards the left?

We ask the second question for the second time: When was that misdeed done? We saw that, after tedious years of inactivity, there now has dawned another epoch in God's dealings with the Israelites. The Lord begins once more to turn His face, in favour, to the sons; while from the fathers He had turned away in holy wrath. Jehovah looked upon the people's murmuring with remarkable forbearance; when their discontent arose from bodily necessity, God's judgments were considerably lighter than when a haughty, disobedient spirit urged them on to raise the standard of revolt. He wishes to relieve, and give refreshing to the people in their thirst, and Moses is selected to co-operate with Him in all such joy; but mark how, on this very day, a deep discord between God's inclination and the mind of Moses shows itself. God is inclined to grant forgiveness, — Moses inclines to punishment: before, the very opposite seemed rather to prevail. God is forbearing, — Moses, filled with bitterness; God seeks to glorify His grace, — with Moses, self, not God, comes into prominence. 'Must we,' — not, 'must the Lord,' — but, 'must' we fetch you water out of this rock?' We see now, in this prophet, strong at other times, the first plain indications of decay and weariness. He has grown tired (and truly, it should not seem strange, for which of us could have sustained a struggle such as his for half the time?) of carrying these stubborn children any longer now. This man, so truly great, has never for an instant hitherto forgotten his own dignity in presence of all Israel; but now, he is no longer master of himself His sin is, if you please to call it such, not so much a personal as an official one; but it is one which, at a juncture such as this, becomes invested with twofold significance. At this juncture, I repeat; and mark attentively the great importance of this moment. The time for waiting has gone by, the time for action come. Now, there must be no more delay in making ready for the fight, in which the Land of Promise is the prize; now, more than ever, there is needed an unswerving faith, and unconditional obedience to the Lord. All efforts hitherto required are, in a sense, as nothing in comparison with what shall now be asked for; no slackening of energy can be allowed, but there must rather be much more intensity displayed, if this, the last, and the decisive year of Israel's wandering, is really to be most blessed in result. This slip of Moses, under less important, ordinary circumstances, might have been attended with less evil consequences; but now, just at the very time when more exertion was required than ever previously, Moses, as he had never done before, falls far below his great, high destiny! His heart, which beat at other times so much in sympathy with those for whom he mediates, now plainly shows a coldness towards them; wormwood is on his lips, while water streams forth at his beck; you are inclined yourselves to think this cannot, may not, must not be the case. . . . Alas! is not the scale upon the left beginning to sink deeper down?

And now we ask the final question yet once more: By whom was this misdeed committed? From all that has been said in Moses' praise, we take back nothing, but we add these words, 'Unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.'¹⁴ Who is to maintain Jehovah's honour in the eyes of Israel, if this Moses does not; and what sentence will hereafter be allowed by the transgressors as quite fair and just, if the Lord makes a particular exception for His favourite with reference to the awful words, that He 'will not justify the wicked'?¹⁵ And now this very man has acted utterly unlike himself, and sunk down to the level of the people, in whose presence, and above whom, he should have always stood at an unattainable height! This doubting Moses, — is it really the same who has already wrought so many miracles of a like nature, with this very rod? This Moses in such violent passion, — is it he who once prayed for the leprous Miriam after her disavowal of his high authority? who, when Eldad and Medad prophesied, asked, 'Grievest thou for my sake?'¹⁶ Is it the same who, in the only other instance besides this on which we find him wroth, — when Korah and Dathan rose, — can ask no more than this, 'Respect not thou their offering; I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them'?¹⁷ How clearly do we here perceive the working of that very flesh and blood which, nine and seventy years before, sought, through its own inherent strength, to bring deliverance to Israel, and murdered the oppressor, an Egyptian! The old man, even in Moses, has been overcome by the new man, — yes, but he has not yet been quite cast out! Am I mistaken in believing that the wavering began within before this, when, instead of making a bold stand against the mutineers, he silently betook himself unto the tent of witness? Perhaps the mind is more or less affected by the bodily decay; or has his zeal diminished through his resting here and there for eight and thirty years? All this, indeed, is not unnatural, and may be in a way explained. But, on the other hand, who could be less excused than one who saw so much of the glory of the Lord, and who even now would have been able to exert a large amount of beneficial influence, if he had but gone forth in the midst of that younger generation in all his dignity, as one sent from a higher world to show, even without speaking, that the God of their fathers is the living God? But now, instead of that, though everything is done that was to be performed (for the miracle is wrought), yet the desired impression is but weakly made; the revelation of the power of God is not, indeed, quite negatived, but undeniably diminished in its influence; and he who does all this is Moses, one from whom even Israel — not to say God Himself — might well expect much better things. What sorry conduct in a hoary-headed man, who, in the school of faith and true obedience, far surpassed almost all other men! Do not attempt to palliate the guilt by bringing forward what must rather tend to aggravate it, — namely, the fact that it is Moses to whom all is due. Men may seek to lull themselves and others into peace, by cherishing the pleasant notion that God sees no evil in His chosen ones; the Bible teaches otherwise, for it declares that God will not permit a single stain upon His elect. It is just their sins (and this is necessary for their sanctification) that are so often punished, not more lightly, but more heavily than those committed by God's enemies. Other men may, in multitudes of instances, be passed by, it would seem, unpunished; but if Abraham even once tells only half the truth, he will incur great inconvenience. God, in His mercy and long-suffering, may spare and bless atrocious sinners; but when, in an unguarded moment, the man according to His own heart becomes both an adulterer and murderer, death takes away Bathsheba's child, and the sword departs not from his house, because he has caused the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. Crowned slaves of sin may bathe in the streams of luxury, while their power goes on increasing; but when wise Solomon, in later years, becomes so foolish as to let himself be led away by his strange wives into idolatry, his kingdom shall no longer be established, just because he is the Jedidiah, 'the beloved of the Lord.' He who knew the Lord's will and did not perform it, shall be visited, not with less, but double punishment; and it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah, on the great day, than for Capernaum, that saw the Saviour's mighty works. When a poor slave of sin continues marching on the road that leads to death, God's angels weep; but when God's children stumble in the narrow way to heaven, then Satan grins for joy. The grace of God reveals itself when it averts the sword of justice from above the sinner's head, where it had been suspended by a thin, a single thread. But God's unspotted holiness shines out more clearly in the fact, that He is least inclined to tolerate the sins of those whom He has favoured most; for (we repeat) God says, 'I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.' When we judge Moses, then, above all other men, according to this rule, does not the scale upon the left side — that of guilt — press down upon the earth, while that upon the right swings light and high?

2.

However, it is not our business to pass an irrevocable judgment on the man of God, who has long since been raised above the blame of men; but we are rather called to think what real profit we can gain from that which was so palpably his loss. This brings us to the second part of our address, in which we draw the general application from the special case that we have -been considering. The sin of godly people is the mournful subject which we once more seek to place before your thoughts. We have to guard against misapplication, and be careful as regards the proper use of what is given here.

A threefold misapplication is made of such narratives as that which we have been considering: first, a misapplication made by unbelief; next, a misapplication made by enmity; and, lastly, a misapplication made by carnal security and indolence: permit us to address you a few words on each of these.

Hear what is said by unbelief: 'Fine men of God these are, forsooth, set forth before our eyes in Scripture as the bearers and interpreters of special revelations made by God! A man who cannot even guide himself must be placed at the head of millions, — and by God Himself! A messenger of God, whose heart is stained with sin, is to behold the Truth without an intervening cloud, and utter it infallibly! Truly, it would appear that, after all, such highly-lauded prophets were but men of like passions with ourselves; yet, on the word of fellow sinners with such failings, am I to accept that which my common sense quite fails to understand? and is a history exhibiting such a large number of soiled pages to receive the honourable title of an extraordinary revelation?' And wherefore dost thou think, O unbeliever, that God must needs make holy angels of the men whom He has destined to be prophets or apostles, and that thou shouldst be expected to receive the word of God as God's own word, only when it is brought to thee through lips quite undefiled by sin? Are the treasures of the kingdom lessened in their worth because they are contained in mere earthen vessels? and is the message from above less true because thou seest more of earth's dust than thou wouldst wish, clinging to the feet of the messenger? Nay; rather let me show thee, in those very features of the sacred history, the clearest proof that it is true and credible. 'Moses must have been an impostor:' but would an impostor have been anxious to commit to writing, for all later generations, an account of his own faults and sins? 'The evangelists must have composed cunningly devised fables:' but why, then, did they not keep silence as regards Judas' betrayal of his Lord, Peter's denial, the contention that arose among the twelve for the pre-eminence, in all of which they but exposé their weaknesses and sins? Does not such candour form an argument for the reliability of the whole history? When it appears from such accounts that the greatest saints had their defects, is it not absolutely inconceivable that a few fishermen and publicans should have been able to invent the perfect picture of the Son of man, 'm His unspotted holiness? Did they not rather copy from a living model too sublime for human power to conceive? Truly, it is just scenes like these, which we have been contemplating to-day, that unequivocally proclaim to us that the history of God's revelation, as recorded in the Scriptures, is most true. But if the history be true, so also is the revelation itself, for the two are indissolubly conjoined. And if the word of God be thus faithful and true, what fate canst thou expect, thou unbelieving one, for stubbornly refusing to receive the truth?

Hear what is said by enmity: 'There are pious folks for you! A shining cloud of witnesses surrounding you as you pursue the Christian race! A Noah, who was guilty of deep drunkenness; a Jacob, who allowed himself to do such tricks as every honest man must feel ashamed of having done; a Moses, who, even in his hoary age, forgets himself, and sins; a Peter, who displays such cowardice before a single servant maid! It is by traits like these alone that we can properly discern who they are that assume the designation of God's friends and chosen ones! They are all hypocrites, who would give out that they are better than the rest of men!' But, do be somewhat less severe, child of this world, in this thy virtuous indignation against the failings of God's servants; try, if only for a moment, to be reasonable, if not also moderate. Didst thou, then, really suppose that sinners, when they are redeemed, cease to be feeble men? and that those who have forsaken the broad road in which you walk, to tread this narrow one, cease to be pilgrims to the city of the Lord, whenever they have made their first false step? Cannot a man be righteous in the eyes of God, even though he may seem far from perfect? and does he alone, in your esteem, deserve the Christian name to whom no single sin still cleaves? But we can easily perceive that you have no experience — not even a faint idea — of the struggle which so often and so intimately is associated with the life of faith. It is indeed deserving of remark, that the world is, in some instances, all toleration to her own. The youth who leads a dissipated life, of course, is 'but a youth;' the man who follows with the multitude in doing evil is a man who 'understands full well the times in which he lives;' the hoary-headed man who, with one foot already in the grave, still takes delight in sensual pleasures, is described as 'an exceedingly agreeable man, even in old age:' the world has never been afraid of any sinful deed, but merely for the name and the disgrace attached to it. But when a man who is not of the world but thinks about the hundredth part of what they do in all their shamelessness, then see how every finger is directed to that single spot on that one face; and mark how little tenderness is shown by those who, at all other times, allege, almost to weariness, that true religion but consists in chanty and toleration. Is it not as if one slip, made by a Christian, gives the world a right to plunge into a thousand mad excesses, and to finish off by casting one more stone against the brother who has made the slip? Is it not as if Job were no longer to be looked on as the pattern of patience under suffering, because he, on one instance, cursed his day; as if Paul were now less at liberty to call himself a follower of Christ, because he once exclaimed in bitterness, 'God shall smite thee, thou whited wall;'¹⁸ as if Moses no more merited the admiration of the world, because this Meribah became the rock on which his faith and his obedience suffered shipwreck? Nay; God may condemn Moses, but Israel must stand dumb before him; the Lord may punish those who are His own, but this the world may never do, — the world, which only sees the weakness and the stumblings, not the tears of repentance, — the world, that understands as little of the Christian as of Christ Himself! And if, in spite of this, she still in arrogance assumes the place and functions of a judge, and sets down all who differ from her as mere hypocrites, simply because they have not yet attained perfection, we must bear up under it. But mark what we should answer: rather a 'hypocrite,' like Moses, than a rebel, such as Israel; rather a stumbler on the narrow way, than one who firmly treads the broad way; rather despised by you, than idolized when, with yourselves, we bow before the vain god of this present world! At every deviation from the path of rectitude we may, perhaps, fall deeply into guilt; but you shall hear the prophet's words again addressed to you, 'Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy! For, when I fall, I shall rise again; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him; but He shall plead my cause, and execute judgment for me. Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her.'¹⁹

'When I fall, I shall rise again.' Here we have reached the confines of the third misapplication of the subject we have been considering. Hear now how, in its turn, carnal security and sloth lifts up its voice: 'Then, it would seem, from Moses' case, perfection never can be reached on this side of the grave; why should I seek it any longer here? The unbelief to which even such an highly privileged one as Moses fell away shall certainly not be attributed to me; neither need I disturb myself about a sin like that from which even David was not free. If I have fallen like these men, surely I shall rise up again like them; God's people, certainly, may fall, but they cannot fall away for ever; the flesh, correctly speaking, does not sin, provided that the spirit is turned to God. It is even not a good thing to be speaking too much of sanctification, — some of the old leaven of self-righteousness so readily insinuates itself beneath all this; and God alone, of course, must have the honour of preserving those who are His own, that what is written may hold true, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy."'²⁰ Enough! If Satan, transformed into an angel of light, were himself this moment to appear before our eyes, could he address us with more power to deceive? How much more sad becomes the slip which Moses made, when it not only costs himself incalculable evil, but, even after all these ages past, still offers any one fig-leaves with which to hide his wretched nakedness! Well might Paul give unfeigned expression to his detestation of those persons, who declare they will go on in sin that grace may more abound, and who thus bring down Christ Himself to be the minister of sin! The fiercest enemies of Jesus cannot do such damage to His cause as friends like these; and no sevenfold woe is too great punishment for those who thus deceive themselves with false reflections, and would turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. But is there not a voice which, from the streams at Meribah, proclaims to you that God is light in which there is no darkness at all; that the soul which has sinned shall die; that if even the righteous man forsakes his righteousness, it is impossible that he can live? And if Israel was the apple of God's eye, and Moses like the white spot there — if, further, God designed to make that man a model of His own pure righteousness, do you imagine He will spare you, who appeal to that exemplar as a reason why you may defile a life of far less faithfulness with far greater guilt? It is, indeed, quite true that God's own people cannot know defection from the Covenant of Grace; but it is impossible that those who dare to turn aside can truly be God's own. We grant that Christians, no less than the unregenerate, still sin; but it by no means follows that the sins of both are viewed alike. There are some sins which it is morally impossible that the true servant of the Lord can do: could Moses utter hard words towards Israel without cursing the Lord Himself thereby.' You are not yet a genuine disciple of the best of Masters, if — I will not say your transient wish, — but, your prevailing choice and heart's desire be not to live, not merely in accordance with some, but according to all the commandments of God. Although sin ever lives in you (but surely to your own deep grief?), the life in sin is not therefore a lawful course for you; and though the flesh lusts constantly against the spirit, if the spirit does not on the other hand, strive against the flesh, and ever gain more power over it, you certainly may have a name to live, but you are spiritually dead. The writ of pardon for the greatest sinner has been signed in Jesus' blood, and is presented in the gospel; but licence to commit the smallest sin is what the thrice Holy One can never give! And if, in spite of this, you still desire such licence, all unlawful though it be, and point even to a fallen Moses in support of your demand, not merely Moses will accuse you, but that Christ whose name, through you, has been blasphemed, and who, on that great day, shall say to you, 'I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity! '

Oh, dreadful thought! Do you indeed wish to escape that sentence, so much heavier than that which fell on Moses? Then look once more into the mirror which the text holds up to you. The proper application which we must make of this portion of God's word admits of being briefly pointed out.

First of all, we may well be deeply humbled on reviewing all that we have been considering. Here is a man, so great and so highly gifted that, even after many ages have elapsed, we still grow giddy when we look upon the picture of his greatness. A Moses! — never take that name into your mouth except with sacred reverence, nor, on the other hand, without deep, heartfelt pity; for he also slipped and fell! Oh, what is human virtue at the best, and what are the noblest intentions, even of a heart that has been sanctified from birth? Here is the fruit of nine and thirty years, all passed in toil and conflict, spent in one fatal hour; and the sentence passed at Sinai upon those who disobey the law of God, is unexpectedly incurred by the very man who has delivered it to Israel! To fall and rise again, as has been truly said, and anew to fall and rise once more, is but the sum of each day's entries in the record of our conduct here. And how the blush of shame spreads on our brow, when we compare the special case in which we find that he gave way, with our own attitude and disposition at such times! Truly, good Moses, they are few and far between that could be bold enough to measure out your guilt as long and broad as possible; for which of us could dare boast that our stumbling, like your own, would be comparatively slight and rare, and happen only late in life? We have been looking at his history; but when we now peruse the record of our own, are we the only ones who bear a multitude of traces of the same perversity which only once disfigured him? Ah, let the Lord but bring our faith and our obedience to one special test, and then see for yourselves how, in so many instances, we merit the reproof which brings us shame: 'Ye believed me not, neither sanctified my name! 'Even though the fruits and branches of the poison-plant of unbelief are all removed, how deeply are its roots still sunk within the consecrated heart; and how many days there are, in all our lives, on which the best of us, even as Belshazzar, well may have the sentence passed on us, 'The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified!'²¹ Why are we so earnest in upholding our own honour, when we see how Moses was so easily enraged because the Israelites did not give honour to the Lord? And when we think we have been wronged, in some way, by our fellow-men, what one of us would not give utterance to far more harsh and bitter words than the most violent that are recorded here to the dishonour of this meek and gentle soul? Or if, like Aaron, we keep silence, how much passes through our heart that proves our guilt before the eye of the Omniscient! And how many points there are upon our path of faith where there may well be raised against us still more loud complaints than those here made against these two! Nay, more, what is a Moses, who on only one occasion hallows not the name of God, compared with a whole multitude of Christians, the best of whom. must ever bow his head at the rebuke of One far greater than this prophet, 'O ye of little faith, why did ye doubt?' Truly, if any man has this day, in his heart, complained of Moses, much more reason have we to complain of you, if ye depart from Meribah without the prayer, uttered from the bottom of your heart, 'Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no living man be justified.'²²

If your heart is disposed to utter such a prayer, you will be glad when, to the foregoing remarks upon humility, we add some words of earnest warning. And whom should this more concern than you, who never yet have been in a position to commit a sin like that of Moses, just because you have not yet been in like circumstances? Of course, the stumbling about which we have been speaking presupposes that the stumbler has already turned to the good way; and we can speak of weak faith, such as we perceive in Moses, only in the case of those in whom the work of faith already has begun. Oh, sinner, sinner, that will be a dreadful moment, when the same Judge, whom you now see passing so severe a sentence for one perverse deed of His own friend, shall one day set forth all the secret sins committed by His enemies, before His face, and cast you from His presence, because ye have not believed, neither hallowed His name! 'If' — we may well repeat to-day with increased emphasis — 'if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? And if judgment begin at the house of God, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?'²³ Would that this question, in all its importance, roused you thoroughly, and the thought that you have naught with which you can appear before a holy God like this made you to feel the need of grace, and being reconciled to Him! For you, too, if you truly thirst for it, there has been opened in the gospel an abundance of refreshing streams; and deep though your unworthiness may be, the God who bore with Israel in their murmurings will also still spare you, refresh you, gladden you. When that strong rock. His word, has but been touched by the strong staff of faith, the living water comes to you in copious streams: 'Ho, all ye that thirst, come ye to the waters! 'God has brought you here, into the wilderness of life, not that you should die, but that you should live; the way of peace and rest lies — not behind, away towards the Egypt of your sins — but forward, towards the celestial Canaan, which has been opened up for you, as well as others, through God's grace. But if you wish to march along that way better than Israel did by Moses' side, and to be led by the great Guide of all, then harden not your heart against the voice that calls to you so loudly from this most pathetic incident found in his history. 'See that ye walk circumspectly;'²⁴ and again, 'Be not high-minded, but fear, for thou standest by faith.'²⁵ It is but once that we see Moses fail; oh, ye who know so well the weak side of that heart which is so easily misled, watch and pray earnestly, that this 'but once 'may not be realized in your experience! We scarcely can forbear exclaiming here, 'How sad! 'Oh, ye who have received much from your God, and have done something, or, perhaps, even much in your Lord's cause, watch carefully for your own souls, that there may never come a moment when it shall be said of you, 'How sad! 'One dead fly can make the most precious ointment of the apothecary stink; one bosom-sin, that has not been resisted, may destroy all rest and peace within your heart, and thoroughly eradicate all virtue from your life! Say not that you are far too old and wise to fall into a snare; for even old age, no less than youth, has its peculiar dangers: you perceive how Moses failed in his old age, after enduring the severest tests. Still less say that you have as little power as he to keep yourself at all times under strict command: it would be sad indeed if this your weakness has become so terrible a power! But, least of all must you affirm that you shall venture but one step upon the path of unbelief and wilfulness: has Moses not yet shown to what a first, a single step may lead? Christians! something more than an earthly Canaan is at stake; it is an eternal inheritance that may be lost, if we neglect to watch and pray. He that endureth to the end — he, and he only — may hope to be saved!

But, to conclude, if you require a few words of direction, to match with those of warning and humiliation given already, lay these well to heart. Go, when life's combat rises, to the place where you saw Moses and his brother Aaron go, the quiet house of prayer; but reckon not too much upon the frame of mind that may be wrought or strengthened in you there: it was a few steps only from that place where Moses slipped. Let his history especially impress on you the absolute necessity of cherishing and strengthening a life of faith; and never say, 'Lord, I believe,' without praying from the bottom of your heart, 'Help mine unbelief! 'Strengthen your faith by constant meditation on the way in which the Lord, till now, has dealt with you: would Moses not have done far better than he did at Meribah, if he, at this time, had bethought himself of Rephidim? Let not your staff of faith remain too long unused, nor grumble when you find each morning that the combat is renewed; you see, in Moses' case, that too long rest rarely brings real benefit. Beware of the first rise of bitterness and passion in your heart, and ponder well the wise man's words, 'He that ruleth his spirit is stronger than he that taketh a city.'²⁶ But be not less careful to avoid provoking others unto wrath and sin. To-day we have been speaking but of Moses' sin; but do you think that Israel, who made him sin, can be considered innocent? 'Brethren,' we say to you, with Paul, 'if any man be overtaken in a fault, ye who are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.' Although the world at once rejoices when it sees one single stain upon the Christian, — a single speck of rust upon the highly polished steel, — seek rather to be guided by a charitable spirit, which 'rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, which beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.' And even though your love be as imperfect as the faith and piety of Moses, still, my fellow Christians, raise your heads aloft and view the heavenly Canaan, whose gates will not be shut against you for your daily stumbling, if you but confess your falls each day, before the Lord, in all sincerity of heart. Within God's heavenly city, stumbling is a thing unknown; and sin has been for ever banished from the living waters that stream out from the throne of the Lamb. Blest is the man who is admitted to that holy place, and on whose priestly robe no stain thereafter falls! 'Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy; to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever! '

Amen.

1) Job iv. 12-21.

2) Jas. iii. 2.

3) Rom. vii. 19.

4) Eccles. vi. 10 [Dutch rendering].

5) Isa. v. 20.

6) Num. xx. 10.

7) Num. xii. 3.

8) Ps. lxxxix. 14.

9) 1 John iii. 4.

10) Ps. cvi. 33.

11) Num. xxvii. 14.

12) Rom. viii. 7 [Dutch version and English marginal rendering].

14) Luke xii. 48.

15) Ex. xxiii. 7.

16) Num. xi. 29.

17) Num. xvi. 15.

18) Acts xxiii. 3.

19) Mic. vii. 8-10.

20) Rom. ix. 16.

21) Dan. v. 23.

22) Ps. cxliii. 2.

23) 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18.

24) Eph. v. 15.

25) Rom. xi. 20.

26) Prov. xvi. 32.