leaves them convinc'd that there is an excellency in God which they are not acquainted withal Nay when we can not only comfort our selves in God and content ourselves with him in a Wilderness but go into a Wilderness for him as Moses did this tells all the world that God is worth injoying But when we are sad and dejected because we are brought into some streights it makes men conclude that there is little comfort in walking with God and that God alone is not enough for a man to live upon Secondly God is dishonoured by this distrust through that reproach which is cast upon Religion and the power of Godliness VVhen men can bear up no further than the power and strength of Reason will carry them and those who profess Godliness walk by common rules and carnal Principles their observers say Either these men are not Godly or Godliness is no such thing as they would make it By your profession of Godliness your enemies are brought to an expectation of some singular thing from you something to which their Principles will not reach or else they will not be convinc'd that there is any great matter in Godliness they expect that it should carry you on in difficulties when they should pause if not retreat and that it should bear you up where they should sink And if you can do this and the frame of your spirits be singular as your actions you may regain some of that honour that Religion has lost and you will make it manifest that the same spirit is in you which was in the Apostles and Primitive Christians It was easie for an ordinary eye to see an extraordinary spirit in them Acts 5.41 2 Cor. 6.10 Col. 1.11 But if in times of tryal you sink into a lowness of spirit and walk by beggarly Principles who have talked of and professed higher men will conclude this was all but talk and that Godliness hath nothing in it but Pretensions and Positions suited and accommodated to the Interests of those that profess it and that it hath no inward principles fitted to the Doctrines and Assertions of its Professours Now what a Provocation must this be to help such a base Opinion as this into the world or to confirm and strengthen it where it hath taken some hold in the minds of vain men Reason the fourth It speaks plainly the heart to be naught and is a Demonstration of the unsoundness and insincerity of it under all former professions It tells us that all that was done before was but in Hypocrisie And what is more abominable than this VVe find nothing so much insisted on by the Holy Ghost in aggravating the m scarr ages of Israel as their distruâ—t of God Psal 78.32 For all this they sinned still and he adds as if they had no other sin and believed not for his wondrous works Hence he argues their Hypocrisie ver 35 36 37. As if he had said Sometimes they would be brought to some acknowledgment of Gods Goodness to them and Care for them yet this was but lip-labour and he infers from hence that their hearts were not right with him nor were they stedfast in his Covenant There is nothâ—ng more certain than this that those who do but feignedly close with God in times of prosperity will start in times of tryal and such falterings then are pregnant testimonies of their flattering with God before Departing from God in affliction gives the lie to former Profession and tells us that such a one never took God for his chief good for then he would be content with him alone Such a one never yet entered into Covenant with God as Almighty and All-sufficient never lookt upon God as Abraham did as his Shield and his exceeding great Reward Gen 17.1 No he took God to be a Servant to some Interest which he thinks will best stand now without him and finding no further use of his Profession he would fain find some plausible reason for the dismissing of it Therefore he aggravates every Difficulty and Hazard and makes them unanswerable Objections as if God had led him into manifest Inconveniences and had made no Provision against them Thus it was with Israel they would take every occasion of quarrelling with Moses from pretended Difficulties and Inconveniencies which did arise and they deemed these to be Insupportable and Incurable But what was in the Bottom of all this They hankred after the Garlick and Onions of Egypt they would fain go back to these It is very hard to keep a man steddy in his Profession under streights whose heart is not right with God Therefore the Apostle cautions us to take heed of the unbelief of the heart Heb. 3.12 Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God If the heart be not right for God it will surely cause a man to depâ—rt from him at one time or other The Holy Ghost notes this in the Text as the ground of all their Distrust They are a people that do erre in their hearts Their hearts are not right with me therefore they Distrust me Reason the fifth It speaks us grosly ignorant of the wayes of God which must needs Provoke after frequent Opportunities and Advantages given us of acquainting our selves with them This was the Aggravation of Israels sin in this place that they who had seen so many of Gods wonderful works and had been so disciplined in Egypt and in the Wilderness should yet be ignorant of the Wayes of God What should be expected at last but that God should lay them by as a company of unteachable Dunces God is not only provoked but grieved at this that he should be so long teaching them and they learn so little Obj. But you will say Is it possible that Israel could be ignorant of the ways of God who had seen all his wonders in Egypt and at the Red-Sea and afterwards in the VVilderness Answ Israel was not simply ignorant of these things but they were not mindful of them at least at such times when they should have improved them for their Faith and Hope â—n God they carried themselves unworthily after such experiencies even as if they had never seen or heard of any such thing VVhen they met with any new d fficulty they behaved themselves as if that were the first and they had never been carried thorow any before We shall find Israel acting and reasoning at sometimes as if God had never done any thing extraordinary for their deliverance as if they had never seen so much as a little Finger of Providence put forth for them as if they had been preserved from the rage of the Egyptians and from the ruine and misery to which they were often appointed onely by some Accidents or Chances and God had stood Newter all the while Psal 106.21 22. They forgat God their Saviour who had done great things in Egypt wondrous things in the Land of Ham and
this is such a sin that God will not pass it by in his people without special notice taken of it and expressing just indignation against it So that we have a very plain and easie path to this Truth Doct. God is highly provoked when his people distrust his Providence though they be in a VVilderness For the proof of this I need not say much the referring you to what God said and did upon Israels distrust is enough to confirm it thougâ— they had as much ground and colour of reason for what they said and did as it is possible for any after them to have I have given you already an account of what God said upon this and you see his language is like that of one greatly incensed and if that be not proof sufficient see what he did he slew all that Generation in the Wilderness nay he would not let Moses and Aaron go into Canaan because they had not been careful to sanctifie his Name before them in bearing witness against this their Distrust of God at the first appearance of it To make this Doctrine look more towards us let us consider that it refers not so much to a Place as to a Condition Wheresoever a people are if their Condition resemble Israels in their passage from Egypt they may be said to be in a Wilderness God sets out the afflictions and troubles of his people in the latter dayes by this Allusion Hos 2.14 I will bring her into the Wilderness which imploys two things First A condition which shall be very barren of all ouâ—ward Comfâ—â—â—s This is noted Hos 2.12 13. I will destroy her Vinyards and Figtrees and make them a Forest c. God would make her Land like a Wilderness a Land that was not sown Jer. 2.2 Secondly It was a place thorow which was no beaten path So that as there was no comfortable Being in it so there was no ready way out of it Psal 107.40 He causeth them to wander in the Wilderness where there was no way He bringeth even Princes and the great ones of the Earth into such streights that they are at a loss and can find no way out The meaning of this Doctrine is this That if God should bring his people into such a condition through trouble and affliction that they should see no way of Supply in it nor any probable way out of it yet it is a Provocation for them to distrust God No streights can excuse much less justifie the distrust of Gods people What ever plea Unbelief may seem to have it will be found a great Provocation And the Reasons of this are evident Reason the first Distrust of God though in streights is a denying him to be God it is a bringing of him and all his Actions to the proportion and standard of the Creature It is in effect to say he is like one of us And as God could not bear this language when it impeacht his Holiness Psal 50.21 Thou thoughtest I was such a one as thy self So he will not digest it when it denies his Almightiness When we limit the Holy One and shuâ— him up in the bounds of former Experiences or present Probabilities we do plainly deny him to be God If we will own him to be God we must expect from him things sutable to his Almighty Power and Goodness I mean where we have the Concurrence of his promise We should say to any Difficulty that lies in the way of any promised mercy as Zechariah says Zech. 4.7 What art thou O great Mountain When carnal Reason would come in and proportion our hopes and expectations to the probabilities on the one side or difficulties on the other we should answer it with those words of the Lord Isa 55.9 As the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my wayes saith God higher than yours Indeed were not his wayes above ours wherein would he appear to be God If we could expect nothing from him but upon the terms we expect them from others how should we keep an awe and dread of him in our hearts Remember this Unbelief hath a mixture of Atheism in it and must needs provoke Reason the second It is a secret questioning sometimes an open Reproaching the Attributes of God It sets up Carnal Reason and Mans wisdom in the Judgment Seat and brings all the Attributes of the Blessed God to the Bar where they are censured and sentenced at the pleasure of these blind and bold Inquisitors Sometimes they fall fowl with his Power Psal 78.19 20. Can God furnish a Table in the Wilderness At another time they reproach his Wisdom as if he knew not How to save either to prevent misery or bring deliverance Psal 73.11 How doth God know is there Knowledg in the most High And his Truth and Faithfulness seldom escapes them David himself stumbled upon these 1 Sam. 27.1 And David said in his heart I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul And this Distrust is commonly accompanied either with a denyal of former Experiences of Gods providential Actings or else with a loading â—hem with false and unworthy Imputations Either we say that all the good which God hath done his people was by chance the Finger of God was not in it and so that Grave which buries our present hopes and expectations swallows up all our past experiences and we become in a moment as if we had never known any thing of Gods Providence Or if we come not to a denyal of the Providence it self we arrive at something worse to put the basest Constructions upon the best Dispensations as Israel in their Provocation did who said of that glorious Deliverance out of Egypt that they were brought into the Wilderness to be slain there Exod. 14.11 12. and Exod. 17.3 Now such Reflections as these which are frequently the attendants upon distrust must needs be greatly provoking Reason the third It casts a visible Dishonour upon God before men Distrust and Diffidence are seldome carried so secretly but they find some vent and are often in their workings exposed to the observation of others yea and they the enemies of God and Religion and before these God is dishonoured two wayes First The very name of God suffers For when his enemies see those who have followed God and professed to know him to fall in their hopes and to sink in their spirits they believe God himself is fallen in these men affections and esteem they begin to think that there is no profit in serving God and that these men do now repent their choice But when men can walk chearfully and keep up their hopes and comforts at a high rate in times of trouble and affliction it glorifies God before men and testifies to all that God is worthy to be chosen and loved for himself and that it is good drawing nigh to him When men see us walking as the Prophet did Hab. 3.17 18 19. rejoycing in God when all outward comforts fall it
in the hope of her promiâ—ed Salvation Rom. 12.12 Rejoycing in Hope patient in Tribulation Secondly We should hope that if the Mercies which we wait for are not ready for us yet our patient and prudent bearing of Trouble may ripen and prepare them for the next Generation Thirdly If e w see not any of the Promises fulfilled which concern the good of the whole Church yet we should expect good out of these troubles our selves and hope for to receive benefit from our Afflictions Thirdly We should not only hope but rejoyce always in God this is as positively commanded as any duty both in the Old and New Testament Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord oh ye Righteous And Psal 97.12 Joel 2.23 Be glad ye Children of Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God Phil. 4.4 Rejoyce in the Lord always yea again I say rejoyce If thou art a Believer thou art call'd to rejoyce in God what ever thy condition be and thou art bound in every thing to give thanks and if thou hast no other consideration to make thee thankful but this it is enough Thy case neither is nor ever shall be so bad but thou shalt have â—omething to rejoyce in and God who best understands thy Condition bids thee rejoyce But a wicked man was never call'd upon to rejoyce by him who understands hâ—s Condition and when he comes to know himself he will confess that he hath been joyful without a cause whereas thou art never without cause of rejoycing Therefore do as Job did when he could not rejoyce in the Providences of God he rejoyced in his Name Blessed be the Name of the Lord says Job Though the Providences of God were full of Darkness his Name was full of Light and Comfort when a view of Providence makes the heart sink with fear a sight of this by Faith will raise it again to a frame of Blessing And certainly the dejections of Gods people do most of them arise from an overlooking or forgetting of the blessed Name of God which is made up of loving-Kindness Mercy Goodness and Truth to all that are in Covenant with him and speaks nothing but Consolation and Incouragement whatever may be the Language of his Providences Thus you see Unbelief speaks our Ignorance of Gods ways whether they be ways of Providence in which he walks towards us or ways of Duty in which we are to walk with him I have been large upon this because the Holy Ghost insisteth upon this as the reason why Israel miscarried and God was provoked Use of the Point IF Distrust in our streights be so great a Provocation then let us search and try our ways and make narrow inquiry into our hearts and we shall find upon the Observation of their Frames and Carriages under the streights which we have met withal more sin to be humbled for than we have yet been sensible of God hath many ways to bewilder a people somtimes in their Personal sometimes in their Family Concernments sometimes by bringing private sometimes publick Interests to loss sometimes by clouding our Civil and sometimes our Spiritual Comforts and sometimes again He brings dark Providences upon us and even frustrates our Expectation in every Creature He takes away those who might have been Props to us and perhaps hides himself and we grope in thick darkness for the way Now it is observable that Affliction makes us look back upon former Conditions and inquire what hath been the sin of them as David in his trouble sees the folly of his prosperity Psal 30.6 7. But our Prosperity seldom leads us back to consider and mourn over the miscarriages that we have been guilty of under Affliction Notwithstanding we murmure and express much Impatience at least are full of Distrust and Desponding thoughts touching God's Providence and gracious Care over us Yet we seldome recal those to judg our selves for them and the reason is we think these are Lapses of easie pardon and that there is reason to be fetcht for these things from our Condition We think our streights will justifie our distrusts and we reckon these among the Frailties of Gods people But what we have excused as frailties and Infirmities the Holy Ghost condemns as Provocations Wherefore if you recollect your thoughts you will find cause to bewail those things as great Provocations which you have slightly passed over as ordinary weaknesses Therefore let us judg our selves for our distrust of God under former tryals let us say as David did of himself in the like case Psal 73.22 So foolish and ignorant was I and as a beast before thee A sound and thorow humbling of your selves for these things may prevent the like miscarriages for time to come Use 2. The next and principal use of this point is to caution Professours of Godliness that they provoke not God as these Israelites did Take the very words of the Apostle and I hope you will give the more heed to this Use as being proper and genuine such as the Holy Ghost makes of it ver 12. Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief If God should bring you into a Wilderness and you should meet with the same streights that Israel met withal if you should see no way out of them yet take heed of their sins Remember that all their streights and troubles did not justifie their distrust God would not pass by their Unbelief though they were his own people and the only people he had in the world and they were the first that were so exercised and so might plead Ignorance more than we can And if he will not spare them much less us who have their experiences and the addition of many Ages beside to confirm us in our depending upon God If he punished their distrust seven-fold he will punish ours seventy times seven-fold Now It being my great design to prevent this sin to which Israel of old was so inclined and to which if I may judg by my own heart we are still too propense I shall lay a â—ew Considerations before you and Oh that God would speak so effectually by them to every one of our hearts that this sin may be prevented First Consider It is a provoking sin It s call'd in the Text the Provocation Israel was guilty of many and grievous sins in the Wilderness but none provoked God as this did He exprest his displeasure against other sins as their Idolatry their whoredoms with the Daughters of Moab their lusting after strange flesh yet he did not set any such note of his Indignation upon any of these as as he did upon their Unbelief This sin bears the name of the Provocation In other cases he did shew Mercy and past by the Transgression of his Heritage but because of this sin he retained his anger till he had consumed them in the VVilderness Yea Moses who had given such notable proof of his Faith and Courage in Egypt for one Act of unbelief
musâ— be debarr'd from going into Canaan Deut. 32 51 52. And though he could prevail for the whole Nation when they had transgressed in making the Golden Calf Exod. 33.17 Yet he cannot prevail for himself to go up into that good Land no though he prayed for it and reasons from all the kindness that God had shewn him already Deut. 3.24 25. Yet he can get on other Answer but this Speak to me no more of this matter Surely God is angry with this sin for which he will not be intreated by Moses and for himself and for one Act of unbelief Any thing that savours of Infidelity displeases God more than many crimes of Morality God will note more and visit your unbelief and distrust of his Mercy Goodness and Truth than all other your miscarriages under Affliction and the reason is because it is most opposite to that frame of Spirit which should honour God especialâ—y in time of trouble For nothing doth so express the Life and Power of Grace in times of Temptation and Affliction as Believing Hoping and Rejoycing in God this doth most eminently please him and give him glory and the contrary must needs as much displease and provoke him and if we will not believe this to be a truth God will make us feel it Secondly Consider You will not only provoke but you will grieve the Lord by this sin I hope you will weigh this well because it is also a Consideration in the Text and shews how God is affected with the miscarriages of his people when they distrust him The word which we render grieved is observable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wich comes of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies the Bank of a River because grieâ— makes the heart swell as a Riveâ— does when it overflows it Banks This Passion is attributed to God to shew what offence he takes at thiâ— sin It is compounded of Anger Love and Pitty When we meet with that which is offensive in those we love we are the more troubled not at the Act simply but because it is the Act of one whom we love It is observed that the word here used is not used any where in all the New Testament save in this Chapter to express Gods distast at Israels sin But it is frequently used in the Old Testament by this word the offence which Rebeccah took at Esau's hating of Jacob is expressed Gen. 27.46 She was angry with him for hating his Brother but this was not all to hâ—r anger was added grief and trouble of spirit because it was her son Esau that hated him Thus God is highly offended with the sin of unbelief but he is grieved when this is the sin of a people so near him so that we see such a Passion is attributed to God as is given to Parents or Governours when they see those whom they love and have under their charge running into â—â—e and dangerous courses notwithstanding all their care to reclaim them Now a Child that hath any Remains of good nature in him though he hath no grace and will not be stopt in his full Career of sin by all the Instructions and Corrections of his Parents but grows regardless of their anger and displeasure and hath born many a Check Reproof or Blow without relenting yet hath melted when he hath seen his Father or Mother mourn for him and lay his Condition to heart Christian Canst thou hear that God is provoked and not fear Yea Can you hear that he is grieved and not melt Surely you cannot Grace is the most ingenuous thing of the world It is the best Nature for it is the Divine Nature Let it suffice to tell you that unbelief will go very near the heart of your Father if any thing could be said to break his heart it would be this His Enemies the Prophane ones of the world do vex and anger him but you are the people that grieve him your sins do trouble him at a higher rate than theirs and of all your sins unbelief most of all Oh therefore if God have any considerable Interest in your hearts let unbelief have none Oh do not grieve the Spirit of God that would comfort you If you sadden the Spirit of the Lord by your Distrust how shall he comfort you in your Distress Thirdly Consider You will lose the most glorious opportunity of honouring God and Religion that ever was put into your hands nay perhaps thou mayst never have the like again God has brought thee into a Wilderness that thou mayst give thy Testimony and set to thy Seal that God is true Men will observe and if ever now they will believe it they take little notice what thou sayst of God in prosperity the Devil excepted against Job's Testimony in this case But says he put forth thy hand and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face It is no proof of sincerity to speak well of God while he does well to us or to follow Christ while he hath the Loaves but to follow him in a wilderness in a Land not sown yea to follow him chearfully too will make men take notice of and regard our Testimony that we bear to his Goodness All-sufficiency and Truth He that runs may read in thy chearful behaviour under streights that God is good because thou speakest good of him at all times that he is All sufficient because you can be contented yea full and abound in the want of all things having him that he is True and Faithful because you can imbrace the Promises and live upon them when all Providences run contrary to them Oh Christians If ever you would have the world believe that God is good yea the Chief Good that he is to be chosen for himself that he iâ— your Portion and enough when alone and that you have chosen him so and do not repent your choice If ever you would convince men that God is True and that he never fails those that seek him bear your Testimony to these things in a Wilderness then men will believe you Walk but evenly and chearfully in the streights that he brings you and his people into and you will perswade men more than a thousand Sermons possibly will do but if you lose such an opportunity never look to honour God at that rate while you live Fourthly Consider Distrust of God hath no excuse Though men have many pleas for it yet when thy eyes are opened thou wilt have no cloak for it It is impossible for a Child of God to be brought into any streight or to experience any trouble or difficulty in any condition for which God hath noâ— pâ—â—â—â—ded some surable word of 〈…〉 wo ld be too long a work 〈…〉 to und â—take to shew you what provisions God hath made for the Comfort and Support of his people in all estates If I should descend to particulars I should not know where to stop I shall only hint what care he